Anyone make there own parting tool?

[Donny Lawson]

I heard that you can make a parting tool from an old reciprocating saw blade.Has anyone here made their own?I'm in the market for a narrow parting tool (1/16).Any thoughts?
Donny

[Richard Madison]

A 6" length of metal-cutting bandsaw blade (1" wide) works well. You can drill mounting holes through it with a cheapy carbide masonry drill bit.

[Philip Duffy]

I have a couple made from 5 in. metal jigsaw blades. I grind off the teeth and the end to where there is some added stiffness and put a parting point on. Mounted in a handle, they are very effective on small turnings. Costs about $2 and takes a couple minutes.

[Allen Neighbors]

I'm with Richard on this. A friend gave me a piece of a Meat cutting saw. I ground the teeth off, and sharpened the end... exactly 1/16 " kerf.
I also made a really nice 1/8" parting tool from an Old Hickory butcher knife. Just ground the sharpened edge flat, and made a parting tool end on it. It is also a nice parting tool.
Just make sure the blade is very stiff, so you will make near perfect cuts.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I did like Allen and made a couple of parting tools out of stainless steel steak knives bought at a garage sale for 25 cents. Ground the cutting edge flat and the the end into a parting tool. They work rather well.

[Les Kuesel]

I used an 1/4" spade bit put on a handle. works great

[Brad Vaughn]

Well yes in fact I did today.
I have used the saws all blades and they work very well.
But I wanted something for parting most of my work and this is what I did.
I went to HF today looking for something that I could make a parting tool for very little money and found a $4.99 bush knife. It is made of carbon steel and was tuff to cut but as you can see I found a way to do it.
The handle is very nice. Used it today and it works well.

[Andrew Raymond]

what did you use to cut the blade, and how long did u make it.....

[Mike Peace]

You can get the PSI thin parting tool of HSS from Amazon for 8.80 with free shipping with $25 of qualifying mdse. I do not think it is worth my time to make one.

[Brad Vaughn]

what did you use to cut the blade, and how long did u make it.....

Well I used a new hack saw blade and huffed and puffed:D
it is about 6in long. found no problem grinding it.
Now what to do with the rest of the blade hmmm:rolleyes:

[Mark Burge]

I have done like others and made a parting tool from an old knife blade. Two things have come up as I have used it. 1. Grind the edges flat. I have had the blade catch because of the taper of the blade. As the cut goes deeper, the blade sticks in the kerf. 2. You may need something to protect your tool rest. I have not figured out what to do yet, but when I use this tool I often have a small divot in the tool rest even thought I have ground the blade flat.

[Porter Bassett]

You can get the PSI thin parting tool of HSS from Amazon for 8.80 with free shipping with $25 of qualifying mdse. I do not think it is worth my time to make one.
Maybe it's a sickness, but I'd often prefer to own something that I made, even if it doesn't save me a dime, than to buy it from the store.

[Jim Underwood]

I've made my own out of some .050" thick spring steel that's very hard. It's some 1-1/4 spring strap off an old Yates American Endmatcher. We used to go through the stuff regular like since the old machine was wore slap out, and broke the things all the time. Had to keep making new ones, so we bought a whole roll of the stuff. Seems like it cost about $600 for 50 foot or so....

Anyway I've got several pieces of the stuff, and I'll make some more now that I've got something that will actually drill the stuff. Bought some of those expensive Bad Dog Tool drill bits. Gloat.:D I made sure the guy could drill the stuff before I bought 'em though.

Mike Peace has seen my parting tool I believe... I'd post a picture, but I can't get a copy of it off of my Woodturners Resource gallery. Look up "Underdog" user name and parting tool...

Now if I could just remember who it was told me about those machine screws made to put knife scales on...