Stylish Pen Knife of Upcycled Bamboo

Hello again! This is a short Instructable on how to to make a stylish pen knife for your work place. It takes about 5-6 hours (not counting drying time for glue). Fairly easy -the do or die part is the final sanding and polishing .

Material needed: thin pieces of bamboo, small pieces of black or red plastic( preferrably Micarta or other plastic suitable for glueing and sanding), wood glue, drum sander, band saw. And a nice knife blade with a long thin shaft.

Knifes and tools are sharp. Be careful if you are not used to handlig sharp tools. put a few layers of tape on the knife blade while working. This will protect your fingers somewhat. And the blade from unwanted sanding marks.

I hope you enjoy! All comments/ suggestions/questions welcome! /Frederik

Step 1: Glueing Bamboo

Glue together thin pieces of Bamboo as you see in picture. Wood glue works fine.

Step 2: Sawing

Saw the glued bamboo into pieces matching the size of the knife handles height and width ( not lenght). Sneak a peak at next step, which clarifies what I mean. Hopefully.

Also saw pieces of plastic (or possibly metal) for the end pieces of the handle.

Step 3: Drilling

Drill holes in all pieces to allow them to fit on the knife shaft. See photo how to find middle.

Step 4: More Glueing! (OMG!)

Now glue the subsections together on the knife's shaft. Sort of like collecting berries on straw. An analogy which probably means nothing to younger generations... Berries? Straw!? What is he talking about!

Step 5: Sawing and Sanding!

Saw/sand your knife handle to the shape you prefer. A band saw and a drum roll sander are useful here. You can also do it by using only files or even a carpenters knife. But it will take you looonger....

Step 6: Fine Sanding, Polishing and Oiling

Spend time finely sanding the handle. Start with 150 grit and gradually switch to finer papers( 250, 400, 600 and 1000). No cheating!

Put some oil or varnish on it! Watch the colours appear!

Step 7: Optional Knife Stand

By using a block of wood you can make a fancy desk stand for your knife!

Comments

[sturcotte1]

awesome and straight forward. now Im probably going to stop using my scrap clums as tinder!

[sharkstudio]

very nice, i ve got a lot of bamboo in my garden and a forge...

[afield4]

I found some bamboo in the form of plant label pegs, soon as the blade arrives I can crack on. Thank for sharing a great idea.

[afield4]

Excellent ible, Where did you get the bamboo from? I would love to make one myself with a sheath :)

[ffrisell]

Hi afield4!
Thanks! I used some old ´bamboo pieces for mounting a mosquito net... Not sure where to buy bamboo. Here in Zambia I have access to big bamboo "logs". I will have to try to saw them into flat pieces at some Point. But I am not sure how well it will cut...

/Frederik

[bruce5000]

i love the look of the bamboo i have a picture from a knife sight were some one in the philopens use a bamboo root to make a handle on a chopper i dont know how to send it

into flat pieces at some Point. But I am not sure how well it will cut... i live in the US no were near any baboon is that a hard wood i wa thinking saw some think strips

[ffrisell]

Here is Another photo of the texture of the handle/Frederik

[Mr AbAk]

Truly awesome ible...

This ible is so easy and well descriptive...And the most important thing is that it is upcycled...We loved that cute texture on the knife...

And you have done a great job on the images...

Just the perfect number of steps have been written...The final product is very nice...

[ffrisell]

Thank you Mr AbAk! Bamboo has a very nice texture/grain when the sections with cut fibres is polished. Here is another photo!

/Frederik

[amekdala]

awesome

[ffrisell]

Thanks!

[kooler]

wow.. that bamboo looks very nice as a knife handle

[ffrisell]

Thanks! Bamboo tends to turn out nicely. Just remember to place the fibres in a direction so they will be "cut". If you put the fibres along the lenght of the handle the result would be less interesting!

/Frederik

[jesse4015]

Inspiring. And simple. What kind of blade is that?

[ffrisell]

Thanks Jesse4015! The blade is a scandinavian (most likely Finnish) "Puronvarsi 75". It is described as " Yrjo Puronvarsi blades are hammered out of old Krupp carbon steel, and are unique with their rombic transversal section, they are thickest in the middle where the gridline begins."

/Frederik

[SphereX]

Nice craftsmanship. Like a small Samurai katana.

[ffrisell]

Thank you! Yes, it does have a certain Japanese look to it.

[jjdebenedictis]

Beautiful! That close-up shot really shows how gorgeous the bamboo turned out.

[ffrisell]

Thanks jjdebenedictis!

/Frederik

[bruce5000]

ill say that is one very nice handle keep up the good work thank.s