Can I drill a hole in this Knife?

[AldeanFan]

I have this small folding knife and would like to turn it in to a keychain knife.


I know there are some knife enthusiasts here who modify pocket knives.

Can I drill a hole in the end to add a ring?

 

[flyingblind]

You can drill through the softer portion of the knife.

Carbide Drill Bits

Designed to drill through hard-to-drill materials such as hardened receivers and hardened knife blades. Fractional sizes are usually used for drilling pin, rivet and thong holes in blade tangs while the #28 and #31 are used for drilling receivers for scope mounts. For better results and longer...

knifemaking.com

 

[RoninB4]

If you use a carbide drill or masonry drill you better have a rigid set up. Carbide is so hard it's brittle and shatters if things aren't rigidly clamped into position. Masonry drills can heat up under continuous drilling enough to allow the solder to loosen and release the carbide tip in the hole you're drilling. Allow the drill to cool off, drilling in a "peck cycle". Good luck.

 

[2oolhound]

You might have trouble. I tried drilling a knife I'd made from a circular saw blade after hardening and I burned out my carbide drill. It made a slight impression but then wouldn't go further. I used a carbide burr next and it just barely was able to poke through before burning out. I had already drilled most the holes in these blades prior to hardening and there was no issue with normal bits, it was just the one last hole I decided I needed after hardening that was problematic.

How about installing one of those horseshoe loops that a lot of pocket knives have. You'd have to push out the pin in the end and install a longer one to hold the horseshoe loop. In the back of the knife handle is often a long bar type spring that keeps the blade closed or open so it would have to be slightly compressed to install the longer pin. No big deal but something to watch for so all the holes line up.

 

[solo machinist]

I second pushing out the pin.
A company I worked for had a large power hack saw. Blades were 3/16 thick x 18-24 inches long.
A fellow before i started working there, was making a machete from a blade. Ground the edge sharp,
THEN tried to drill holes for a handle. The drill bit caught, swing the blade around gutting the guy. (glad i wasn't there to see that)
He got patched up, but never returned to work there.

 

[AldeanFan]

Done!
It drilled very easily.
I need to clean the edges up better but the hard work is done.

 

[2oolhound]

Nice! You get an "A" for trying and an "A+" for succeeding. Are you going to use a stone to smooth out the chamfer?

 

[Kuma601]

Nice old Ford key too!

 

[PugetDude]

Nice! You get an "A" for trying and an "A+" for succeeding. Are you going to use a stone to smooth out the chamfer?

The keyring will do that over time.

 

[2oolhound]

The keyring will do that over time.

It sounds like he doesn't want to wait.

 

[WoodsTruck]

I see two problems with it now:
1. the knife will leave swing marks on the dash
2. the weight of the knife will accelerate the wear on the ignition tumbler if used much

 

[Lassen Forge]

If it's a single blade or a single swivel pin, then you can always drill the opposite side and it might work, but remember NOT to drill through the pin holding everything together otherwise it can come apart. Or epoxy the end after you've drilled it, tho it's not as strong as the mechanical joint the pin gives you....

If it's a double bladed jack knife, the end you drill will lose the blade. Those pins ain't that big...

 

[AldeanFan]

I see two problems with it now:
1. the knife will leave swing marks on the dash
2. the weight of the knife will accelerate the wear on the ignition tumbler if used much

It won’t touch the dash so no problem there.

This car gets driven 1000miles a year so I’m not too concerned with wearing out the $25 ignition switch.