How to make a Yakut knife from a file yourself

The most attractive feature of the traditional Yakut knife is its simplicity. And it is also very easy to recognize it even in the photo: by its characteristic shape with a practical dolly, which helps to save metal, and provides additional strength of the blade. There is nothing superfluous in the Yakut knife - neither excessive pretentiousness of forms, nor excessive complexity in manufacturing. It is simple, original and reliable, and therefore worthy of creating a replica in your home workshop.

Blade making

Most of all, the practice of making Yakut knives from old Soviet files is widespread - the metal is good there, and the shape suits well. And at the preparatory stage with this workpiece, you will need to carry out only two steps: cut off a piece of the desired size and weld a bar to it.

The further order of work is a little more complicated:

1. The file is slowly heated until the metal loses its magnetic properties (yes, a magnet for the first check is much better than guessing the temperature by color).
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2. The next stage is forging. For these purposes, a four-kilogram sledgehammer is well suited, which has to forge a workpiece until it reaches a thickness of 2-3 mm along its entire length. Remember that the cooled workpiece must be heated to the optimal temperature in the furnace (now you can navigate by the color that was during the first heating).
3. After reaching the desired thickness, it is the turn of the shank and the leading edge, after the formation of which it is possible to forge and descents. The latter is not necessary if you prefer to shape them on emery.
4. Now the turn of the main highlight has come - the big dale. It is most convenient to forge it with the sharp side of a one and a half kilogram hammer.
5. Almost finish: leveling, normalizing in oil, tempering and checking for cracks.

To carry out the latter, you can place a blade on two parallel bars (after release) and step on it. True, the help of a lightweight friend may come in handy, since the workpiece must withstand a weight of 60–70 kg, for more its strength will not be enough (or enough, but you should not risk it).

If the test is successful, you can proceed to the most exciting activities - finishing on emery, grinding and polishing.

Yakut knife handle

For its manufacture, a small block of wood is suitable, at the end of which you have to drill a hole for the shank. This will be followed by rather dirty work, so it is recommended to close the polished blade with masking tape. When this task is completed, there are three important stages:

• selection of chops for tight fixation of the shank in the bar and dilution of epoxy with sawdust;
• assembly of the knife (insert the shank, pour in the resin and drive in the chips);
• marking the center lines of the future handle.

That's all for now - the workpiece must lie down for a day so that the resin hardens. Well, after this time, it remains only to give the handle the desired shape in any convenient way.

How to make a scabbard

The simplest option is a wooden sheath made of two blanks, the width of which is greater than the width of the blade. On each of them, the contour of the blade is marked (do not forget about the mirror reflection of the contours on the blanks). The grooves are selected along this contour with a chisel.

The next steps are sanding, checking the fit of the knife and gluing the halves of the scabbard with epoxy. Well, after the resin has frozen, we give the scabbard the desired shape, after which it remains only to saturate them with oil and make a suspension.

That's all: the creation of a Yakut knife with your own hands is completed. And in case some points remain unclear, the following video will help clarify them: