Drawknife

[mklotz]

Cool! I've learned something new today! One of my questions is answered, anyway. Now to find the answer to one more...

Thanks Marv!

Bill

They're smart enough to be able to sequence operations needed to achieve a goal...

something most teenagers have trouble with today.

They understand some physics as well. I couldn't find a video of it but I know I've seen videos of them dropping stones into a container of water to raise the water level to the point where they could reach a floating tidbit.

[Toolmaker51]

I'm sure a post like that is right here in HMT.net; a bird in a plexi box trips a latch thru a hole with a twig.

To augment this discussion, a certain distinction I'll point out. 'We' create tools to accomplish what we'd LIKE to do, for varied motivations. Anything from howitzers, envelope stuffing machines, keys and locks, marital aids, weather balloons, a rudder; an endless list.

Creatures utilize/ alter things to accomplish what they NEED to do.
Only real difference is level of sophistication; part is passed down, part is on the spot creativity.

And Mr. K's illustration of birds dropping stones into a container to float something within reach, I'd say connects to the old fable of Aesop's “The Crow and the Pitcher”, he must have observed something alike.

[DIYer]

Thanks Philip Davies! We've added your Drawknife to our Knife Making category,
as well as to your builder page: Philip Davies's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Drawknife by Philip Davies

tags: wood, knife

[Seamus]

Attachment 39884
This is the first time I have forged any tool from an old file, so I approached hardening with some trepidation. Because it could break or distort. Using a process described in “Practical Blacksmithing” (ed MT Richardson, pub. 1891), I used linseed oil, which gave it a very attractive shiny black, but of course, to temper it, I had to grind it back a bit and polish it somewhat. Then I laid it on a red hot steel bar I had bent to the curve along the back to draw it to, mostly brown, with touches of purple, before sharpening. It is not especially attractive, or refined, but I do not mind so long as it retains an edge and does not break. That it is so obviously homemade shows some accomplishment, I think. The blade is 8” long & 7/8” wide. Attachment 39885
The handles are salvaged from the bottom of a chest of drawers. I like this style, and is fitted to short tangs.