Anatomy of a Knife
My husband Rudy Wehner, a retired knife maker, began to make knifes in a small shed in the back yard.
There was no other knife makers around at that time back in the 70s.
He read books, to learn what he could. He took an old leaf spring which came from and old car.
It was not a flat piece of metal, so he had to heat it, to flatten it.
He dug a hole and placed some bricks around it, then filled it with charcoal bricketts.
When the charcoad was burning good, he took a vacuum cleaner and used it to blow on the coals to generate more heat.
When very hot he put the leaf sping in the fire until it was red hot.
He then took it out and paced it in some old motor oil to quince it. The motor oil, must have had
some other chemicals because it hissed up and singed his eyebrows. He did this until he got it straight enough to cut out his blade
Then he spent about four months cleaning, hand sanding and putting a handle on it.
He made a large bowie knife. He said you should never make a large knife for your first knife.
He was proud of his work and took it to work to show it off. The guys like it a lot.
One of them suggested he raffle it. The raffle was for 50 cents. He made a hundred and fifty dollars for his first knife.