I've spent years thinking about carrying a large knife in my EDC bag, something I could use to chop, pry, scrape, or any other task that I would not want to use my blades, or multitools for. Mainly due to
Michigan's restrictions on large knife carry, I kept coming back to the
County Comm Breacher Bar, but being the super thrifty person that I am, I could never talk myself into buying what pretty much amounted to a plain hunk of steel, with some holes in it and bevels on it.
Then one day as I was seriously contemplating buying one, I said to myself "It just seems like a lot of money for something I could make...". And yes, it was at that moment I actually listened to myself, and thought "Wait a minute!"
So I stopped by the local fabricator, and had them chop me off 12 inches of 1 inch by 1/4 inch steel. Not sure exactly what kind it is, it's the stuff they use for making snow plows, and repairing farm implements.
First thing I did was mark and center punch for the three holes needed for the handle wrap. Pretty simple process, drew a center line, held it in my fist, and marked about a half inch either side. I then put it in the vice and hand drilled three 7/32 inch holes.
Then I took it to the rough stone on the bench grinder, rounded the corners on the handle end, smoothed out any rough edges, and partially profiled the bevels. I went slow, making sure I did not grind any part to the point where it was too hot to hold.
I then took a round file and smoothed out the edges of the holes, so that they would not snag on paracord. After that, I put a 36 count disc on my hand grinder and finished the bevels. This was followed by a 120 count to make everything flat and even, and finally a 3M Scotch Brite disc to remove all the swirl marks. The long edge has a false edge similar to a lawnmower blade, the chisel end is to the point where it is almost sharp, and the "coffin comer" is sharp and ready to be finished on a stone.
I did not want to sharpen the chisel edge until I made a Kydex sleeve to store it in, (have to get some rivets yet) and I'm going to leave the false edge on the long edge, ready to be finished up with a file if needed. Just to keep any chance of it being not considered a tool to a minimum.
After all the machine work was done I took it to the wire brush and removed the noncorrosive coating that comes on the steel from the factory. This was followed by a through washing and drying. I used Rust-Oleum to paint it, not too concerned about the working end, but I wanted to make sure that any moisture in the paracord did not lead to corrosion underneath it. I picked Rust-Oleum Camo Black, I wanted something non-reflective, but I don't like the chalky look that can come with "flat" paint sometimes. This was done in a dozen or so light coats over several days.
Finally, when the paint had sufficiently dried and hardened, I gave it a standard two layered paracord wrap with a wrist lanyard.
The results:
Not too bad for the prototype (IMO), I'm going to have to see how the edges hold up and whether or not it will be worth getting it hardened.
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