Custom Handmade Survival Knives
Heavy Duty Bushcraft Knives
Hand forged carbon steel from large, 3, 5 and 6 foot spent circular saw blade from the saw mills local to us. A molybdenum, nickel, chromium steel. These are very tough wear resistant steels.
We forge, anneal and heat treat. Hardened with the aid of clay for differential hardness, for tough spines, differential tempers for a cutting edge that is extremely strong. Cariboo Blades has been working with these steels for 25 years.
All the materials making the knives are sourced from the forest and logging industry in the interior of British Columbia, Canada and transformed by Cariboo Blades.
It is more work recovering lumber mill saw blade for the carbon steel. In our minds, it is worth it for the preferred qualities needed for a survival/ bush craft blade.
We leave the patinas and heat treatment colours on the blades. Patinas help protect against rust. A patina effectively seals in the steel. We leave the patinas and temper patterns and colours untouched on the finished blades created from the differential clay hardening and the differential temper. The patinas tell a story of how the knife has been made.
Maintaining your carbon steel blade is simply to wipe it dry after use. Make sure its sheath is dry. Once in awhile give your blade a wipe of oil especially before storing it.
Lumber mill saw blade carbon steel is the best steel for survival and bush craft knives. We know. They have been tried and tested. Lumber mill saw blade steel is tough, strong and wear resistant and doesn’t rust as much as a regular carbon steel because of the chromium content.
Some blades like planer blades, D2 steel with a high chromium content, act like stainless steel except they are high carbon and take and hold a keen edge.
A proven steel. A high quality carbon steel, a molybdenum, chromium, nickel steel.