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• finding the right steel
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  You are right that mentioning the kind of steel used would have been helpful. I used tool steel scraps from a friend who makes planes. (woodworking planes, not airplanes.) As mentioned old files can be a source of quality steel. Another source is old hand saws that can be acquired in flea markets. Band saw blade and hack saw blades can be used to make a thinner, more flexible knife blade. Hope this helps.

  Posted by Doug Stowe on August 08, 2011 at 17:32:26 Pacific Time

• Steel type ?
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  The article really should have mentioned that you want a fairly high carbon steel to make a decent knife. Common-all-garden steel in most people's experience is actually mild steel, and has such a low carbon content it can't be hardened. Try a 10xx series steel like 1095, or use an old file....

  Posted by steve@thetaylorfamily.org.uk on August 08, 2011 at 15:07:25 Pacific Time

• Reader Feedback
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  Hello Makes -
  
  Just a comment on the article on making your own knife. In the list of materials, the actual blade is made of "steel". If one were to go get a random piece of "steel" from somewhere, it would not respond as desired to the heat treating process described in the article - after heating it red hot and quenching it in oil, then baking it in the oven, it would most likely be softer than before. Normal, garden variety steel is meant to be relatively soft and ductile, this is a great property for the general structural uses it is meant for. It's very forgiving, you can overload it and it will bend long before it breaks. But it makes a pretty crappy knife blade.
  
  To make tools like knives, you need to use tool steels - and there are thousands of different ones for every concievable purpose. What would work well for your knife would be alloys O-1 (letter O, not zero) or W-1. D2 would make a blade that would hold an edge longer but be a little harder to sharpen. These steels are fairly inexpensive and are readily available from places like McMaster Carr or Online Metals.com.
  
  Another excellent alternative is an old dull file - they can be forged when heated red-hot from a charcoal bar-b-q. If cooled slowly from forging temperature, they are quite soft and easy to shape. When hardened as described in the article, they get a good balance of hardness and toughness.
  
  Paul Shemeta

  Posted by Jacob Spurlock on July 18, 2011 at 14:58:01 Pacific Time

• you can buy these
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  FWIW, Deep Woods Ventures has sold 'spoon carving' knives for some time: http://www.deepwoodsventures.com -- I have one. I did make my own handle for it. You can also find related tools with the name 'scorp' at various woodworking sites.
  
  Overall I really liked the article and liked the idea of making a couple more completely from scratch myself. I just wanted to pick a minor nit that you can actually buy spoon carving knives.

  Posted by rwo on July 17, 2011 at 16:27:21 Pacific Time