PeterM

I have no idea what this is, but I love it. It reminds me of a huge dashi with a bit of tanto and some chopper thrown in the mix. But, then the handle throws everything out of whack! So.... call it what you want, I'm going with "Woodsman's Dashi". I shaped the walnut "slabs" so they get wider towards the butt. The tang is drilled and the forged copper liners are "skeletonized" to reduce weight. Woodsman's Dashi Blade: 4 7/8" of Aldo's 1084. Flat ground bevels with 2000 grit hand-rubbed finish, forge-finish flats. Handle: 4 1/8" highly figured American Walnut w/ Tung oil and buffed Conservator's Wax finish and copper pins. The forged and skeletonized copper liners feature hammered bevels. The leather lanyard has a large faceted walnut bead and three hand-turned copper beads. Sheath: in progress Thanks for looking. Please share your comments. Here's a few photos. I'll take some better shots when the sheath is done if a couple of days.

Thanks Dick. The Fortress is an extraordinary place. Its the largest historic reconstruction project in N. America with only about 1/4 of the original fort and town completed. Although work continues to this day. Dick - Next year come up for the "Thunder in the Highlands" weekend. On the concluding Sunday the riders all ride en mas to "Storm the Fortress". This year, 9354 motorcycles rode the 1/2 hr from Sydney to the fortress to spend the evening. Its an amazing sight to see all those bikes ride through our little town(I live in Louisbourg) of just 7000 residents.

I spent this past weekend at Fortress Louisbourg attending the "Hammered at the Fortress" hammer-in. We had a good showing with about 30 smiths from around the region, and hundreds of public visitors to the Fortress who stopped by for a look-see. I only had time for a few shots just after setting up for the Saturday start. It was a great event with great weather. Lots of visitors with lots of questions and a good time was had by all. This is the courtyard housing the hammer-in. In the surrounding buildings there are three blacksmith shops(all working), a bakery(also working) and the carpenter's and boat builder's shops. Just a few of the participants had set up when I took this shot. I REALLY like this anvil stand. We had a herd of sheep stay around for most of the weekend: This guy specializes in fabricating real wrought iron railing and decorative pieces. He also made horseshoe nail rings for all the attendees. This is the "main" blacksmith shop. These days it is still a working forge and is used every day of the Summer/Fall season for demo's. You can see the huge bellows in the background. A little better shot of the bellows: This anvil was purchased in France twenty years ago to compliment the forge's inventory of period pieces. This grinding wheel is also still used. This is my set up. I borrowed this anvil from the fortress. It is a replica of the original, 300 years old, armour's anvil which is in the main blacksmith shop...... These are the two pieces I was able to pound out during the weekend.

Well, last night I did the dirty deed. My friend's woodworking shop provided the venue for the destruction test. Along for the entertainment was Glen(a retired IBM exec), Blain(a guitar and violin maker) and Blain's son( just a neat kid). Glen shot the video while Blain-and-son cowered in the corner ducking the occasional wood chip. The rope is brand new 1 1/4" manilla. The 2x4 is, well.... a 2x4, that has been stored under cover outdoors for many moons. Here is the uncut video. No, my voice does NOT sound like that, but that shouldn't detract from my Emmy-worthy performance. Shades of De Niro I dare say....... **If one of you tech wizards can do the embedding thing, that'd be wonderful.** I probably should have shown the blade/knife pre-test in the video. Suffice to say, however, that it was in the same condition as when last posted here. On the first swipe at the rope, I hit the rope on the ricasso. My wife, of course, pointed out the obvious... that my aim was off.... Thanks sweety! The second, successful, swipe was about an inch below the first attempt. Prior to the filmed attempt, I did a practice cut which easily went clean through. The successful filmed cut actually wasn't as smooth as that first one. I think I just had a bad angle. In the video, I mention that the blade failed at about 45 degrees. After looking at the video, it looks like the blade failed closer to 35 degrees or so. The 2x4 chop went fine, although I started to tire towards the end of the second cut and my accuracy went down the toilet. The hair shave also went fine. Glen didn't get the best shot of this, but it did shave smooth and clean with the portion of the blade used for the chopping. Overall, I am happy with the performance of the knife. It performed the tasks a knife should be able to perform. The big question I am left with is: Why did it crack on the spine and not on the edge... isn't that the reverse from what is expected? Here's a few still photos: This is Glen helping set up the rope in his shop: This is Blain's vice that will be used for the bend test: The 2x4 set-up: First chop: Second chop: The successful rope cut: The post-test edge: What does this photo tell you? And finally... Intrinsic Motivation.... Destroyed!!

Some of you may have detected why I'm using THIS blade and THIS knife for a destruction test....... I forged and shaped this blade as an intended gift for my neighbor who has become a great friend. He's a hunting guide. It was to be a start-of-hunting-season present. I drew up a design I thought he'd be happy with and actually use. The blade forged out just fine and the shaping and grinding went well. I was starting to like the blade. I began to clean it up a bit an play with the layout. That's when I drilled the holes for the peened copper plate. One hole was off.... wayyyy off, making the copper tag all askew and odd looking, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. That's when this became a destructive test knife. It was to have a much thicker wrought iron guard, much like I made for "Thorn"(posted here several weeks ago), and a Figured Oak handle with copper accents. If I had to pick one defining feature/sequence of this build, it would be the S-guard. By choosing to use it, I limited the dimensions I could make the handle. As it is, the bottom edge of the handle does not line up with the bottom of the ricasso. Its a fraction to short because that's all the flat space I had to work with on the guard. I probably could have spent more time modifying the guard to that end, but its a somewhat fruitless process. The guard was made several weeks ago as a practice piece for the one on "Thorn". The shape of this guard fit the original design I drew for this knife. So, its not meant for this knife, but I went with it. That decision dictated everything that followed... to a degree. The blade is hard, straight and sharp. The knife is well balanced, solid in the hand and lighter than I thought it would be. I think its fairly well built. We'll see. Now I'm off to make another one of these knives and hopefully my neighbor will have it in time. But first, I'm off to find some rope and 2x4's. I'll revisit this thread when I'm ready for the testing. Thank you all for following along with this thread. I've enjoyed the conversation and I will benefit from the tips and constructive criticism. Please continue to offer up any advice that I can use to make my knives better. Thank You, Peter

Ok, without further a due, I offer up for your scrutiny...... .... a knife I have named: INTRINSIC MOTIVATION w/ custom MMS Blade: Aldo's 1084FG, 8 1/2" of sharp edge, 1 7/8" at its widest, 3/16" at the ricasso with forged distal taper and bevels and semi-brute de forge finish. Hand rubbed to 1000 grit finish with a peened copper maker's mark tag. Sharp as hell! Handle: 5 1/4" American Wild Black Cherry, stainless steel pins and buffed Watco Danish Oil finish. Forged and etched 1/4" mild steel S-guard w/ gun blued faces and high-polished edges MMS: (Motivational Management System) This is made using Wickett & Craig veg tanned leather with hand-cut lacing and hand-made copper beads(turned on my drill press). The handle "cuff" is heavily contoured on the inner face then wet-formed to create a true custom fit with taught, smooth edges. All leather parts have a lightly buffed Bear Grease finish. NOTE: This, one of a kind and yet to be tested, knife retention device is something I was drawing up in my brain from day-one of the build. Lately I've watched countless videos of chopping contests and I've seen several versions of both fore and aft mounted lanyards. This is my version.... to me it makes sense. I wanted something that was functional, adjustable, removable, and not cumbersome, but I also wanted something that looked purposeful and as if it belonged. I went through three versions of the handle piece and settled on this one, but I also made a more versatile version that could fitted to other knife designs. The photos:

Cal-K - ... and what about the integrity of the spacer? Or that of the pinned tag? Is this handle style strong enough and ergonomic enough for the task? I'm testing a knife, the whole knife, made the way I make knives.

Cal-K - I suppose the short answer to all your questions is: I'm not making a test knife - I'm making a knife that will be tested. I can give you the long version if needed. BTW - I am NOT taking the actual ABS JS test. This is being done purely out of curiosity and on my own terms.

The final steps...... I'll begin by backtracking and show my sharpening process. This is directly off the grinder with the edge established using a warn 320 grit belt. The 1" wide contact surface of my belt grinder is poor for maintaining a perfectly straight edge. So, I'll refine the edge on a fine wet stone( I can't remember what grit). Working the edge: Then its on to an 8000 grit wet stone to work up a consistent wire edge: Finally I hone the edge on a strop filled with green compound. I'll do this for 100 or so strokes - slice into the wood table to remove the wire, then another 50 or so more strokes. I'll continue checking the edge by shaving hair. My eyes are getting a bit worse these days so I have trouble see a REALLY fine wire edge. So I'm constantly scraping the edge over my fingernail feeling for that edge to "catch". When the entire length of the blade shaves hair and freely cuts paper....... I call it "good enough". Good enough! I removed the tape and gave the blade a thorough cleaning with acetone. Then I gave it a coat of Conservator's wax and buffed with an old tee-shirt: Ready to peen on the copper tag. I gave the pins and tag a good cleaning with acetone. I also gave the underside of the tag a coating of Conservator's wax: (sorry for the crappy photo) First pin cut and ready to peen: Second pin ready to peen: Done!: One is a bit sloppy, but that's only consistent with the rough-finish look of the whole knife: The knife is done, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer to see what this is:

I didn't have a lot of time today as I had errands in town and a lawn in need of mowing. I also didn't take a lot of photos today. But, the knife is pretty much done. The handle has been buffed and the blade sharpened and this evening I'll peen on the copper tag which is all prepped and ready to go. This is my buffer. I have several different wheels, but for this I'll a sewn and a loose cotton wheel. I won't need the Tripoli for this. I'll just give a light buffing with White Diamond and then carnauba wax: I beveled the edges of the copper tag: Then polished to 1500 grit: Time for sharpening. I'll create an edge with a warn 320 grit belt then refine it with a 20 micron belt. Then its on to wet stones. Later I can polish the edge with a leather belt. I hate putting in all the work to achieve a nice hand rubbed finish on the blade only to have it ruined with a halo of teeny scratches from sharpening on a belt sander. The blade is taped completely then trimmed carefully. I'll sharpen right through the tape to prevent those scratches: This is my pre-sharpening edge: More in a little while. When I come back maybe I'll explain this:

Castglegardener - I use the wood pins for several reasons. The wood pins won't generate heat the way metal pins will. With the amount of grinding I did, the metal pins would have gotten way to hot and ruined the epoxy bond. Also, I like to have something in the pin holes to help prevent chipping as I work on the handle.

You're welcome!

The handle has been sanded and oiled. I now have to leave it for the afternoon to dry. This evening I'll do some detail work on the guard, get the handle buffed and polished, and put a sharp edge on the blade. To start, the pins are sawn off and filed flush: Good enough for now: Its time to fine tune around the guard and spacer: Before: Getting there: I need to round off those flat surfaces on the handle: Working with a file, the front is done and I'm starting the butt end: An old 120 grit belt will help fair in the handle contours: On to 220 grit: Fine tune the curved butt: The handle and copper spacer have been sanded with 400 grit. I'll give a final sanding with 800 using Watco Danish oil. I'm careful working around the steel pins so I don't work any black steel dust into the wood grain. This will then be wiped down very well and given a good, sloppy coat to soak in for an hour or so: I'll leave this to dry before buffing. I still need to detail the guard and spacer and give the blade an edge After:

Yup.

Phil - My drawer of shame is deep and full. The pins are in. I have some copper wire that I thought was the right diameter, but turned out to be just over size. I had my hopes up for a moment. I'm using 3'16th" stainless steel brick ties. To prepare, I'm sanding on fresh 400 grit paper, a clean piece scrap cherry wood from the handle block. I'll mix this wood dust with the epoxy to use in the pin holes. As good as I am at drilling a nice clean hole.... I'm not very good at it and my drill press sucks, so it doesn't always happen. So, this blends any slop quite well, especially if very fine wood dust is used and a lot of it is used to make a thick paste. The pins have been lightly sanded with 180 grit and cleaned with acetone. The pin holes in the block have been cleaned and run threw with an acetone-soaked Q-tip to raise the wood grain. I'm using standard 2-hr epoxy for this chore. Ready to put these in: The pins went in nice and smooth with a light hammer tap. The holes were packed with epoxy and I'll let this cure over night. Tomorrow I'll saw off the extra length and file to flush. The pins on the other side are nearly flush. Tomorrow I'll hopefully get this knife finished and put and edge on it.