Man Turns An Old Lawn Mower Blade Into A Useful Garden Tool

If your neighbor handed you a discarded blade from an old lawn mower, you'd probably try to politely decline the "gift" or just discreetly toss it out later — who needs more rusty junk hanging around their garden shed, after all? But one YouTuber, averageiowaguy, saw opportunity where most people might see garbage. In a step-by-step video, this creator showed how he turned an old mulching blade from his neighbor's engine shop into a useful knife — something you could use for gardening tasks like cutting weeds and clearing vegetation. 

The tool this creator made was a chopping blade, which he described as similar to a Malaysian parang but more compact. A parang is a bit like a beefed-up machete, frequently used, among other tasks, to clear dense jungle vegetation. Although the YouTuber planned to use his finished blade for fishing, a good cutting and chopping implement like a parang or machete can be useful for clearing weeds, especially if you're trying to clean up a very overgrown area. Besides getting rid of vines and brush, a parang can also make short work of the kind of tall grass that irritatingly tends to wrap around brushcutter gear heads. 

In averageiowaguy's video, the process of making the blade into a usable knife began with heating the metal to a "red hot" temperature in the forge. Even the creator's forge is a product of backyard ingenuity: Dubbed his "black dragon," the squat little invention is heated by a propane tank and a weed burner. Once the metal reached a workable temperature, he hammered it flat on an anvil, then drew out his working plans on the blade. Using a rotary tool, he cut the blade close to its final shape, then heated and hammered it until the knife's edge took form. After heating and quenching the blade, it was a matter of shaping, carving, and attaching the handle.

If you need a good blade in your gardening arsenal and are already planning where your backyard forge might go, consider what kind of knife would be useful. Maybe you need a sturdy knife for chopping through thick vegetation — or, alternatively, a smaller, more precise knife, like a hori hori knife. This is a "does it all" choice, ideal for dividing plants, weeding, planting seeds, cutting twine, etc. Or maybe you're determined to create the perfect Joanna Gaines-inspired cut flower bouquet and are missing a good florist knife that's only sharp on one side. 

Word of caution: Unless you have (or plan to build or otherwise acquire) your own backyard forge, this is not a practical craft for the average Joe. A project like this requires a lot of specialized skill, appropriate protective equipment, and proper forging tools, as heating, grinding, and shaping metal can cause serious burns and injuries. However, even if you're not a burgeoning blacksmith, this idea may encourage you to think about old tools differently and approach "garbage" with an innovative, waste-not mindset.