The trick was finding the right stock knife. In my case, I wanted something I did not have to do too much modification on the blade and one that also had a wooden handle with enough stock to let me do some simple carving.
I found both in the chunky "Outback" style steak knives. I found a number of them in the many Thrift stores around my home, ranging from 25 cents to a dollar. (I love to repurpose)
I also looked in my local restuarant supply store in Daytona and found them for a moderate price new. The pictures you will see here all all thrift store knives that cost less than a dollar a peice.
The first step for me is to use a flat punch and a hammer to tap the three rivits in so the handles are tight.
After this I grind the seration off the front edge of the blade and then sand the handle down a bit to expose the grain to carving and staining. By carving and woodburning you can do all kinds of fun things with the generous amount of wood in these handles. I even found it was not difficult to apply a peice of tape to the blade and use the dremel to enscribe some runes or designs on the face of the blade. These blades are springy, flexible steel but thicker than most so they make serviceable belt knifes and wilth a simple Nordic type pocket sheath or Gotland type sheath they look very respectable, with not too great an investment that it smarts to give it away.
All in all not a bad project, I know some junior Rangers that have been looking for some starter knives and I think this could be a very managable afternoon class.
