Onraio spec plus Bolo

I was talking to my neighbor while he was unloading some steel he got while working the local dump and here is a broken Ontario Spec plus Bolo knife. I looked up the stats and stuff and they were a pretty good knife. This one was missing a small chunk out of the middle so I carefully ground it without heating it up and have it almost completed. It has a 10 inch blade. Im going to remove all the black finish and oil it. I followed the entire curve of the blade reshaping it. What I have now is pretty similar just not as tall but has the same bolo curve to the cutting edge. Its going to be fun polishing it and applying some bluing or something to recoat it. Ill post some pics when its done. Kingfish

 

Nice knife; Depending on what needs chopped; I use a Bolo, short machete, or Khukuris. So I am curious about the grip; how do you like it? For me (office worker hands) the grip is the difference between a tired hand and one with blisters.

 

Here are some pics of my rough grind. I took my time getting it shaped without getting it hot. I wish I had a knife type wheel to get those real nice grinds but I only have a belt sander and a 6 inch bench grinder so I made do. Im going to sand all the scratches out now with a small disc sander and some fine grit like 240 and fine tune the edge but Its sharp now. I can shave my arm with it. Its pretty good steel. Here are some pics so far. Its pretty far from finished as I still have to strip all the black off and sand it smooth then recoat it or I might just use a good oil on the blade.

Ill let you know on the handle. Its a soft Rubber and the grip is real good. My guess is for chopping or machete type work its going to be great. Kingfish

 

What amazed me was that I found it here. My neighbor manages the dump every other week and this weeks metal haul had this knife in it. He looked at me and said its worth 5 cents to me as scrap steel. I said Ill give you a nickel for it. He said you can have it. I said cool. Thats the second nice knife in two months I have got from him. The last one was a Chicago cutlery butcher knife that needed to be sharpened. I think some people dont have a clue as to how to sharpen a knife. They just toss them out. Kingfish

 

Cool! Love the price.

I recently was given a Woodsman's Pal for Father's Day. Its the one with the WWII-style sheath, puck, and manuals... very cool. It appears to be well made. I was on the cusp of buying another Khukri when I received it. Haven't used it yet.... what needs chopping in the yard....

 

As it looks as if it came that way; you did a very nice job! How is the balance?

As I can sharpen knives my kitchen knifes ought to have warning labels. As it is quick and effective I use crock sticks on them. Carry knives or working edges I use stones.
If it sharpens easy it might be similar to K-bar;s steel which is easily sharpened in the field with a stone.

 

Heat treat processes raise the temperature then quench it which changes the steel's chemistry. As the blade has already been heat treated what happens to the steel's original chemistry when a local area is re-treated?

 

I used the spark test as I ground into the blade. I had zero change in color or spark density. Im sure the temper is the same through out. It is a very hard and Brittle 53/58 rockwell 1095 steel. I doubt you could bend this blade without breaking it. The piece that was missing was snapped off clean with no stretching of the metal. The guy probably tried to use it to PRY OR

Here is a video of the original

YouTube - ‪Ontario Spec Plus Bolo Knife‬‏

I did some chopping with it and can still shave my arm. The Ontario Knives are built in the U.S.A. Im just tickled to get this one for free. A little fixing and its good as new. Kingfish