Introduction: Knife-Wielding Cooking Trophy

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About: This account is from an old side-project and is no longer monitored. Please follow david0429, as that is the account I use from now on

Every year, my friends and I have a cooking competition. And, every year it gets more elaborate and more competitive. Because of this escalation, I figured we needed a trophy to honour the occasion! This trophy is kept by the winner until the following year.

Supplies

Extra Files: https://github.com/ExplodedViewProjects/KnifeFist

Ingredients

Tools

Step 1: Safety

This should go without saying, but if you attach a sharp knife with an exposed blade to anything, it can be dangerous. Keep the blade away from children and irresponsible adults, or use a spoon instead.

Step 2: Make the Hand

To get started, I went to the local thrift store and I bought the gnarliest looking knife I could find. I took a couple of pictures of it and brought those into Blender for reference. Inside Blender I modeled it the best that I could, ignoring the fatter section inside the middle of the knife. I planned to split the knife handle into two pieces and slide the two ends into the hand. That would be easier and cleaner than making the hand in multiple pieces.

Once the knife-handle model was made, I brought in this model of a hand that I found on Thingiverse. I didn't create it. (Hulk Hands 3D Model). Using a boolean modifier, I removed the section in the fist where the knife would be inserted.

I 3D printed the hand. Since it didn't need to be super, super accurate, I printed it with a 0.2 mm layer thickness. In my model, I also added an extra hole right up through the bottom that was big enough for an m8 screw. I also made this hole using a boolean modifier.

I used a tap to add threads to the bolt hole. You could do this with the bolt itself and some patience.

Step 3: Create the Base

I had a large piece of walnut wood left over from the Lego table that I previously made, so I chopped it down to make two of the sides nice and flat. I cut one of the sides on an angle just to add a little artsy flair to it so it didn’t resemble a brick.

To attach it to the base, I took the printed hand and I traced around the outside of it on a piece of paper. I flipped it over and marked as closely as I could where the hole should be.

Using the tracing, I marked the block where the hole would go. I marked the top and bottom because the block was too tall for my drill press. I also needed a different size of hole on each end of the block.

Step 4: Drill the Bolt Hole

Using the drill press, I made a hole large enough for the shaft of the m8 bolt to fit. Flipping the block over, I made a much larger hole in the bottom with a spade bit so that the head of the bolt would be recessed in the bottom of the block. I tried my best to line these up, but they didn't line up perfectly. Luckily, they were close enough that it worked.

Step 5: Modify the Knife

The knife needed to be modified. The handle flared out at both ends, which meant it couldn’t slide into the hole made in blender. It needed to be cut into 2 pieces so each end could slide in separately. Also, since the knife was flared in the middle, that needed to be removed as well. Using a manual saw, and cutting as close to the tang as possible, I made the 2 cuts.

Once the knife was cut down, I used some sandpaper and cleaned the pieces up as best I could. I used 120 grit sandpaper followed by 220 to get a pretty smooth surface finish. I did the same kind of treatment to the base as well.

Step 6: Seal It Up

Now that the knife and base were all sanded down, I used some wipe-on polyurethane. I usually cut up an old t-shirt, but better cloths that don't lose lint/fuzz would help. Make sure to use latex gloves to protect your hands and make cleanup much easier.

Step 7: Clean Up the Hand

Now it was time to clean up the hand. Coats of spray filler primer were used to fill the gaps between the layers. Two-twenty (220) grit sandpaper was used between every layer of primer. It ended up taking about six coats of primer and a whole bunch of sanding to get it smooth, but it was just time and it ended up turning out pretty well.

Step 8: Gettin' Glitzy

Now that the hand was smooth, it was time to make it a trophy! Obnoxious gold spray-paint to the rescue! This was a trophy for an annual competition that was becoming pretty heated, so it needed to be fairly obnoxious. Bragging rights went to whomever won it!

Step 9: Attach the Knife

Once the spray paint had dried overnight a little bit of five-minute epoxy to hold the knife in place was all that was needed.

Step 10: Victory!

I ended up 3D printing a couple of small labels with the names of past winners, as well as the name of the contest. I used some five-minute epoxy to stick them on and highlighted them with more gold paint.

I was pretty happy with how this trophy turned out. Going forward, whoever wins it has it proudly on display in their home and it has become even more motivation for the “losers”