# Sawmill Blade Toolsteel Backpacker's Machete



## RJBud1 (Apr 19, 2022)

Today I finished my first full machete - (I have attempted several in the past but the stock I used, 1/8" or 3/32" 1075, I would always grind too thin and end up with a wonky blade.

This blade came from stock I had watterjetted from an old sawmill blade. The blade was 24 inches across, and was already hardened to about 50 hrc - not great hardness for something like a combat knife or even a EDC utility blade, but that hardness is decent enough for a machete. Machetes, if hardened throughout the entire blade, shouldn't be in the 58-62 HRC normality range of knives. They will chip easily at that hardness, if used extensively or cutting tree branches. A common tradeoff in factory made machetes is only the edge will be hardened, with the spine being only partially hardened or not at all.

I figured 50 HRC would be enough for a compact hiking machete for average use, so I never annealed it or hardened it. I drilled the holes with a Cobalt M42 drill bit, which is rated at 65 HRC according to Google. It drilled it with some difficulty, and I had to ReSharpen the bit when I was dome.

Anyway, so the first step was to take the blank blade I got cut and transform it info a machete. I laid down layout fluid, scribed some areas that needed to be cut off, then cut with an angle grinder. I then rounded the edges of the blade out. I heavily modified the handle to fit my hands, using the spinning wheels on my belt sander to get nice round choils. I repeated this for about an hour, taking small increments off until I was satisfied. 

I then did the bevels. I did them completely by eye, freehanding them, because I didn't feel like putting a 16 1/2 inch blade on my bevel jig meant for 10 inch max knives. This was the longest process and I probably spent about two hours just freehanding it, and checking my progress. 

The blade went through several iterations of handles, the first three of which were dogwood, photinia, and oak. After all 3 pin peening attemps ended in cracked scales, I did some research. It turns out, the 5mm diameter beryllium copper pins I was using are actually nearly impossible to peen. The ideal peening size is 1/16", 3/32", or 1/8". So the fact I was trying it on pins six times larger than they should have been complicated things unnecessarily. 

I took a break for a bit and decided to give the machete TWO etch baths in ferric chloride. I cut the ferric solution 50% with water. Each session lasted about 20 minutes. The solution gave the blade a nice grey protective color and coating.

On my 4th scales, I decided to dig into my even more exotic scale stash and pulled out some spalted Brazilian jatoba. I got 5 sets of them at a decent discount off eBay a while back, and I'm glad I did because they are nice to shape, and beautiful in general. This time I used some scrap ends of 3/32 Aluminum TIG Welding rods. These peened great.

Finally, I cut off the excess scale material with my bandsaw, and then I textured the handles on my oscillating spindle sander. Three light coats of gunstock finish made the scales POP.

I am very happy with this blade.

Reactions: Like 3 | EyeCandy! 1 | Way Cool 2


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## Nature Man (Apr 19, 2022)

Congrats! Great to see a machete build! Chuck

Reactions: Sincere 1


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## RJBud1 (Apr 20, 2022)

For anyone interested, the oxide coating does wear away with heavy use. I must say I am very satisfied with this blade. I just spent the past hour and a half torture testing the hell out of it, it has remained sharp.

I made a ton of kindling as my first test.

The second test was splitting some small oak.

The third test was brutal, I took some old used maple and hickory flooring and for a solid twenty minutes just whacked them into pieces across the grain. I now have several 4 ft pieces of flooring into a out 8 inch chunks for the forge or campfire.

I also reapplied some ferric chloride coating. Here's what it looks like after a two minute wipe with a cloth.

Reactions: Like 1


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## RJBud1 (Apr 20, 2022)

Here's one more for viewer enjoyment.

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 1


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## barry richardson (Apr 20, 2022)

Looks like a very handy thing to have RJ!

Reactions: Agree 2 | Sincere 1


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## Tony (Apr 20, 2022)

Cool build!


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## Bigg081 (Apr 20, 2022)

Great job! If you are anything like me, I am rarely 100% happy with anything I build. Being a perfectionist is a curse! You are obviously extremely happy and that is what is all about.


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Apr 20, 2022)

Just a random thought. Hardwoodbflooring suppliers like the floor and decor in levittown tend to allow you to buy a sample board or two. Sometimes they have an unusual or curly piece in their pile of samples. Sometimes they will allow you to buy a full length sample board. That is when you can strike paydirt. 5 to 10 dollars for a couple board feet of exotic (to us) lumber with no shipping is fun times. 
I personally have bought a sample of what appears to be curly Brazilian acacia from a floor and decor in knoxville tn. The nice thing is, most anything they would put on the floor is plenty hard enough for handles.
If you have a local specialty wood shop, often true will have a trimmings bin that sells for pennies on the dollar.
And for all of us wood weirdos, keep in mind that your local custom cabinet shop often tosses anything curly, burly, or feathered in their waste bin because it looks odd mixed into the cabinetry. That waste will almost always be kiln dried as a bonus.

Reactions: Thank You! 2 | Useful 1


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## RJBud1 (Apr 20, 2022)

2feathers Creative Making said:


> Just a random thought. Hardwoodbflooring suppliers like the floor and decor in levittown tend to allow you to buy a sample board or two. Sometimes they have an unusual or curly piece in their pile of samples. Sometimes they will allow you to buy a full length sample board. That is when you can strike paydirt. 5 to 10 dollars for a couple board feet of exotic (to us) lumber with no shipping is fun times.
> I personally have bought a sample of what appears to be curly Brazilian acacia from a floor and decor in knoxville tn. The nice thing is, most anything they would put on the floor is plenty hard enough for handles.
> If you have a local specialty wood shop, often true will have a trimmings bin that sells for pennies on the dollar.
> And for all of us wood weirdos, keep in mind that your local custom cabinet shop often tosses anything curly, burly, or feathered in their waste bin because it looks odd mixed into the cabinetry. That waste will almost always be kiln dried as a bonus.


Cool beans. I may check out the some of the local flooring shops at some point. I have several nice boards of maple that I ripped put of my house, de nailed, planed the finish off and ripped the tongue and groove off. Nice stuff. I also work at a hardware store where we sell ovens and machines that are well over 1/4 ton, and the pallets those come in on are sometimes very nice. I ended up bringing home a HICKORY pallet, several oak pallets, and a entire pallet of spalted maple, unfortunately most of the planks were busted and became firewood but I got 3 nice ones.


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Apr 20, 2022)

RJBud1 said:


> Cool beans. I may check out the some of the local flooring shops at some point. I have several nice boards of maple that I ripped put of my house, de nailed, planed the finish off and ripped the tongue and groove off. Nice stuff. I also work at a hardware store where we sell ovens and machines that are well over 1/4 ton, and the pallets those come in on are sometimes very nice. I ended up bringing home a HICKORY pallet, several oak pallets, and a entire pallet of spalted maple, unfortunately most of the planks were busted and became firewood but I got 3 nice ones.


Check out the foreign goods. Many times those pallets often have some foreign stuff in them that makes awesome funky stuff.


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## RJBud1 (Apr 20, 2022)

2feathers Creative Making said:


> Check out the foreign goods. Many times those pallets often have some foreign stuff in them that makes awesome funky stuff.


How do I know of a pallet is "foreign"?


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Apr 20, 2022)

Most items have country of origin. The larger items will be palletizing in that country usually with their scrap trees which are crooked and damaged (burls, and branch feathers)


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## RJBud1 (Apr 20, 2022)

2feathers Creative Making said:


> Most items have country of origin. The larger items will be palletizing in that country usually with their scrap trees which are crooked and damaged (burls, and branch feathers)


Interesting. Come to think of it, some of our products do have "Product of ____" stickers on them. I shall look.

Reactions: Like 1


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