8.2 oz UL Saw Machete/Zombie killin’ Tactical Saw (“Saword”?)

Years ago I put an edge on the back of a UL saw I made so I could also use it as a knife. The Corona steel took an edge well and I even carved our Thanksgiving turkey with it that year, but the grip was awkward since it was designed to function primarily as a saw rather than a knife.

I’ve been musing about it for the past couple of months, ever since I got an order for a large UL saw that starts with a 24″ Corona hand saw:

I was struck by the size of the blade and how much material there was to work with if I wanted to try and make a grip that would work well both for a saw and a knife.

Then I started thinking, this thing is huge for a knife. Why not make it more than just a knife, make it a zombie-killin’ tactical saw/sword (Saword?)…er….um…uh…

I mean, make it also function as a small machete. Granted, the blade is very light and would likely work well only on smaller stuff (the same limitation that titanium hatchets have), but it is also very thin so I figured I’d go for it.

I played around with some ideas that provided a full length knuckle guard but ultimately decided they weren’t strong enough either as handles or guards:

So KISS, just use the standard style sword…uh…heh…machete grip.

Disassembled the saw by removing the plastic handle, freehanded the design on the blade with a thin Sharpie, carved the basic shape with a Dremel and #420 (perfect for me) abrasive cut off discs. I set aside the larger pieces of steel that I cut away as I always do, thinking I might use them for something someday.

After the basic shape was cut I went at it with coarse and then fine stones on a 6″ bench grinder, and finished up with a 1/2″ diameter coarse grinder bit in the Dremel. Roughed up the area where the cork handle will be glued using a sanding wheel in an angle grinder, so that the E6000 will bond well.

Rough cut 1/2 cork panel for the handle and glued with E6000. Sliced the rough outline of the grip:and then hit it with a 1/2″ detail belt sander: Dipped it in Plasti Dip

Shaped a couple pieces of the steel cut from the original blade to use as a hand guard:and then glued them to the top of the cork. Put an edge on and voila!

These are the bits that make it “tactical.” The hand guard:

The blade catcher at the base of the blade, above the guard:And the back edge of the tip has been sharpened like a saber or cutlass:

For comparison:

If I can’t find any zombies I’ll hack on some branches soon and report back.