Introduction: Olympic Inspired Ice Skate Knife

By chasenmakes.com
About: I have always made things. My family has a history in the trades and we have always done a lot of work renovating our homes. As a child, I was encouraged to spend my days outside building tree forts and creati…

In this build, I decided to raid my growing pile of hoarded goods and find something quick and fun to build. I found the ice skates in the trash in Maine, because where else would you find ice skates? The delrin was found at an old maker space I was a part of. The entire cost of this project was less than a dollar and that was just for some epoxy.

Step 1: Breaking It Down Before Building It Up

I began the project by using a Dewalt multitool with the wood cutting blade to cut away the plastic piece holding the ice skate blade on.This was very messy and little white plastic pieces are now all over my shop.

Step 2: Time to Grind!

Then once disassembled, I took the blade to the grinding wheel to give it the shape I found desirable. I went through several iterations until I found a shape that did not resemble a banana. Don’t forget the most important step which is to keep the blade from getting to hot or it will lost it’s temper which will soften the metal and prevent it from holding an edge. To prevent this, drench it in water often.

Step 3: Volcano!!!!

Once I had the final shape I was happy with, I sized my delrin to a basic hand width and length, clamped it up-right and began drilling out the center to accomodate the knife blade. There are many ways to achieve this result such as cutting the delrin in two, carving out the center and then reattaching the sides with epoxy. However, I wanted to maintain the integrity and strength of the delrin, so I decided to drill out the center.

Step 4: That Sticky Stuff

Once drilled, I had to make room for the exact profile of the tang so I heated up the tang over a little torch and make repeated plunges into the delrin. Once hot, the delrin melts like any plastic, allowing the tang to slide all the way into it’s final resting place. A little epoxy in the hole and the ice skate blade was well on it’s way to becoming an actual knife.

Step 5: Let's Get the Shape

I let the epoxy cure for an hour then got to work shaping the handle. My personal preference is for a knife handle to be geometric. It has the most natural shape in my hands and provides more surface area for grip. Everyone has their own preference so take liberties with your own handle.

Step 6: Testing the Blade

Delrin is magical material that shapes like wood so using it on the Grizzly belt sander gave me terrific results. Once the final shape was perfected, I honed the blade and gave it a test in the kitchen. To my surprise, the blade actually held it’s temper throughout the project and cut beautifully in the kitchen.

Step 7: Thanks for Reading!

I am very happy with the final result and can see using this material in the future. While not the most beautiful knife in the world, it is a proof of concept that allowed me to utilize new materials which were 100% upcycled from the trash to make a completely useful object that will last forever.

I hope you enjoyed the read through and learned a little bit about the process. As always, don’t forget to head over to my Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Patreon page to show your support so that I can continue to make awesome content like this.

Thanks for reading!