Making carving knife - blacksmithing, bark sheath, burl handle and bushcraft trip

Making and using a carving knife. I forge the blade from coil spring, carve the handle from birch burl, make the sheath from elm bark and use the knife on a bushcraft trip. Open the full video description for more information.

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Date: June 2024

Day: about 20°C (59°F)
Night: about 10°C (50°F)

Hours of daylight = about 16

Location: Scandinavia, Northwest Denmark - sea, spruce/pine and hardwood forrest. Some of the most remote in Denmark, but limited how remote it can get. A lot of birds and deers etc. No bears, only a few wolves.

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A few questions:

1. What steel did you use?
Spring steel - coil from unknown farming equipment.

2. What wood did you use?
Birch burl.

3. What bark did you use?
Elm.

4. How did you heat treat the knife blade?
Normalizing in air, hardening in oil, tempering on a hot piece of steel to a light yellow collar cutting edge and a blue collar spine.

5. Did you drill a hole in the handle before burning the final fit?
Yes.

6. What glue did you use?
Epoxy.

7. Can you tell me more about the knife design?
Yes - just a typical scandinavian sloyd knife - for general crafting/wood working.

8. Why use water on the anvil?
It helps removing scale/keeps the steel cleaner. Scale is hard and will be forged into the surface leaving a rough finish. No problem doing the rough forging, but for the final heats is water on the anvil a great way to achieve a smooth forged finish

9. Is the blacksmith setup inside a tent?
Yes - a large lavvu/tent. Just made from cheap tarps, spruce poles and nails. Nothing fancy... Made it last winter.

10. What blower do you use in the blacksmith shop?
One made in Denmark for the danish military. Similar is common for blacksmithing - if you want one try to google "Hand crank forge air blower" or similar.

12. What axe are you using for making the handle and spoon?
C45 steel, oak handle and oak sheath. Made it a few weeks ago - Here is a video of how I made it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKrGGrvxJ9U&t=629s

13. Where did you get the anvil from?
Forklift fork, cut with angle grinder and heat treated like an anvil.

14. Do you sell?
No - only locally and only very limited amount. I would like to make a few "give aways" every year... Like an axe made by me and a knife made by me etc. Not sure how or when, but I will let you know.

15. How did you learn blacksmithing?
I learned the basics from watching youtube videos - trial and error. Also learned from a few skilled local/danish blacksmiths. It was my fulltime job for a few years and on off is it still my job. My father/grand father was not blacksmiths. Still a lot to learn and a lot to try for the first time.

16. What is you're full time job?
Youtube and on off making and selling axes and wooden spoons.

17. Where do you live?
At the moment is my home the tent/blacksmith shop shown in the video. The tent is on my own property - a tiny piece of a larger nature reserve in Northwest Denmark.

18. What have you been up to the last two years?
Just enjoying bushcraft trips in Denmark and simple living. Living in a tent/lavvu makes all mundane household tasks take a lot of time time. On off making and selling axes and on off doing youtube. A few trips to the Italian alps to help a friend renovating a traditional stone cabin.

19. Why not forge weld?
It is future videos.

20. What materials are you're old carving knife made from?
Laminated blade from mild steel and an old file. Birch burl handle and birch bark sheath. Made it a few years ago.

21. Where is the woodpecker nest?
Near the blacksmith shop. In the footage can you see the male giving way for the female - both parents is very busy feeding the chicks. Soon the chicks can fly and will leave the nest. I have visited the woodpeckers a few times - once together with Morten Hilmer, a friend and professional wildlife photographer. His next video will include the trip - published in 1-2 weeks https://www.youtube.com/mortenhilmer

22. What tarp did you use?
A canvas tarp made by Tschum in Germany. It is a prototype - for more information contact https://tschum.de

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Some of the gear used in the video:

1. Pants = Klättermusen Gere 02
2. Axe and knife = homemade
3. Boots - Lundhags Forest
4. Backpack = Eberlestock Mainframe F1
5. Tarp = Tschum

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Camera gear:

Nikon D7000
Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 20mm 2.8
Nikon 300mm 4.5
Røde videomic NTG
iMovie

Видео Making carving knife - blacksmithing, bark sheath, burl handle and bushcraft trip канала Bertram - Craft and Wilderness