3 Marking Knives for $1.09

About 10 years ago, I joined the United States Navy. I was engaged to be married at the time. While in training in San Diego, CA, I flew home at Christmas time and tied the knot with my wonderful wife and flew back to San Diego. Two months later, I had rented an apartment and my bride flew out to meet me. Our entire household goods were contained in the two suitcases she brought with her. Needless to say, we had to purcase a lot. Being a military income meant we had to buy it cheap. One of the many things we picked up was a set of four "steak knives" at the everything's a dollar type store. These were our knives for about a year until we bought a nicer set and they got pushed to the back of the drawer.

Nine years and five houses later, there is only one left. My wife gave it to me as a "shop knife" so that it was out of her kitchen. About six months ago, I found it kicking around out in the shop and decided I didn't need a shop knife, but I did need a spear point marking knife. I had purchased a right handed marking knife from a store a few months prior, and I have to say I wasn't completly pleased with it. It didn't hold an edge very well, and the whole handed thing was a pain in the neck. After using my shop made one for about six months, it is the marking knife I always reach for, even for opening packages, cutting string, etc.

I decided to spend a whole $1.09 to buy another pack of knives to demonstrate the process to y'all. What follows is a slide show of that process. It is pretty simple. Just make sure to quench your steel to keep it from over heating. As you can see in the last shot, my original still has its plastic handle, but it doesn't take much to make a handle. All told, for the three I made today, it took a total of three hours fifteen minutes. Enjoy.



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Until next time....