How do you make an athame?

first off anything can be used for an athame so long as it is charged and used only for the purpose of an athame. Making Your Athame
Written By Raymond Buckland from his book, Complete Book of Witchcraft

If you can't buy a suitable piece of steel, use an old file or chisel and work with that. Whatever steel you have, it is going to be hard so your first job will be to soften it for working. Heat the steel till it is a dull red. If you have no other way of doing it, lay it on the burner of a gas or electric stove. You may have to leave it there, with the control turned fully on, for several hours but it will eventually heat up to a dull red. Once it has reached that color, turn off the heat and let it cool down naturally. That's all there is to it. It will now be softened and easier to work.

1 Mark on the metal, with a pencil, the shape you want it to be . With a power handsaw (if you have one), or a simple hacksaw, cut out the profile and file off any rough edges Then start shaping the blade for sharpness. A grinding wheel could come in handy here, though you can work with rough and smooth files. The blade is going to be double-edged, so you are aiming for a diamond shaped cross-section . Finish off the blade with 2 grades of wet and dry paper.
Now your blade will need to be hardened and tempered. Heat it up again, this time until it is red hot. Then take hold of it with a pair of pliers and plunge it into a bowl of tepid (not cold, or the blade will crack) water or oil. Allow it to cool off then clean it with wet and dry paper.


Next, to temper it, reheat the blade to a dull red. Again, plunge it, point downwards, into tepid water or oil, moving it up and down in the liquid. Clean it with wet and dry paper, then heat it again. Watch the blade carefully this time as it changes color. It will go to a bright, light, straw color, then to a medium straw color. Immediately plunge the blade into the water and let it cool off (don't let it get past the straw color; it would go to blue, then purple and green.) Watch the point as that will change color first, At the first sign of "blueing" on the point, plunge the blade into the water. NOTE: The colors appear quickly. Keep the point the farthest from the heat.

Once the blade is cold take it outside and plunge it into the ground a couple of times. Now you have moved the blade through the Air, Heated it with Fire, Plunged it into Water, and Showed it to the Earth.

For the handle, take 2 pieces of wood. Draw around the tang (the handle part of the blade) on each of the pieces of wood. Then chisel out the marked sections, each one to ~21 the thickness of the tang. When finished, the 2 pieces of wood should lay together perfectly with the tang inserted between them. When you are satisfied they fit well, slightly roughen the inside wood and then spread a good epoxy resin glue all over. Put the tang in place, press the 2 wooden handle halves together and clamp. When clamping, put on the pressure slowly so as to give a better "spread" to the glue. Leave clamped for at least 3 days.

When removed from the clamp, draw a profile of the handle you want on the wood and start cutting/carving it to shape.

Some traditions call for certain signs to be carved on the handle. Even if your does not, you may wish to add some decoration. I would certainly recommend at least putting your Craft Name or monogram on it. You might also like to etch something on the blade, this isn't difficult to do.