Project Kephart: Part 2

My wooden Kephart Knife template is complete.

In part one of our Kephart Knife project, I outlined the history of the blade, its creator, and began a discussion with knifemaker William Woods on steel selection and the process to make my own custom knife.

Will not only sent me a CAD drawing of a Kephart blank, but has also been kind enough to allow TTAK to post the design for those of you who want to work along with me at home.  Save the picture, edit it in the program of your choice- scaling it so the overall length of tang and blade is 9″, and print.

William Woods’s Kephart knife pattern.

The next step is to cut out the paper template, glue (spray adhesive works well, as do glue sticks) to a 1/8″ thick piece of wood or cardboard, and cut out the rough shape of the blank.  I did this on a bandsaw, but you can use a jigsaw, keyhole saw, etc. if you wish.  Then using sandpaper or a stationary sander to creep up on the final outline.  A hand file works well to shape the finger guard.

Using a stationary sander, sand away the remaining wood up to the pattern outline.

Will is supposed to send me a piece of D2 steel to fabricate the blank later this week.  Special thanks are again in order to Will for providing us all with a pattern for this project.  More posts to come as work progresses.