Introduction: How to Make a Woodlore Clone

About: Survival expert
This is my first instructable! :) so I reserve my self from any misses or if I forgot to mention anything, please comment so that I can edit. As most of you bushcrafters/survivalists already know, the classic woodlore is one of the most popular knife designs out there. First developed by Ray Mears it quickly became a beloved blade and as the popularity increased so did the prices and the waiting lists. In this instructable I will show you how to make an pretty easy copy. You will need: 1. Steel (preferably o1) 2. Files, sandpaper, some power tools if you prefer. 3. Blow torch 4. Wood (old and dry, you could also buy scales). 5. Oil, any kind would work but I used sunflower oil. 6. An oven BE CAREFUL MANY OF THE PROCESSES USED IN THIS INSTRUCTABLE ARE DANGEROUS!

Step 1: Template

To start of you need a template, you can find your templates on google or do as I did and design your own.

Step 2: Shaping

Draw your template on a suitable piece of steel, I used an arc of O1 tool steel then used an angle grinder to cut it out (you could use an hacksaw). This process took about an hour for me. Then you drill out holes for the pins in the handle and just briefly grind a Scandi shape on the blade it self, remember to leave about a millimeter on the cutting surface for the hardening process!

Step 3: Hardening and Tempering

Now that you've shaped your blade to your likings it's time to harden the blade. I used an blow torch for this, I simply moved the blade over the flames until it became no longer magnetic and then dipped the blade in a container of sunflower oil. (Be careful, the oil will burst into flames). At this stage the steel becomes very hard and brittle, just like glass. Time for the next step! Tempering, to make the steel less brittle I put my blade in the oven on 200*C for one and a half hour, I then repeated this process once.

Step 4: Adding Scales

To be honest with you this part did not go as planned and I ended up with a lack of glue and pictures. Basically now all you do is glue one side of scales on and then drill thorough the wood. Then what you do is that you put in your pins and/or lanyard hole ( I used a piece of copper pipe for this very simple). Then you drill holes in the other scale and slide it glued on to the pins. Shaping the handle: This is dead easy but very time consuming, all you do is work on it with a file until the shape resembles what you are satisfied with. The original woodlore has a very complex shape of the handle which I did not completely achieve, but hey! At least I tried ;)

Step 5: Pimping

In this step you add linseed oil or gun stock oil to your handle to make it more weather proof and durable, you could also polish the handle with wax to make it shiny.

Step 6: Sharpening

In this step you polish the blade with very fine sand paper and then sharpen the blade to an about 45* angle. You could finish with wet stones and stropping until you get it razor sharp!