Homemade Survival Knives

If you have some basic shop tools, or have access to them, you can teach yourself to make your own survival knives. YouTube has a vast amount of how-to videos that can teach you the easiest way to make a knife.

This post is to show what you can achieve with a little exploring and training. This post is not a step by step tutorial, but rather a little journey I took into the field of knife making.

Here is a list of tools and materials I used to build the knives that you see here in the video and the post.

Materials:

Old circular saw blades that are beyond useable

Old worn out lawn mower blades

Deer or Elk antlers

Seasoned mesquite wood

13/16" brass brazing rod (at least a foot long to make several knives)

Gorilla glue or some other strong glue

Sand paper, coarse and fine grit

Permanent marker and wood pencil

Flat paint, type used for plastics (your choice of color)

Linseed oil or tongue oil

PVC pipe, schedule 40, 2 inch diameter, 6 ft length (for sheath making)

Tools:

90 degree hand grinder with metal cutting wheels

Hacksaw with extra blades

Vise grip pliers

Large "C" clamp

Table mounted wheel grinder

Heat gun

Band saw/Table saw with thin wood blades

Table top belt sander

Ball peen hammer

Anvil or something similar

Hand metal files

Gloves

Rivet gun with 1/8 inch rivets with washer backings.

To Start:

Basically, I start with the knife pattern I want to make. You can use Google images and search for survival knife blades and you can get many ideas on the shape of the knife that you want, or design or own.

Then choose the metal you want to use for the knife. I like to use circular saw blades and lawn mower blades. As long as you do not get the metal too hot while grinding, you will not need to heat treat the metal before putting on a cutting edge.

Above are blanks that were cut out of a circular saw blade and a lawn mower blade. I used the table mounted grinder to take down the rough and uneven surfaces and give the knife its shape. I also use the grinder to put on the rough angle of the cutting edge. I use a hand file to take the cutting edge down to the sharpness and then use a diamond or stone sharpener to finish the fine edge.

Above is a knife being cut from a lawn mower blade. I used a C-clamp and vise grips to hold it down to the table, since I do not have a table mounted vise. I use the 90 degree hand grinder with a metal cutting wheel to cut out the knife blanks.

In the above photo, I used a hand file to fine tune the cutting edge and angle and to smooth the edges of the rest of the knife.

In the above photo, I am ready to add the handle. On the blade, I am using mule deer antler. I cut two brass pins to attach the handle with. I use the ball peen hammer to expand the ends of the pins so that they are larger than the drilled holes. I add the glue to the back sides of the handles before adding the pins. This gives it a little extra holding grip.

Above is the almost finished mower blade knife. This is of my own design. I just need to fine tune the cutting edge with a diamond sharpener and make a sheath. I added some Linseed oil to the handle to help preserve it.

Next, I used schedule 40 PVC pipe to make my knife sheaths. It is much cheaper than Kydex. I used the band saw to cut the PVC, as well as the deer antlers and mesquite that I make the handles from. PVC pipe becomes rubbery and moldable when heated with a heat gun. I cut the pipe into two halves length wise and then heat and flatten them out to be measured for the knife.

Above I have already measured, shaped and added rivets to hold the two halves of my sheath together. Now all I have to do is draw the outline for the shape of the sheath and trim it on the band saw. I then used the table sander to even the edges. Before painting the PVC, you need to rough up the surface with sand paper so that the paint will stick better. I used the type of paint that is used for plastics.

Above is the completed sheath ready to be painted. I just need to drill two holes at the bottom to put para-chord for tying to the leg or for whatever.

Above are some completed knives that I have taught myself (with the help of a lot of talented YouTuber's) to make. Four of the knives are of my own design. I will be field testing them when I start my three day survival trek video. On the next sheath design, I plan on adding a place to hold a sharpener and a ferrous fire rod or maybe even a survival kit.

I did not think I had the ability to actually make my own knife, but when you put your mind to something and are determine to succeed, you can succeed. These knives are not show room quality, but I did not want them to be. I like the rustic hand-made look that they have and know that they are fully functional for what I intended for them to be.

Go ahead! Give it a try. Design the knife of your dream. Or just have fun trying. This skill could become very handy in the near future.

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive!

Charlie 




Mini Personal Survival Kit

This segment is about making your own mini personal survival kit from items you may already have on hand. I will be using an Altoid candy tin that I save as my container due to its compact size. They fit perfectly in a back pocket or  jacket pocket or even a purse.

When building your survival kit, you want items that will address the need to accomplish the following tasks:

Make Fire
Make Shelter
Obtain Food/Water
Navigate
Medical needs
Make weapons (if needed)

The container should be sturdy and be made water tight. Your choice of items should able to perform more than one  function, if possible. This saves room to carry more items in your kit. Choose items that are durable. Remember, you get what you pay for. Your life depends on the strength of your equipment.

My mini kit contains the following items with a short explanation of each. The video left out the fishing hooks and sinkers and a few other things that I added later. This kit was made for use in the Southwestern parts of the United States, but can be used  anywhere.

If you know you will be traveling to a tropical place, you may want to design a kit specific for that area.

Contents:

Altoid Tin- holds your items. Can be used to make charcloth or a tinder box for starting fires. Can boil water and  cook food.
Medical Items: Alcohol pads (2)- cleaning wounds; fire starting/ Band-Aids (2)- would protect; tape/ Butterfly strips (2) for cuts (act as minor stitches)/ Alieve pain pills (4) or your preferred pain and fever reliever/ Imodium (4) for diarrhea
Water Purification Tablets (12) to purify up to 6 quarts of water
Note Paper- to make maps or leave notes behind for rescuers; also for fire starting.
Pencil/Pen- to leave messages (you can burn the end of a twig and make your own pencil by using the black charcoal end.
Lighter- for fire starting; water purification; cooking food.
Fresnel Lens- for fire starting; locating splinters.
Small Knife or razor blade- for cutting; for shelter making; fire starting; weapon making; trap making; medical needs.
Duct Tape- for shelter needs; medical uses; weapons making; clothing and equipment repairs; fire starting.
Electrical Tape- same as Duct Tape.
Compass- for navigation
Para-cord (4 feet)- for shelter making; hunting; traps; fishing; sewing; weapons.
Flashlight- navigating; signaling.
Survival Whistle- signaling
Ferrous Flint Rod- fire starting.
Arrow Heads- for hunting and fishing; protection.
Rubber Band or Ranger Band- for securing survival kit; making weapons; medical needs.
Fishing Kit- (hooks (3), sinkers (3)- for fishing and trapping. ( use para-cord inner cordage for fish line and thread)
Sewing Needles (2)- Mending clothing; medical needs; navigation
Safety Pins (2)- Mending clothing; medical needs; fishing.
Large Paper Clips (2)- trap making; lock picking; tool/equipment repairs.
Aluminum Foil (18 inches length)- cooking; containers; signaling; fishing.

This list is a lot of items that fit within the Altoid container. And as you can see, each item has more than one use. There may be more uses than are listed here.

Practice using your kit items so that when the need arises, you will already be familiar with their uses. Remember, knowledge is power. The saying goes, "that with more survival training and knowledge you have, the less survival items you may have to carry". For example, I can start a fire with rubbing two sticks together.

So, basically, I have less need for a lighter or fire starter in my kit if I can expertly start a fire without them. But, I would rather have the lighter or match to make things faster.

Strive to learn more about basic wilderness survival. Your life and the life of a loved one or friend may depend on it.

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive!

Charlie




Water From The Yucca Stalk

 

 

Here is another technique for locating water in the desert. If you are able to catch the Yucca plant while the flower stalks are just starting to sprout, you can extract the water from them. The sprouting season for the Southwest is around mid March to mid April.  The photo listed on this blog was taken April 19, 2011. The young stalks look like giant asparagus shoots. These stalks can also be roasted and eaten or boiled like asparagus.

As seen in the video, you can extract the water from the stalk in several different methods. First method is to peel then outer green layer off and then cut the stalk into smaller chunks to be placed in a bandana or t-shirt to me smashed up. Using two rocks, one as a hammer stone and the other for a base, smash and pulp up the pieces. When the pieces are well smashed, twist the bandana and squeeze out the liquid into a container, or straight into your mouth if you no container is available.

The next method is to peel the outer green layer and the take the edge of a knife it sharp stone and scrape the side of the stalk from top to bottom. This will produce stringy like layers of stalk. Once you have a hand full of this material you can extract the moisture by placing the bundle into your mouth and sucking out the juices. Do not swallow the fiber; discard it when moisture is gone.

You can also take a bundle of this material and form it into a ball in one of your hands. With the same hand, make a fist with your thumb extended up as if you were giving the thumbs up to someone. Rotate or thumb upside down and into your mouth. Then squeeze the fiber bundled and the liquid will flow down your thumb and into your mouth.

If you are on the move and don’t have time to do these methods, you can take the stalk with you and cut small chunks to chew on to extract the moisture as you are on the move. This will be some pressure on your teeth, mouth and jaws. So, if you have bad dental work be careful not create a problem in these areas.

You will notice that the fluid will be green to even a blackish color. This is normal due to the chlorophyll located in the plant. Some species of Yucca will have a strong soap flavor to its juices and petals. This is due to saponims, which is used as emergency soap. Yucca saponim was also used in the earlier versions of root beer to give it the foamy head.

If the saponims taste too strong, don’t drink much of it. Try and supplement it with other water sources if possible in order to prevent diarrhea.

But, in case of a survival emergency, you know you can use this method to obtain a quick drink.

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive! 

Charlie