Making an Ulu from a saw blade

An Ulu is a herb chopping knife. These are great for rock chopping. I made this one from an old hydraulic hose-cutting saw blade.
Check out Shady Grady in Instagram: / shadygrady_edc
Subscribe to Simple Little Life: www.youtube.co....
Watch More Simple Little Life: www.youtube.co....
Follow Simple Little Life:
Facebook: / simplelittlelife
Instagram: / simplelittlelife.ca
Follow Homestead Knives:
Facebook: / hsknives
Official Website: simplelittleli...
Knife Store: homesteadknive...
Watch More Simple Little Life:
Latest Uploads: www.youtube.co....
Popular Videos: www.youtube.co....
Knife Making: www.youtube.co....
DIY: www.youtube.co....
About Simple Little Life:
This channel has sort of turned (inadvertently) into a knife making channel. But the original idea behind what we wanted it to be is this description below:
Videos on our journey to homesteading. With a recent purchase of a little piece of the Alberta prairie, we're looking to sell our nice suburban home in search of a more meaningful life beyond chasing the "American dream" working for some big company and making someone else rich. It's not about the money, it's about getting the most value from the work I do to improving the life of my family.
Some preparedness, DIY, building quality things with your hands, guns, gear, and outdoor exploration.
Mailing Address:
Box 6, Site 16 RR2
Strathmore, Alberta
Canada
T1P 1K5

[@krombopulosrick7920]

Canadian with inuit family here. They use those to skin whales. Ulus are skinning knifes. I have one with a whale bone handle and brass arm.

[@theoneandonlyowl3764]

I watched an Inuit woman on some show (Life below Zero?) She and her girls seemed to use them for everything. Practice and skill I'm guessing.

[@kaiyoshizaki5021]

a quick google search tells me it could be made from M2 steel, “High-speed tool steel, has been around for a while. Popular choice for custom knives and high end and limited edition production knives as well. Gerber was using it as far back as in 90s. As a high speed tool steel M2 can hold its temper even at very high temperatures, and as such is used in industry for high-heat cutting jobs such as drill bits and other metal cutting instruments.”

[@UniqueGrinnell]

Beautiful!

[@ckneelakantaraj7829]

Excellent skill. No one will believe that this thing of beauty is made out of a rusty circular saw blade. Congratulations.

[@spencerbass7142]

Amazing, it would be a nice addition to the kitchen.

[@patrickdawe9885]

So cool that Princess Auto sponsored and is selling micarta! That place was already a toy store. They have these great one foot square adhesive back wood veneers that are awesome for quick inlays.

[@Simplelittlelife]

Yeah I’m super stoked about it. My dad used to take me there when I was a little kid and mad I love that place. Always walked out with a small bag of electric motors or something. Those sound cool. I haven’t seen them but I’m going to look next time I’m there. 👍

[@augie.7]

About a year ago I made a few Ulu's and ran into the same issue you did. Had to find inventive ways to deal with the odd shape. I enjoyed making them because of the challenge.

[@anfielddragon5320]

Very useful kitchen tool, my grandmother had one in Ecuador, great idea, great how -to vid, and inspirational, My next winter project. Cheers.

[@larshoneytoast722]

Also some belt grinders can use a, for lack of a better term, "pinching" attachment for the small wheel attachment so you can grind things with a deeper throat like that knife handle

[@Simplelittlelife]

Yeah I’ve seen those. They look super slick. I’ve thought about making one and more and more I realize how handy they would be. 👍

[@RusticByNature]

good looking ulu

[@RedBeardOps]

Man, that looks like a tough grind!

[@joecoastie99]

glad to see a knife vid! I made an Ulu about a year ago. I found it to be somewhat odd/difficult to grind because of the shape. Came out great though! Thanks for the vid!

[@harryvanniekerk7269]

Mission Accomplished. Well done Jeremy

[@mrrberger]

Jeremy, simply cover the nose roller on the horizontal belt grinder with a spindle sander roll and then use an old belt tracked high over it to provide drive, I do this a lot when making throwing stars. I also cut down the drum roll as is wears to get fresh contact grit.

[@jamesbarisitz4794]

I'd like to see the steel sheet on that disk metal. No sparks on grinder, maybe all alloys? A small shop knife out of that would be a neat long term test. If it's really amazing, that would actually suck. Hard to get more material without some research. ✌

[@Simplelittlelife]

That is a good idea. I’m also going to try and shop for those hose blades and see if that search could give me some info. 👍

[@remodz6385]

Looks good. Now you need to make a Ulu Bowl/Board to go with it. It will work 10x better than a flat cutting board.

[@Simplelittlelife]

Thank you. Yeah I’ve heard of those. Might be a nice compliment to this little knife. Maybe I could turn one on my metal lathe 😆👍

[@kmonnier]

Great build! I love ulus!

[@pauldevey8628]

Another great video. Princess Auto is supposed to start carrying casting equipment. Wohoo!

[@Simplelittlelife]

Thank you so much! Really? I hadn’t heard that but that would be sweet! I think these moves their doing are strong. There are so many people into these “odd” activities that only a few years ago were obscure. I hope it goes well for them and they keep bringing in more and more. 👍

[@pauldevey8628]

@@Simplelittlelife I think I read it on the bi-weekly flyer a while ago. I may be mistaken.

[@jimsjacob]

Wow, that is impressively sharp!

[@lowtidecustoms1166]

Super cool project!! Nice work J

[@blacksmithdn]

An Ulu is so nice

[@thegreatconvergence8422]

Nice work man, I copied you using a 10" table saw blade that had missing teeth, I'm not a knife maker so it's a bit rough but I think the Ulu is my new favourite knife

[@Haven17ful]

you say it rusted quite easily...... that's because its VERY high in Carbon content. Japanese expert chefs have sushi knives that have a very high carbon content would have to wipe their knives after each cut through a wet piece of fish because the wetness would nearly instantly cause the knife to rust... the powder you mention.. high powder manufactured steel.... very good ....

[@willw7595]

Nice cutter build Jeremy.

[@donhalligan7279]

Thanks Jeremy, love your videos and need to pmake a ulu for my kitchen! Will be interested to know how the edge holds over time.

[@benraya9405]

🤔🤔 I just sold a old Ulu that I found in a second hand store. Now, I have a lot of sawblades from carpenter shop. Lets see if I can replicate the same spark. Thanks, Jer.

[@colegerstenkorn2888]

I could be very wrong as I am no expert however from what I've read the steel for those saw blades could be something like a m42 high speed tool steel I also work for a company called metal supermarkets and I have had to cut that steel before and I noticed the powder like shavings you were describing while I was cutting that. Like I say I am no expert and I could be very wrong just a best geuss

[@Simplelittlelife]

Interesting. Thanks for that. I’m going to do a little more research into these blades and see what I can find out. I shop at Metal Supermarkets all the time! Love that store. A few of the fine folks at my local one actually know me by name I’m in there so much😆👍

[@colegerstenkorn2888]

@@Simplelittlelife happy to share what I know thanks for the response I'm a big fan

[@emochinchilla]

Nice!

[@theoneandonlyowl3764]

Nice Ulu. As long as it working in the kitchen (or field), holds an edge, or easily resharpened... I wouldn't care too much about the metal discolouring. Nice job.

[@SuperRobertheath]

I had to machine some steel called AR. Abrasion resistant. It didn’t have chips or curls during cutting. It was almost like sand, kinda gritty. I wonder if that is the same?

[@Simplelittlelife]

Oh that’s interesting. Sounds very similar in how it machines and grinds. Could very well be. I’m getting more curious now and I’m going to start doing a little digging. I also wonder if I needed a higher temp during hardening. The rabbit holes we get ourselves into 👍

[@ronfox5519]

Ftw, ive never seen AR in sheet. Doesnt mean that it doesnt exist, but the stuff i worked with was brittle, so it would make sense if they didnt make it in sheet.

[@larshoneytoast722]

Have you tried the masking tape and super glue trick from john Saunders at nyc cnc for drilling handle scales?

[@Simplelittlelife]

No I haven’t ever tried that. I should give it a go one of these days. Sounds like a slick solution👍

[@spicytunaroll0171]

Where did you get your automatic center hole punch? I’ve only ever found the little cheap brass ones that don’t work too well

[@ttoddh1]

You may or may not know the ulu was almost deemed illegal in Canada because it is possible to see it as a push dagger. Our wonderful law makers had to be clued in as to what the ulu meant and of its First Nations history. Thankfully the ulu was given its own status as a legal knife to own and use. SMH at our over-regulated system of laws.

[@Astrogazzr]

Access to a plasma cutter would save a tremendous amount of time in cutting.

[@Simplelittlelife]

Yeah it would.

[@kenvang9237]

How hard would it be to do a s grind on kitchen ulu knives? I assume it'll be hard since the curve and if you don't have the right equipment/tools.

[@Simplelittlelife]

I think it would be quite difficult but it would look so cool!

[@Sub-AmatuerNaturalist]

wondering were you buy your steel?

[@nunolarsen]

What is the price for an ulu like that?😊

[@lunkydog]

Look at how Kyle Royer checks for symmetry making his sword bolsters/guard. Draws one side and keeps tracing the other side.

[@Simplelittlelife]

I’ll have to look into that, thank you!👍

[@lunkydog]

@@Simplelittlelife It's a very good method and if you know his work, you know how amazing his craftsmanship is. The particular video I'm thinking of is probably from the sword before the last one, but he's done it a few times, even used it to verify a dagger is symmetrical.

[@random_eskimo_in_the_rockies]

Where that comes from a saw blade, there's a good chance it is either 8670 or L6. Both are common saw blade steels.

[@kenlautsch4410]

Beautiful job on knife I agree o vinegar patina I like using Frenchs mustard the shape of is very user friendly right or left wish I could post a pic of the mustard patina pm me if you want see it sometime

[@1averageamerican]

Another great video Jeremy. Thanks for sharing. Did you try annealing the metal before cutting with your portable bandsaw?

[@1averageamerican]

Just heard you say you annealed the blade. Lol! That's what I get for asking a question before watching the whole video.

[@RLSteffler]

10:25 Drop forged

[@albertosbrolla8424]

👍🏻

[@billhatcher2984]

Mustard treat the blade then at least you have some controll

[@shadyeskimo]

Ulo is for butchering seals and whales........

[@Simplelittlelife]

Or chopping herbs and other things too….