Stormcrow

A shop I used to work at that did big stuff had a jib crane mounted directly on top of their middle-sized self-contained hammer. There was a forge set up where the crane could support stock in it, then be rotated around and fed into the hammer. It was set up where it could be run either by foot loop or hand lever by an assistant. Depending on how your hammer is built, perhaps attaching a crane directly to it would be possible.

I concur with Dave's conclusion: fairly flat face with a slight radius. Was very interesting to watch him forge the bevels in with it, and was a bit surprised to see the hydraulic press for slitting and spreading open the magane (I think was the term) base to sandwich in the high carbon core. Usually in videos I've seen of Japanese bladesmiths, they use a handled chisel under their hammer. I think the press is a darn good way to go, though. You might also search on Youtube for the KA75 forging knives. The guy works his steel too cold for the demo, but it does a good job of showing a taper and flat combo being used to forge knife bevels. It's tempting to make some knife-specific dies with a shallower taper, but I have a lot of other things needing my attention before that. LastRonin - I'm slowly whittling down on my list of commissions! :) Eventually us civvies can get blades too.

I second that!

Thomas - The one that probably would have been most appropriate is no longer published. :( Windancer - It's from Caswell. http://www.caswellplating.com/metal-finishing-solutions/black-oxide-kits.html

You have a very powerful tool available with that 3D printer. Good looking knife!

Thank y'all! This was a special project for me, and I'm pleased with the outcome. I hope it serves him well in whatever capacity he uses it in. Forgot to mention this is 5160. Not surprising, coming from me, though I'm transitioning to 80CrV2. Chinobi - You know you want one. :) It'll be a while 'fore I catch up with my current load of orders and open my books again anyway. Thomas - Not sure how I'd go about seeing about submitting an article about my own work. I've had a couple of magazine articles, but the authors approached me about them. Rthibeau - Only new work I'm taking on right now is from active duty military, law enforcement, and first responders. I have some folks who have been waiting too dang long for their orders to make it to the forge. :) Tends to give away your position when you're clearing out a sniper hide with your .45. John - Most blade usage on a modern battlefield is more mundane stuff. Chances are slim that the blade will ever be used for fighting. But there are still definitely cases where it comes down to pulling sharp steel, and they're ugly circumstances that neither side is happy about being in. In those cases, it's good to have a capable blade. I hope I'm never in such a situation myself. :)

The thicker the baseplate, the more energy is going into moving the steel rather than getting dispersed through flexing the machine. My 100 lber flexes its 1 1/2" base. If you have access to thicker plate, use it. And tying it to the ground somehow is going to be a good idea too. A lot of older power hammer seem built mighty low to me. I really don't like having to bend down to use a hammer, especially with herniated disks in my lumbar. My suggestion is to make the anvil a height that you are comfortable standing upright at.

I was recently approached by an Army sniper stationed in Afghanistan to build him a knife that would work equally well at clearing brush and gathering vegetation for building "hides" and for use as a weapon in up-close-and-personal encounters if need be. He said he already carried garden trimmers and a folding saw, but as he put it, "they're pretty lame and useless as weapons". :D The knife on my website that had caught his eye was the latest addition to the Aggression brethren. I had traced the blade of it prior to wrapping the handle, so I had a pattern to start with. I made a few suggested changes to make it more practical, which I made in blue Sharpie, to which he agreed. We also both agreed that retina-searing orange would be a poor choice for a sniper, and settled on a more subdued wrap for his. :) I made a posterboard pattern of the altered design, and after a couple of false starts, got the blade forged. It took several cycles of cutting away excess metal, cleanup grinding, and re-forging to get the desired profile, weight, and balance. After normalization and an overnight vinegar soak to eat off the scale, it was time for stock removal and heat treatment. The wrap on this knife is a bit different from what I've done before. Usually, I use an underlay of paracord with its core intact to build up the bulk around the tang, with a stripped-core paracord overlay. This time, I laid a foundation of a slab of leather on either side of the tang, the edges heavily beveled to keep from getting square corners on the handle, then wrapped a black stripped-core underlay and tan stripped-core overlay on top, capped off with an intact-core three-strand Turk's head knot. The whole wrap was then impregnated with marine epoxy, making a solid handle in place on the tang. The leather foundation helped make one of the most comfortable handle wraps I've done, and I'm very pleased with the outcome. After establishing the edges, the whole knife was dipped in solution to give it a black oxide finish and the final sharpening done. The epoxied wrap was impervious to the solution. I had tested out dipping a wrapped handle in before trying it on his, of course. :) As beautiful as the ostrich-hide-inlaid leather sheath was that Luke Swenson made for the previous Aggression is, the sniper and I decided that Kydex was the way to go for his. This was the most complex Kydex sheath I've built to date because I wanted to give him a lot of carry options. He wanted to be able to wear it attached to his pack or from his belt, and for it to have an extra retention strap, something I haven't done on a sheath before. We also both like the concept of using the sheath as a platform for a survival kit, so that factored in as well. Here's the full rig: The two sets of MOLLE locks are for attachment on a pack, the straps can be used for such or for the attachment of MOLLE pouches to the outside to carry a survival kit, and the paracord is the same as used on the handle wrap, arranged where a piece is quickly accessible, but won't accidentally come loose from the sheath even if the end comes untucked. Here's the "prosthetic" piece I built to attach the retention strap. I wanted a quick way for the sheath to go from pack carry to belt carry, so rigged up a couple of quick-detach belt holders that slip under the MOLLE locks. The first was the webbing one, which is more flexible. I decided that he might want it more rigid on his belt, so I built a second one out of Kydex with a TekLok. Both belt carry setups are height-adjustable and can be swapped out in under a minute. Never seen another setup like that. Doesn't mean no one else has done it, just that I haven't seen it. :) I'm looking forward to seeing how he ends up setting up the rig for carry. I sent along what remained of the tan paracord, as well as 10 feet of the strap and some extra buckles and sliders. He can play around with all kinds of different carry options. And a couple of shots of the blade in hand to get a feel for scale. I don't think I took final dimensions before shipping it out (though I can measure the tracing I did of it), but it's about a 12" blade with the top edge fuller sharpened for about 1/3 of the length. And finally, a video with most of what I just said, but a bit more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tu3P3WRAnE He's pretty happy with it so far. Said he has to look at it every twenty minutes, which is what a maker likes to hear. :)

Tobin just added a quick rebound test video. He's going to build a "west Texas tree stump" for it, at which point it should be a real dandy. :)

My buddy Tobin Nieto and I heat treated a 4140 block anvil for him yesterday. 56 pounds of steel at over 1500 degrees. Much fun. :)

That is the most feminine mace I've ever seen. Good job! I like that you used dogwood in your dog-whackin' mace. :)

1084 is a good blade steel in general, not just for a beginner. But the heat treatment is so simple with such good results with 1084 that it gets suggested for beginners a lot.

Not right now. I'm actually on hiatus from accepting new orders for forged blades while I work to catch up on the backlog of commissions I currently have. The exception being for active duty military, law enforcement, or first responders. These were left over inventory from a knife show that then got put up for sale. Actually, they sold before I got a chance to post pics, but the customers asked me what I had on hand. Got a batch of commissioned Benghazi Warfighters in the works right now, though.

Biggundoc - Nope, never tried Parkerizing. I got turned on to the Caswell finish by seeing it on Daniel Winkler's Winkler II lineup, and then seeing the process on their website. Aden - It went to a suburb of Sydney. There certainly are some talented smiths down there. :)

It's a simple process. It's a chemical solution from Caswell. I dip the whole knife in for a while, rinse it off, then brush on the sealer that came with the kit.

Been playing around with a black oxide finish that I'm really digging and plan to be using more in the future. These are the first two knives that I've sold with that finish. Benghazi Warfighters in 5160 with black Tero Tuf handles and flared stainless tube rivets, black Kydex sheaths. One went to Australia and the other to Canada. And what the blades looked like without the black oxide.

Not a clue. I have no experience with it. I do know that I immersed a knife with a cord wrapped handle into a black oxide acid solution for five minutes the other day, rinsed it off, and had no penetration into the cord or leather underneath. That was with the West marine epoxy. If the rod varnish if more readily available to you, or you think it'll work better, give it a crack and see how it goes. I've used superglue and Minwax Wood Hardener, and the marine epoxy does better than either.

When I make bush swords (souped-up machetes), I usually start with 1/4" stock and will forge in multiple distal tapers. The spine will often taper from the chopping sweet spot back to the handle, and forward to the point. At the sweet spot, it may be close to the original 1/4", while the rest of it will be more like 3/16" or a little under. This helps keep the weight forward for powerful chopping while keeping the overall weight low. The sweet spot is also usually the widest part of the blade for the same reason. The stock is heavier than commercial machetes, but I use a shorter length than I typically use on a commercially built machete. Most of my bush swords are between 13" and 16" blades, and most commercial machetes I use are 20" or a bit longer. My cross sections taper from the spine down to the cutting edge, with a secondary bevel for the cutting edge itself. Most of my bush swords have an elongated sine wave shape to them, which drops the chopping sweet spot below the level of your knuckles a smidge. This adds to chopping power. If you get a lot below, it becomes harder to control. A lot of folks notice that when they first use a khukuri, that it takes some getting used to how they handle. I prefer to get that drop with the curvature of the handle and the angle of the handle to the blade rather than with a recurve to the blade. Recurves are harder to sharpen on a flat whet rock. I like the blade to have a gentle progressive arch to it. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

It's a forum dedicated to all kinds of fine manly accoutrements such as watches, pens, vapes, leather goods, high-powered flashlights, etc., but primarily knives, and primarily modern folding knives. Lots of military and LEO presence. The Gathering is a yearly show featuring the kinds of stuff they talk about on the forum. Lots of tattoos, piercings, and utilikilts. :)

Got some pics of the 15" Wrecker and War Chief that came back with me. I didn't get to finish the War Chief's sheath before leaving, but plan to do so tomorrow if I can. I'll also see if I can get my wife to get a picture of the balance point before she goes to work.

Oooooh, really like both! What's the tang like on the spear?

I don't think I've tried a cord that doesn't work. As long as it will absorb the epoxy into itself, it'll do fine. Paracord works really well. As for epoxy, the slower the set time and the thinner the consistency, the better. I use West System epoxy with the 105 resin and 207 hardener. Kind of pricy to start with, but it'll do a lot of handles. I mix the epoxy then brush it on with a disposable acid brush. I slather it on thick, hitting it with more when it absorbs into the fibers. After everything is thoroughly coated, I'll let it sit for a minute, then flip it over to keep the excess from pooling on one side. Flip it every few minutes until it doesn't seem to be pooling any more. After it has set up for a little bit after that, wipe the excess off with a rag and allow it to harden the rest of the way. On hairy natural cords like hemp, after it sets it may be rough and abrasive. Hit it lightly with some sandpaper, then oil it and it'll be good to go.

Thanks, Chinobi. We got back yesterday afternoon and I had a *very* lazy day today. Back to the shop tomorrow. Enjoyed getting to meet you too. Hope to see you next year. :)

Back in Texas, though not back home yet. It was interesting in Las Vegas because while it was above 100 degrees like in San Antonio, the much lower humidity meant that it actually felt comfortable in comparison! We're putting in long days and lots of miles to get back and made our only early stop in Lubbock, my old college stomping grounds, this afternoon. We saw the extreme of 113 degrees in Needles, California, with $4.89 gas and 77 degrees near the Grand Canyon, with $3.14 gas here in Lubbock. I did manage to have a respectably full table, even if I did finish up sharpening in the hotel room and putting straps on the tomahawk sheaths at the show. My loverly bride, Allie, always makes knife shows more fun. :) God bless her patience! Right side of the table, with the bush swords. Left side, featuring the new 15" tomahawks. Three lengths of Wrecker 'hawks for comparison. The 15" hammer poll sold. I got a picture before it left the table. And a couple of the Benghazi Warfighters. I missed getting sheaths built for the black ones. I'll get those together this week after getting back home. The 15" 'hawks and the Benghazi Warfighters both feature a new handle material for me: Tero Tuf. It's a composite material similar in concept to Micarta, but tougher and less toxic to work with, as well as feeling similar to canvas Micarta on the hand but a bit more comfortable. I'm pretty happy with it, and sure plan to make use of it more in the future. Had a lot of fun, met new folks, talked with old folks, made good contacts, sold some blades. Good show!

Ummmm, looks like yes. It doesn't hit as many beats per minute as a Little Giant, but it's more controllable and hits plenty hard. Too much faster would be more than the spring could cycle effectively, I believe. I'd rather take a few more heats and have more control over it.