Stormcrow

These are some pieces that got finished up and delivered in March, in amongst working on tomahawks and such. As I work my way down my list of commissions, military and law enforcement orders go to the top. This Benghazi Warfighter and Little Rok pair went to a Marine. The Benghazi is for work, and the Little Rok for play. Both are forged from 80CrV2. The Benghazi Warfighter has tan Tero Tuf for its handle. The Marine wanted to have a leg strap, adjustable-height quick-detach belt loops, and a retention strap. This is what I came up with. I shot some video talking about it, but need to edit it together and get it uploaded to YouTube still. The Little Rok has walnut for its handles, and black Kydex with a TekLok. The next knife is for a soldier currently going through his Special Forces qualification course. He wanted something for tactical and camping purposes with about a 7" blade. So we went with a cord-wrapped Benghazi Warfighter slightly longer than usual. Once again, 80CrV2 for the steel. We also decided to do a black oxide finish. And we went with a Combat Loop on the sheath. These are similar to TekLoks, but with a locking mechanism that I like better. I plan on using them more, but this is the first sheath I've made to get one. The background for these photos is the hood of a first generation International Harvester Scout. I noticed something funny as I walked up to it. I appreciate '80s metal, and so did whoever owned this in the '80s. And finally, an interesting couple of blades for a sheriff's deputy who is on a reserve SWAT team. He's been carrying a 14" bladed machete on his pack and wanted a "tanto machete" to replace it with. I had a 14" bladed quasi-wakizashi already forged out of 5160 and sent him a picture. He decided to go with it. He also wanted a fairly wide-bladed 5" knife with a false edge on top for his son's graduation present, which I forged from 80CrV2. They both got matching cord wraps and Kydex, and both have coffin-shaped exposed skullcrushers. You can see that the quasi-waki has a fairly straight blade, but the handle is angled slightly. I've seen a few other tactical wakis take this approach and wanted to try it. Here's a look at it in my meaty paw to give a sense of scale. The beard is temporary; I'm reverting back to jaw-length sideburns the next time I get a haircut. I look tired for some reason in this picture. Off to the next adventure!

I actually had a fellow who's a professional chef pick up one of my Benghazi Warfighters a year and a half ago at a knife show. He bought it as a general use/camp knife, but he commented on how he liked the profile as being similar to a kitchen knife. Of course, the cross section is quite a bit different (thicker!), but the overall shape is a good food prep and overall utility shape. This one is a bit shorter and with a bit more abrupt angle to the belly, but not that much different.

Thanks, guys! Charles - That's the idea with the military knives I build; not indestructible, but hard to tear up.

This knife was a commission from a fellow in the Navy who was wanting a knife for his new commanding officer, a fellow he already knew from before. He described their outfit as a "sea and combat search and rescue helicopter squadron that deploys in support of Navy carrier air operations in the Middle East". And, he needed it pretty quickly. So I put it to the front of the line and got it to him on time. It's about a 5" blade, very pointy with an almost-westernized-tanto tip (which is more obvious in person than it is in the picture), forged from 80CrV2. Handle is tan TeroTuf with flared stainless steel tubing rivets, and the sheath is tan Kydex. The knife has the squadron, HSC-7, laser engraved on one handle slab, and "Commanding Officer" on the other. The customer texted me today and said that the Skipper loved it.

That is the coolest handle I've seen from you so far! Awesomesauce!

Always good to see your masterful work.

Well, the build was good for me, though it came to naught. Everyone finished up their knives for the challenge, sent them off to the guy who was supposed to test them and then.... nothing. They never got tested out. Lots of bad feelings from the participants and those waiting to see the testing results. I eventually got my rig back and it eventually got sold. I never did see any explanation for why the testing never occurred. Oh well.

Thanks, guys! Frosty - The handle is roundish at the butt end, but is an ellipse for most the length. I doubt this will be used when kicking in doors, so a leisurely switch from the off hand for drawing to the strong hand for using won't be too much of an issue (I do it with my EDC), but the sheath can get swapped around as he gets everything arranged to his liking. Might even be short enough for scout carry. :) Gergely - He has a Filipino background, which is one reason he was drawn to a parang shape. I think I remember him mentioning FMA as well. Thomas - Maringer did good work. I seem to recall he was the/one of the pioneers in the use of Kydex for sheaths.

Every aspect of that came out gorgeous, and the photography shows it off well. Good work, man!

This setup was requested by a fellow in California who has served on local, state, and federal drug task forces, as well as other law enforcement positions. He wanted a chopper to carry while locating and destroying illegal pot farms, often located in state and national parks. The agents end up having to rappel from helicopters a lot of times, and he's even come across booby traps set up to catch them as they rope in. So he needed something with a lot of chopping power in a short overall package, with a sheath that wasn't going to dump the blade out if he got hung up and turned upside down. We went with a mini-parang with a blade about 10" long, forged from 5160, with olive drab paracord impregnated with marine epoxy for the wrap and an OD paracord lanyard. The sheath was an interesting challenge, if a bit less than the one I did for the sniper's rig a little while back, with several new things for me to try. For one major thing, he wanted an open back and a retention strap going across. He also wanted it to be able to be quickly detached from his belt. And a drain hole, which weren't no big deal but was the first I'd done. You can see that I cut a notch into the Kydex deep enough to expose the spine for the retention strap to rest against. Since I didn't have grommets on each side of the sheath to attach carry hardware like I usually do, I built a panel with grommets and slots that attach via Chicago screws and allow the quick-detach belt loops to be balanced out so the sheath wouldn't pull to one side or the other. There's height adjustability in each half of the belt loops, as well as with the panel itself. A couple of shots in hand. And on the hip. I forgot he had told me he was going to wear it on his left side (pistol on his right), so I set it up for right side carry like I usually do. But after he reminded me, it took a minute with a Phillips screwdriver to swap it over. I love the modular, ambidextrous nature of Kydex! Some video discussing the rationale behind it, with cutting video. The leg hair shaving scene is something to behold; I never wear shorts! And if you watch the video all the way through, you'll see this little guy that went to another customer briefly attached to the sheath of the parang to demonstrate the modularity of the Kydex sheath. It's 5160 with olive drab over tan paracord for the handle, with a blade around 4 3/4" long.

I think you'd be happier with canola oil. It's a fast-ish quench (faster than motor oil) that hardens well without unduly stressing the steel. And nothing toxic to worry with, especially on something that's going to be used on food. Used motor oil has all kinds of nasty crap in it that you don't want to ingest, either from the knife, or from the smoke during the quench. It works well on low-alloy carbon steels like 5160 and 1084. Just pre-heat to around 130 degrees Fahrenheit before using. I made the switch myself years and years ago, and have had a lot of happy customers.

Thanks, Gergely! I finally took a couple of minutes and wrote you back. Been putting in some long nights. :)

What it is, or why to do it?

This pair was ordered up by a customer who had previously bought an 18" Wrecker tomahawk from me and has used it quite a bit. He wanted a matching 'hawk and knife with cord wrapped handles. The 'hawk is the more "neo" of the pair, a 15" War Chief in 1/4" 4140, with the top and bottom rivet holes left exposed to allow for lanyard options. The knife is forged from 1/4" x 1 1/4" 80CrV2, with a 7" blade and a false edge on the clip. Both have hemp-over-leather handle wraps and black oxide finish on the steel. There is a leather slab on either side of the tang underneath the hemp to bulk up the handle. The edges on the leather were heavily beveled prior to wrapping to keep the corners of the handle from being too square. Three strand Turk's head knots in black round leather lace cover the ends of the wrap, and the whole wrap is impregnated with marine epoxy. The customer will be making his own sheaths.

Thank y'all! Bacha - The TeroTuf is the handle material, not the black oxide finish. TeroTuf is similar in concept to Micarta in that both are stacked up layers of cloth impregnated with a resin that hardens. In the case of TeroTuf, it's polyester cloth and resin and is tougher than Micarta, as well as less toxic to work with. Biggundocotr - There is no average year. :) Hard to say, really. I'm really digging the 80CrV2, and am building up my supply on hand while using up my 5160. It's a bit stiffer under the hammer and harder to file, but not enough to make me not want to use it. Certainly easier to work with than worn-out Nicholson files, which should be something like 1095.

A small batch of Benghazi Warfighters. All of them are forged from 1/4" 80CrV2 steel. First one is pretty standard fare for me, with tan canvas Micarta and Kydex. One with tan TeroTuf and a black oxide finish. Another in tan Micarta. And a shorty double-edged version built for a Border Patrol agent, with olive drab canvas Micarta. The difference in balance between a regular ~ 6 1/2" single edged Benghazi Warfighter and a ~ 5" double edged is interesting. Usually they are slightly blade-heavy, making them chop decently for such a short knife. The angle of the shot makes it look a bit further forward, but it's balancing just in front of the handle slab. With the shorty, the balance point was right under the first of the handle rivets, making it feel very fast.

One of the fun things about making axes is trying to keep everything lined up. It can be a booger. No advice from me, just empathy. :)

That's a pretty cool blade profile.

Thanks, guys! :)

Those of y'all that don't think Texas can be a jungle should see the impenetrable masses of briars, mesquites, scrub oak, and wild rose that cover large portions of the state. :D This commission was made at the same time as the customer ordered up a Benghazi Warfighter for himself and one for his brother. He has been very patient waiting for the chopper to get finished up, and I waited until he could give me some feedback on its use before I posted pics. The blade is forged from 5160 steel, approximately 15 inches long, with a fully sharpened forward edge. This is something I've done once or twice before, and is something I don't particularly want to do again. :) The handle is black Micarta with flared stainless steel rivets. This is the longest blade I have ever put a slab handle on; usually they are integral sockets. I'm very pleased with the results. He ordered a Kydex sheath from me. And a leather rig from Luke Swenson. A closeup of the handle. He wanted an exposed skullcrusher pommel. Here's his report back: "So I finally managed to string together some days off and take the Chopper for a spin, but didn’t bring my phone so I don’t have any pictures. I cut through several thigh sized limbs as well as some smaller stuff. It went through both the live branches as well as some old dead ones with minimal force behind the swing. It took a couple of minutes to get through the thick stuff with just lazy swings and probably half that when I put some force behind it. Only thing that gave away that it had been used was some gunk from the green tree limbs which was easily cleaned off. No touch up on the blade needed, it’s still shaving sharp. The weight was perfect and the handle is very comfortable and the handle made it easy to keep my hand in place without slipping when swinging it. I loved every second of swinging it around. Thank you for such a well made proficient blade." Always glad to hear about my blades being put to work. :)

Not a bad approach! Certainly artistic. It'd have limited penetration, but should work for limbing. Shame about it being mild steel, though. :( Try the next one with leaf spring if you don't want to buy new blade steel. Gotta say that new 5160 from the New Jersey Steel Baron is pretty darn cheap, though shipping adds quite a bit to the price.

Several people have asked me about how the blunt-ended chopper ended up. It got black paracord for its wrap.

Thanks, guys! Chinobi - If he brings it back to the farm, it certainly should!

I had built this sword toward the end of summer to have on my table at the Gathering, with the intent of it going to my best friend (who has been waiting a very long time for a bush sword from me) if it didn't sell at the show. Although it got picked up a lot at the show, no one walked home with it, so I built a sheath to go with it, sharpened the top edge, and delivered it to my buddy. Here it was post-heat treatment: Ready for the show, top edge not yet sharpened. And then, when I got to hand it to my buddy and get some final pics, it was, as usual, at the end of us working a long day on my family's farm, and lighting was less-than-ideal to capture it. The sheath is molded nicely to the blade, though you sure can't tell that in this picture. And my buddy, in appropriately dramatic pose with his new blade. He's quite happy with it. :) Blade is approximately 16", steel is 5160, handle is an integral socket with marine-epoxy-impregnated paracord.

Lots of beautiful work here!