HEAP of JEEP

I've put it off as long as I can, but I finally had to accept an order for a chef knife. Had some fun with the pattern. My take on the Turkish Twist. 1080 and 15n20 curly maple for the handle.

I haven't been around in a while, but wanted to let everyone know that another iforgeiron member made it to the show. I'll be on tonight's episode (Season 6 Episode 28), Blackbeard's Cutlass

I've always been intimidated by feather patterns, but decided to give it a try. I love how it came it, and will absolutely be trying some other variations in the coming months. Blade Length: 6" Handle: 4.5" 1080 and 15n20, bone bolsters, walnut scales, black leather spacers This took me about 2 and a half weeks from start to finish, which is the most time I've spent on a single knife in quite a while... I wish I had made the handle just a bit bigger... my wife says it fits her hand perfectly, so I guess that's not terrible, but even for a kitchen knife, I'd like it to be just a bit bigger for my hand. The bone also came out looking kind of gray and dirty. Other bone I've used has come out white and clean looking, but I guess I got a bad cow or something with this batch.

Appreciate that. Watched your video from afterwards. Answered a lot of the behind the scenes questions I had.

Thanks, Das! Thanks, Theo! Means a lot from someone who's blades I really admire! There's been a few forums members that I've seen make it to the show, so if that ever happens, I would grill them all relentlessly!!!!!! LOL.

Hey everyone, Been a while since I've posted much. Been swamped at work, but have had enough time to complete a few recent projects. First is a Wakizashi inspired blade. 16.5" blade. 22" overall. Made from 5160 with Walnut Handle scales. Next is a small 5" twisted Damascus hunter. 1080 and 15n20 with quarter sawn oak handle scales. And last is an 8.5" Bowie with a Walnut and Mahogany handle with leather and brass spacers. Made from 5160 with a mild steel guard.

Cool, I will send you a private message

This weekend I was given a forge blower. A Canedy Otto Royal Western Chief H Model. Its the main body and the fan blade, but it is missing the entire gear box assembly along with all the gears. It was free, so no loss on my end, but wondering if anyone has an extra gear box up for sale. I'd love to get this fixed up so I can take it to demos where I don't have access to power. I can post a picture or two if it would help.

Had some "Firsts" with this one, so thought I would throw pictures up. First time with a layer count in the 400's (Grand total, 483) First time trying the vine jimping. Not perfect, but happy for a first attempt. First time making my own micarta... in fact, I've never even purchased micarta, so first time using it, period. A rather messy process, but it was remarkably easy and enjoyable to use and shape, and the end result was a pretty cool handle.

I'd say a fair amount, but impossible to give you a number. When I do get a warp, I don't measure, but have more of a naturally occurring scale... like, "Eh, that's not horrible"... all the way up to "Holy ______... how the ______ did that happen?!?!?!" I've been using this process for the last 18 months or so, and its taken care of the handful of blades that I've had warp in that time... but I don't recall any that were all that bad, so hard for me to say.

I've had some great success with clamping it to a straight edge, like apiece of angle iron, while tempering. I don't get warps often (Proper normalizing before heat treat will help a lot) but when they do show up, they have always straightened out after two 1-hour tempering cycles. Just make sure the straight edge you use is truly straight, and make sure your clamps don't have any plastic pieces that will melt in the oven.

Thanks, Theo. I've watched a lot of your builds and have been in awe, so that really means a lot to me. Thanks, Das. I've heard that working it with hand tools with help prevent the nasty smell, so there might be more bone handles in my future.

Been a few months since I've really had time to forge up anything new, so when the time appeared, I of course had to go back to my favorite things to make. 1080 and 15n20, 60 layers, twisted, then stretched out and san mai'd it around a 1080 core. So final layer count would be 121. I used some old cow bone from my dogs chew toys, and some walnut as spacers. Its my first time ever using bone and it was so nasty, messy, and smelly, I don't know if I'll ever do it again. My garage still stinks to high heaven.

I took a commission for a Damascus knife from a relative of my ex-wife. The goal was to make it as cool as I could on her very limited budget. Her hubby... the gift receiver, is a big Jeep guy, so the only constraint I had was incorporate some Jeep leaf spring in to the billet. Most is 1080 and 15n20, with a few piece of leaf spring thrown in to make it "Jeep". 168 layers, walnut handle, brass pins. About as basic as I could make it, but I think he'll still get a charge out of it on Christmas morning.

Yeah, I like that one. Unfortunately, when I want railroad spikes, I have to go the big corporate owned one next door to that guy. They must have a contract with the RR or something, because that is the only one where they drop off the old spikes and rail sections after they do repairs around here. That place weighs every little thing you take out of there, and charge anywhere from fifty cents a pound on up... The problem is they get more of the stuff I like to use for my trinkets... the old files, spikes, and such. Treasure hunting at the little guys place is a lot more fun though because I know I never have to have much cash with me. The one nice thing about the big one, is they do get in a lot of bigger cut offs of mild steel and sell those cheaper than the steel yard I sometimes use for actual stock. Guess its all a balancing act to make it the most cost effective.