American Farmers: Facing a Cutoff at the Start

As Leila entered the garage, she immediately spotted the gleaming kitchen knife on the worktable.

Fett took a folding knife out of his pocket and placed it in front of Lyra.

She first picked up the kitchen knife, weighed it in her hand, and then tried swinging it a couple of times. She couldn't help but exclaim, "This feels so good! It would be perfect for cutting vegetables. I'll make you lunch in a bit!"

Fett laughed and said, "Sure! I'll help out in a bit."

She put down the kitchen knife, her gaze fell on the folding knife next to her, and she couldn't take her eyes off it.

The rough antler handle, the mysterious acid-washed patterns, and the small, exquisite size.

"Fate, this is so beautiful!"

Lyra held it in her hands, gently pushing the blade aside with her thumb, listening to the crisp click of the blade locking, her eyes filled with delight:

"The previous 'King' was impressive, but it was too big; I couldn't carry it around with me normally."

"But this little folding knife..."

She looked up at Fett, her eyes filled with anticipation:

"Could I play one of these too?"

"I don't want an antler handle, a wooden handle is fine. I just want a little gadget to carry around with me."

"Sure, what's so difficult about that?"

As Fett added coal to the stove, he readily agreed:

"Once this camping knife is finished, I'll make one specifically for you. You can choose the handle material yourself; whatever you want is fine."

"Then I want the Osage Orange Wood one, I like that!"

"good!"

Flames leaped up, dispelling the chill of the garage.

Fett used an angle grinder to cut a suitable length from the thick spring and threw it into the fire to heat it.

While waiting for the steel to heat up, he picked up a piece of chalk and sketched a draft on the workbench.

Since it's a camping knife, the more functions the better.

The handle can be made into a hollow cylinder, with the middle hollowed out and the end tapped and fitted with a metal cap.

This creates a sealed compartment inside the knife handle, into which you can stuff in waterproof matches, tinder, fishing hooks or lines, or magnesium rods, turning it into a portable survival pod.

It's best to have a row of sharp serrations cut into the back of the blade for sawing wood or cutting rope.

As for the outer layer of the handle, it would be best to tightly wrap it with military green seven-core paracord.

The handle made of rope, though not as comfortable as a wooden handle, is non-slip and absorbent, and can be unraveled into a sturdy rope several meters long in a pinch.

As for the blade tip, choose a slanted tip, and the blade should be wider as it gets closer to the tip, so it can be used as a shovel to dig soil when necessary.

"Cutting, sawing, starting fires, storing, ropes..."

As Fett looked at the sketch, the basic shape of the camping straight knife gradually took shape in his mind.

A few minutes later, the spring steel was heated to a dazzling bright orange color.

Fett brushed aside the charcoal, picked up the red-hot steel with long-handled tongs, and slammed it heavily onto the anvil.

"when!"

The first hammer blow sent sparks flying.

He swung the eight-pound sledgehammer, striking it with a steady rhythm.

With a dull thud, the stubborn spiral spring gradually yielded and was forcibly straightened.

Fett picked up the red-hot iron rod and squinted at it.

It's straight now.

He put the front half back into the furnace and heated it for a while, then began forging the blade.

As the sledgehammer fell, the cylindrical steel was flattened and stretched.

He controlled the force, constantly changing the hammers of varying weights, forging the blade to approximately 10 inches long with a thickness of about seven or eight millimeters.

Once the knife is sharpened, the blade will be about 6 millimeters long. This length and thickness will not only make it easy to carry, but also provide enough strength to withstand heavy chopping. In future tests, it will also be able to withstand the extreme test of bending 90 degrees without breaking.

After roughly forging the blade, Fett began working on the handguard.

For practicality and strength, Fett did not make a complicated separate handguard, but instead forged a one-piece finger groove handguard directly at the junction of the blade and the handle.

When holding the cylindrical handle, the index finger fits perfectly into the finger groove, and with the paracord wrapped around the back, this is enough to prevent the finger from slipping onto the blade.

Next is the handle.

The easiest way to make a hollow tool holder is to flatten and widen the end, roll it into a tube while it's still hot, and then seal the seam with electric welding.

But there was no welding machine at home. If we rolled it up without welding, it would just be a leaky sheet of metal that couldn't be sealed at all, let alone used to store survival items like tinder that were prone to getting damp.

"It seems that in addition to the power hammer, we also need to get a welding machine."

Fett wiped the sweat from his brow, looking at the unformed piece of steel in his hand, and silently calculated:

"Even if we learn the Damascus forging techniques in the future, we simply can't do it without welding machines."

"With a welding machine, simple structural components like this can be completed in just a few minutes."

Right now, the only option is the brute-force method – drilling.

Fett deliberately left the original cylindrical shape of the spring tail unforged, just for this step.

After the dark red tool blank slowly cooled and softened in the air through annealing, Fett clamped it vertically in a vise.

He rotated the handle, and the jaws of the pliers gripped the steel tightly, ensuring it remained motionless.

Fett picked up the center punch, aimed it at the exact center of the cylinder's end face, and brought it down with a swift motion.

"when!"

A clear positioning indentation appears on the cross-section of the steel column.

He walked to the bench drill, attached a thin drill bit to the chuck, and adjusted the speed.

"Layla, find a water bottle, cap it, drill a hole, and spray water into the drill bit!"

"This steel is too hard. Even after annealing, it will be difficult to drill. If we don't add some water to cool it down, the drill bit will get red-hot and become even harder to drill."

"good!"

Leila responded by finding an empty plastic bottle, poking a small hole in the cap with a nail, running to the tap to fill it with water, and then running back.

Fett pressed down the feed handle and aligned the drill bit with the pit.

"Sizzle—"

The drill bit emitted a piercing shriek the moment it touched the metal.

Lyra squeezed the bottle with both hands, and a thin stream of water was precisely poured onto the contact point between the rotating drill bit and the steel.

When water comes into contact with the high-temperature cutting point, it vaporizes instantly, producing white smoke that smells burnt.

Silver metal shavings spiraled out, their surfaces covered with a blue coating formed by the rapid cooling of the iron shavings at high temperatures.

Fett steadied the handle, feeling the resistance as the drill bit cut into the metal, and pressed down little by little.

For every inch he drills, he has to lift it up to remove the chips, preventing them from clogging the drill bit and causing it to break.

First, use a fine drill bit to drill through the pilot hole, then switch to a larger drill bit to enlarge the hole, and then switch to an even larger one.

The garage was filled with the sharp noise of drilling and water vapor.

Leila got goosebumps from the sound, but she kept pouring water steadily without stopping.

It took more than half an hour and three different drill bits to finally drill a blind hole about three inches deep and of a suitable diameter.

Fetter loosened the vise, picked up the still-hot knife blank, and poured out the remaining iron filings and dirty water.

Although it's laborious, the tool handles drilled in this way are solid steel pipes formed in one piece, thick-walled, sturdy, and incredibly strong.

It's even fine to use it as a hammer to drive nails in the wild.