I used old band saw blades for these knives and I have to say they work great! I made a prototype with a wood handle just to fool around, and it passed every test I threw at it.
I could bend the blade 90% and it would just pop right back into place, the steel was very hard and held an edge well, and in terms of actually making the knife, the steel was easy to work with.
For the handle of my prototype I took a rectangle chunk of hickory, cut a slit in it with a hand saw and slid the blade in (the width of the hand saw blade turned out to be the exact width of the band saw blade so I didn't need to tweak anything). Then I took an old stainless welding electrode, stripped the flux off and cleaned it with sandpaper, cut it about 2mm longer then the width of the handle. I put my DIY rivets in and set them, then I started working the wooden handle down with my grinder, then polished the wood up to 400 grit, stained it with a rosewood dye, and finally gave it a tounge oil finish.
The handle on these knives is natural shed deer antler. I used the same process to make the handles on these ones, exept I did not stain or oil the handle, and I polished the antler to about 800 grit.
QUICK TIP: If you don't want the blade in the way while you grind the handle, fit the tang of your blade into your handle material like you want it, then take it off and grind some down and put it back on and see how it looks. Just repeat this process until it looks good and you can set your rivets.
I really like these knives and I'm going to make more in the future, maybe a black finish on the antler next time?
First one: https://www.etsy.com/listing/244584178/deer-antler-fillet-knife?ref=shop_home_active_14
Second one: https://www.etsy.com/listing/244601518/deer-antler-mini-fillet-knife?ref=shop_home_active_5
