Build a Beginner Knife Shop For $100

This guy decided to make a video showing that you don’t have to spend a pile of money and have a bunch of fancy tools to make a knife. And while we know that’s true — after all, the American Indians made plenty of sharp stuff without sanders and drills — it’s cool to see that mindset of using commonly-available tools and materials transformed to the reality of today’s environment of plentiful cheap tools.

To that end, he bought tools and materials from Harbor Freight Tools for $101 and change, to show that if you have a table or some other sort of work area, you too can make a knife.

The most questionable thing he does is chop a small dolly up to make the handle scales. This seems wasteful, but as he observes, you don’t have to throw away the rest of it.

For the blade, he uses a hunk he cuts from a circular-saw blade — also from Harbor Freight. Heat treatment is done in small fires built in his gravel driveway, along with a toaster oven.

He did have to hit the grocery store and drop $5 on other stuff… he had a hard time finding vegetable oil at Harbor Freight.

All in all, this shows how you can make a fairly decent knife without a bunch of fancy stuff… heck, most of us probably have everything we need out in the shed or garage. And it’s never a bad time to make something by hand… especially a useful tool that you can show off to your pals.

Enjoy.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.