Whether to make a knife for a Marine

Alden Cole

Alden Cole

Well-Known Member
I've recently been contacted by a mother asking about a knife for her son who is in the marines. I've never made a knife for military or many "tactical" knives so, on the one hand, I don't have any experience with this. On the other hand, looking at the issued knives and what people seem to carry, I think I could make a much better knife. I'm thinking of making two or more blades and destruction testing one of them, and if it goes well, I will sell the other/s. Something like these designs, maybe with a six inch blade. I would be using AEB-L with a higher temper than normal and micarta/g10. Does this seem like a good idea or should I not take this order until I am more experienced?

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I'd say go for it, it's an honor to make a knife for someone in the service. Evidently, this fellow is on active duty, but it's unclear what the knife's purpose would be. Is it something he would want to carry while on duty (could be gear restrictions that limit its use), or will it be used for some other (off duty) purpose?
I'll share this idea with you: A soldier that served in Iraq wanted to make a knife to replicate the survival knife he carried in combat. So, I invited him into my shop and helped >him< build 2 knives - he did all the work. These knives are like the one he carried under his vest, below his arm pit as a backup if got captured. Not fancy, but effective. He learned a lot in the process and I found it rewarding to help a guy that was dealing with PTSD and TBI.
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Two questions.
1. Are you comfortable with your knifes survivability in different environments and use.
2. Can he bet his life on your skills. Harsh but thats always a chance for the service member tools.
I know we can't test for every condition but your knife might be used as a pry bar. A digging tool. Thrown into the wall, the dirt etc. Clearing jammed weapons.. You name it, a troop will try it. On the other hand if carried into real world places it will be secondary to his service bayonet.
Ps. Also realize that every person in his squad/platoon will see it. Trust your skills and build well cause you might be making more.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I'm not sure if he is active duty or not, but will assume he is. I usually make really hard and thin slicers, so if the order goes through it will be good to make and test some knives that are meant to take a beating. Vglegski: Survivabilty, yes, I'll probably be using stainless steel and micarta, West Systems and peened pins. Whether he can bet his life on it? I'll be doing thorough testing on it and if it isn't reliable I will not sell it. MTBob: thanks for sharing and looks like he did a good job! I'm not sure yet what he will be using it for.
 
Years ago I asked a friend about making a knife for his son serving in Iraq, he later told me he checked with his son and was told that if the soldier is on duty or in theater he was a only allowed to carry weapons that were issued or approved by whoever was in command. A friend, Charlie Ochs had a lot of his “black knife autos” over they but they were actually bought and supplied by the government. This was a long time ago and things may have loosened up or changed. I know private photography wasn’t approved either but it still happened, If I was asked today to make one for a soldier I would regardless if I knew if it was going into service with the person or not. I say go for it, make the best knife you can and keep it light, the weight takes place of ammo they can carry ;)
 
The issued only rule is one that's been broken/overlooked by every military generation. Pull a ruck check for gear and you'd be surprised at what troops will carry. If they think it will help them survive they'll try to pack it. Randall knives were big in Vietnam. Same applies today. One troop gets a cool blade and the other will want one.
 
Alright, I have got both of them through heat treatment and have ground and tested one of them. Some results which are confusing, hoping to get some thoughts. First off, this is my first time using Nitro V, though its sister AEB-L has become one of my primary steels. I austenitized at 1920 for 15 minutes, quenched in Aluminum, cryo'd with dry ice, and tempered at 400 degrees. I flat ground the edge to about 0.017 before sharpening. Behind the secondary bevel thickness of around 20 thou. This is thicker than I normally go, since usually I make knives optimized for slicing, not abuse. Honestly, some of these tests seem a little silly, but I figure a military knife could be more general use tool than knife.

Testing: Nothing scientific, but I was hoping it would be informative. I cut some cardboard, it held an edge fine and stropped back to sharp. Then I batoned some wood. It went through the clear Douglas Fir fine, as long as the blade could be reached from the other side. It had a hard time going through a knot, however, I'm guessing mostly because of its small size; the edge was perfectly fine after this. Chopping antler, not much happened, is it possible for antler to soften with age? I took a random bolt, probably 1/4in from the scrap bucket, and started hammering the blade through it. At first it mushed up the edge, which would make me think the blade is on the softer side. However, once about halfway through the blade chipped off in a crescent shape. I tried this again with some 304/303 1/8 pinstock, and though it cut through it, it chipped the blade as well, the steel acting exactly like it did with the bolt, just on a smaller scale. This is the main point of interest for me, as I'm a little confused. (Side note, the grain looks extremely fine, but I'm not sure how much you can tell about grain size after tempering). I did a little more testing, like cutting a 30-06 cartridge a few times and punching the tip through a coarse 1in brick. Both dulled the blade. And that's it.

Questions: How do people get blades to go through a bolt without chipping? Is it that their heat treat is dialed in, their edges are thick, and/or that they are using a different type of bolt?

Why did my blade mush up first, without microchipping, until about halfway through, when it chipped? Could a possible heat treat of harder steel, which gives more strength and resists deformation actually improve toughness, do you think? I know Larrin Thomas says that at a 450 degree temper he got lower hardness and toughness than at a 350 degree temper for Nitro V, which is interesting.

Thoughts: I'm thinking that if this knife (or it's brother) will be used more as a general cutting tool rather than chopping through walls and stuff, it would do very well. The question is whether a handmade knife made for active duty is/should be expected to break through concrete walls and stuff or not. Your thoughts? If you read this, thank you.
 
A couple bad cell phone pictures of the knife. I can take some better ones if that would help. About 8.5in OAL.20211104_130944.jpg20211104_130920.jpg
 
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