jarguello

My dentist is good friends with Todd Helton (1st baseman for the Colorado Rockies) although he owns several of my custom Bamboo flyrods he wanted to give Todd a 'one of a kind' knife. Well as we all know I'm by far not the best knife maker but I told him I would give it a whirl. Here's what I came up with, I hope he likes it. Knife in hand stiched sheath, notice it's left handed, a personal touch since Todd is a southpaw! Hand forged pattern welded blade (banding straps and bandsaw blades, nickle silver guard and pomel cap, and purple heart for the handle (Rockies colors purple and black) This view shows the blade detail better Engraving by Jeff Graham (sorry for the poor pic Jeff) Thanks for looking Joe E. Arguello

Love that pattern, Good job

Nice, I really like that! Good job

Chris, The threading is done cold. Joe

To get the brand etched I use the Wayne Goddard method of etching with salt water and DC power. I use an old computer power supply as you need 'clean' DC power and add a pinch of salt to about a tablespoon of distilled water. You need some wax (50% beeswax and 50% parrifin) to form a light film on the area of the blade, I simply use a small spatula, or putty knife and put a small piece of wax on it, heat it up with an alcohol lamp and quickly smear the wax on the blade. Now use a scribe with a slightly rounded end to scratch your logo through the wax. Now you put a drop or two of salt water to make a puddle big enough to completely cover your 'brand' Take one lead from the power supply (test and use the leads that are 6 v)and take the positive lead and clip it to the blade, take the negative lead and clip it to a q tip that has been soaked in salt water. Now you need to make some type of a holder to hold that q tip so that it just touches the puddle of salt water and turn on the power. In about 5 minutes maybe a little longer the salt water and DC power will etch your logo into the blade. Three things ---- 1) You can make a holder for the q tip end by bending a coat hanger or some thing like that. 2) Make sure that the clip that is on the q tip is on the cotton part and makeing contact with the salt water soaked cotton part. 3) What I use to connect the lead to the knife and q tip are some small test leads that are 2 wires with allagator clips on each side. Like miniture jumper cables! Hope this helps Joe

Thanks guys, I'm glad everyone likes it. I can't wait to go chop something with it. No Crocodiles in Colorado! Chris, To thread the tang I simply but carefully ground the end to get it round, then I put it in a vise and used a die to thread it. You can also silver solder a bolt to the end of the tang. Just grove the end of the tang fit a bolt with the head cut off and solder it on. Hope this helps. Joe

Well, I finally finished my Dundee knife, It's really cool and anyone that will take a look at it has nothing but good thing to say about it. Although most of the guys at work are not into knives they still appreceate the wrokmanship, which if I say so myself isn't bad! Take a look and see what you think. I hand stiched the sheath using faux crockidile from Tandy's also notice my brand etched near the guard if you can make it out. Now you can understand my avatar! Thanks for your interest and all comments and constructive criticisms are welcome. Joe

Many years ago I used to have a business recycling R-12 from cars that had been in a collision. Anyway one of the owners of a business that I went to had what looked like a hocky puck that was made out of solid steel, it was a paper weight on his desk. One day I picked it up and asked him "what is this?" He went on to tell me that he was a helecopter mechanic in a former life and that he was on site of the Exon Veldez wreck, he said that it was a plug that had been drilled out at the end of a crack in the hull (or some related part) to stop it from cracking any more prior to welding in an effort to minimize damage! This is the first thing that came to mind when I read your post. That would have been a cool piece of material to make a knife out of! Joe

Well, I got a chance to do a bit more on my Dundee Knife. I'm getting close here, I need to do a bit more polishing (few scratches here and there) and I need to make the sheath. I hand rubbed the blade to 600 grit. what do you guys think? Thanks for looking, Joe

Well, I have been triple tempering my Crockidile Dundee knife and I decided that while I was waiting I should put some of the blades that I had ready together. This is a cable damascus knife that I am calling my avacado knife.....Don't ask!!!!!!!!! My photography leaves a lot to be desired, but you can see the patern and the tempering line. Thanks for looking. Joe

Remember a magnet is your friend, heat until a magnet wont stick to the blade anymore, heat just a bit more and then quench. Hope this helps. Joe

Well Here's an update, this is what I have gotten done with my limited time? Here I started fitting the handle and making the guard. I ground the end of the tang just enough to thread it. Here is the tang after it has been threaded. Ready for the threaded pomel cap. And here is the completed knife in the rough. I will now dissasemble it, temper the blade, polish everything up and make a sheath. Stay tuned. I am pretty happy with the way this is turning out. Thanks for your interest and comments of support. Joe

Well had to shovel some more snow this morning, but I got time to rough grind my blade. Here is a pic of the first rough grind, looks real good, nice and straight, just a little more touch up and I can heat treat. I have a nice piece of Desert Ironwood for the handle! Maybe a little brass for the guard and pomel huh? Maybe an allagator hide hand sewn sheath? This is just too much fun!

All, Well I spent a good part of the day shoveling snow, then I did something I have been wanting to do for some time. I started with a leaf spring, a little longer than the blank here, but this gives you an idea of the cuts made, hot cut along the marks you see. The top is a forged knife I am working on, fresh out of the forge (well I had to let it cool slowly to anneal it). The blade is going to be about 10 1/2 inches long!!! That's a knife. I will post as progress takes place.

And the next question is what did you etch it with? thx Joe

Kindrage, I once made a forge out of an old freon tank, what I found is that what I ended up with was less than OK with me. I think that it was just too big around and the inside either needs 2 layers of kaowool or you have to much volume to heat up. Not very efficient, but will work. I just posted a couple of pictures of the forge I am now using, take a look maybe, this will give you some ideas. Good luck, have fun, but most of all be safe. Your loved ones need you in one piece. Joe

UnicornForge, The stand is only 1' square total, so you can really belly up to this post anvil, I also mentioned that the post is 36" tall so I don't have to bend when working on a blade. Since the post is 4"x4" you have a 4" shelf all around the anvil, just enough room to lay a few things on when working. I plan on putting on some straps/loops for hammers, tongs, etc. Hope this clears things up. Joe

Here's a couple of pics of my gas forge, this thing has worked well for quite some time. I scroundged up the parts and made the stand from old bed frame materials, I did buy the expanded material for the surface areas, I like this because all the unwanted stuff falls through. On the bottom of the forge I placed a 1/2 thickness firebrick for the floor, then lined it with kao wool coated with refractory. I then chipped off the firebrick you see to cover the ends creating a mouse hole. There is a mouse hole in the back as well but it is much smaller, just so you can pass longer pieces thru. By cutting these bricks in half they are moveable to accomidate larger pieces. Notice the magnet stuck to the left side, this I use to check for non magnetic heat when forging knife blades. One more thing that bears mentioning is if you look on the bottom shelf you will see a piece of kiln shelf, I place this into the forge if I am using borax for flux, during welding, this catchs the flux and can be removed and reused many times. Even though these kiln shelves are somewhat expensive, it's well worth it so you don't have to reline your forge as often. Also the z looking bracket at the front of the forge slides in and out on another piece of square tubing. Hope this gives someone ideas and therfore helps. Joe

Well I have been wanting to try a post anvil for knife making, after reading about it and watching Tim Lively's vidio I decided what I wanted. Since my knees won't stand for me kneeling down too much I decided I wanted something taller than in Tim's vidio. I also wanted more weight and mass below the face of the anvil. I started looking and found a salvage iron yard who had a 6' piece that they would cut for me. It was used steel and sold for .50 a lb. I had them cut off a 3' section with a band saw and it weighs 163 lbs. I figured I could simply place it on the ground a fabricate some sort of a stand for it. So here is what I came up with. The box is open on the bottom and the 'anvil' sits on the concrete. I also ground one of the edges round. Here are some pics and I also included one that shows my Hay Budden in the back. Oh and I guess I will put a couple of pics of my forge in here for the halibut! Well whadda you think? Joe

I made a miniture hunting knife out of a piece of cable demascus, looks pretty cool with an elk antler handle. It's more the size of a paring knife but it looks pretty cool. I remember in Wayne Goddards book "The Wonder of Knifemaking" there are some pictures of knives he made next to a dime so you could see just how small they were. So the short answer is no. Go for it. Joe

I posted a thread about finding a 'new' Buffalo Forge post drill. Maybe this brought up this question. First of all they are really cool. I think every smitty should have one. Secondly if I decide to make a totally unplugged project this will help and Lastly no there is no real reason to have one! But it's cool. And I must confess I have a Bridgeport milling machine.............and a tool room lathe! :cool: OK, I just wanted one! :confused: Joe

All, It seems that as a 59 year old man one shouldn't get so excited about acquireing a new piece of equipment. But I can't help myself, it's a good thing my wife loves me or I would have been in a lot of trouble a long time ago. Anyway, we were at an indoor flea market and low and behold there was an old tool under one of the shelves there! What is that I said at first? Then I realized what it was. A Buffalo Forge post drill! Model #614, In perfect condition! I mean no rust! And all the parts are there! What do they want for it? $80! Let's see if we can bargin the price down. Wife says "well if you want it buy it"! So I went up to the counter (already took the price tag off, cause some other gentleman had his eye on it!) "Can you do better than this I asked?" Let me see the guy at the counter said. "No, that just came in and will be at that price for a month before they will consider lowering the price." OK I'll take it I said! I know you're supprised! I just figured it wouldn't be there in a month. Well this weekend has been cold and snowy so I didn't get any pictures of my new find but here is a link to some that are probably better than I could do anyway and the one I bought is in just as good a shape as this one. I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!! Joe OWWM - Photo Index - Buffalo Forge Co. - No. 614

A couple of years ago I acquired a post vise, think I paid 15 bucks for it! Anyway the leg had been stuck in the dirt for who knows how long and had rusted to a very thin spot about 6 to 10 inches up. The jaws are in good shape, line up fine and are 51/2 inches wide. The screw and box are in good shape. Well I had it just lying around and this week end I decided to give it some attention. I built the leg up with my mig welder and kept giinding and welding until I was happy with the build up, I also cleaned out the old grease from the box and gave it some new grease. If I were to paint it you wouldn't even see the repair! So now I'm happy with it and have to find a place to mount it! Joe Need to forge some knife blanks.