There is something satisfying about taking a rusty circular saw blade and a piece of firewood and turning them into a finished knife. Make & Test did exactly that, building a push dagger entirely from materials already sitting at home, since the blade was no longer good for cutting and the wood was headed for the fire anyway. As a first knife, it is a confident piece of work.
The build itself follows a solid, methodical order. A paper template was traced onto the steel with a marker, the rough shape came out with an angle grinder and a cutoff wheel, and the final outline was defined on a bench grinder. Rust came off first with a wire cup brush. Pin positions were laid out with vernier calipers, center punched, and drilled on a drill press, two holes in total. What stands out most to me is the bevel work: the maker ground the blade with a linear-travel surface grinding fixture running a cup grinding wheel with coolant, which seems a smart way to keep both edges even on a double-edged point.
The finished dagger has a diamond-shaped spear point, a T-shaped grip in light hardwood, brass pins with black liners, and vine filework cut by hand into the exposed spine, filled with black-pigmented epoxy. The blade was buffed on a polishing wheel and the handle got a spray clear coat. It is displayed point-down in a pale curved piece of wood.
One trade-off to note: this is meant for display only, so it was not heat treated or sharpened properly. The wood species is also unconfirmed, though the maker says it looks like curly maple.
Project by Make & Test. Watch it on their YouTube channel: