DIY Upcycled Knife Bracelet

One of my favorite things to upcycle is old silverware! I have made all kinds of projects with them for holiday gifts in the past. I also have a couple of DIY projects using silverware on the blog like my stamped silverware garden markers, and my spoon curtain tie backs. Upcycling silverware has become really popular. So popular in fact, that when I see the flat ware buckets at the thrift stores these days, there are usually only knives left. I thought there must be something fun to do with all the knives no one seems to want. I wore an engraved ID bracelet in highschool, and I thought it would be fun to make a vintage version of it with a upcycled knife handle.

Here’s What You Need:

*Old Silverware Knife with a cool handle

*Metal Stamping Set

*Hammer

*Dremmel fitted with a cutting wheel

*Grinding Wheel to Smooth the cut edges and a polishing wheel to polish for the dremmel

*Drill and a 1/8″ drill bit

*Jewelry Pliers

*Jump Rings

*Chain

*Pre-made Chunky Wire Bracelet (I bought mine at Michaels)

(If your knife metal is very hard, you may need to heat up the metal before you stamp the knife. You can use a blowtorch to heat it up but be EXTREMELY careful and hold the knife piece in a pair of pliers cause they will be very hot.)

Instructions:

The first thing you need to do is cut your knife. Measure the width of the top of your wrist. You want the piece to be a little shorter than your wrist width. Mark the width you want to cut on your knife measuring from the end of the knife handle upwards.

Fit your dremmel with a cutting wheel and carefully cut the knife where you marked it all the way through. Be very careful, the metal will get hot and can spark. Grind the cut edge of the knife piece smooth with a grinding disk.

 

Now drill a hole in each end of the knife piece about 1/8 of an inch in from the edge and in the center. We used a drill press, cause my hubby loves to use his toys, but a regular drill will work just fine. As always when working with tools, be careful! Polish the piece with the polish disk on the dremmel.

Now you are ready to stamp your initial if you like. Test the stamp on the other part of the knife you have left over from the piece you cut off. Hold the letter stamp face down onto the surface of the knife. Hit it with a hammer with some good force. If it leaves a nice stamp, go ahead and stamp your bracelet piece. If it does not leave a nice stamp, you will need to heat up the metal. To see how to properly heat up your silverware and stamp it refer to my stamped spoon tutorial here.

Now you are ready to assemble your bracelet. Lay out your pre made bracelet. Lay your knife piece above the bracelet and center it in the middle. Cut a piece of chain the length of the end of the bracelet to the hole in that side of the knife piece. Cut another piece the same length.

 

Load one piece of chain onto a jump ring. Secure the jump ring to the end of the pre made bracelet. Now, fasten the end of the knife piece onto a jump ring and onto the end of the first piece of chain. Do the same with the other side. I attached my chain ends to the top rings on the connector bars of the pre made bracelets.

I LOVE wearing my new bracelet! It’s chunky and fun! There are so many pretty patterns of silverware out there, some of them are really ornate and beautiful. I love how versatile this project can be too. You can change-up the look of the bracelet just by the chain you use and the pattern on the knife. This would be a fabulous hand-made gift for your mama, Mother’s Day is coming up soon ya know! I’ll be back next week with another fun DIY. Until then…

Happy Crafting!