Stormcrow

Thanks, Tim! Kwisatz - I teach simple knifemaking fairly continuously, but this was the first time we compressed a typically six-session class down into three days. I have another one coming up the last weekend of the month, but after that I'm pretty much clearing my schedule until the other side of June in order to be able to prepare for the Blade Show and to move shop to a new location after that.

I taught a three-day knifemaking workshop a couple of weekends ago and one of the students bought this from my inventory of waiting-to-make-sheaths-before-posting-pics blades. While we were waiting for the Minwax Wood Hardener to dry on our paracord handle wraps, I took the opportunity to demonstrate making a simple foldover Kydex sheath. The knife was forged from 3/4" round 5160, bevel and false edge were hand filed, and the blade was given my typical triple normalize/triple harden/triple temper heat treatment. The handle is a bit longer than I typically do, and would make for good extended leverage for chopping. The underlay is a bronze/gold paracord, with a black paracord overlay and two-strand Turk's head knot, all sealed with Minwax Wood Hardener. The customer is a professional knife sharpener who works from home and also a member of a primitive skills group, so he should have an appreciation for a quality blade. :) He kept picking up different knives in my inventory box and liked them all, but always gravitated back to this one. It was shaving sharp when he got it, but I'm sure it has his own preferred edge on it now.

Seems like a pretty good summation. :)

I think using the crankshaft as the eccentric is a good idea, but eliminating the engine block or at least turning it upside down would eliminate having to try to make the piston articulate in the opposite plane it needs to. Turn it sideways to the rest of the hammer, cut off everything not needed, and there you go. Wow, is it really 3:00 in the morning? I hope that was a clear thought. :)

Justin - Whatever method of construction is chosen, good workmanship is still good workmanship and poor workmanship is poor workmanship. But a particular style or finish choice doesn't automatically equate sloppiness. To turn it around, it could easily be argued that doing a lot of grinding on a knife is often a way of getting around and concealing poor hammer control. "Aw, don't worry about it; it'll go away when you grind it." A forge finish tells you exactly what the smith did with a hammer, with no way to hide it. In reality, that isn't to say that everyone who grinds their knife clean is bad with a hammer, nor does it mean that everyone who makes a forge finished blade is lazy and sloppy. I'm also not trying to say good fit and finish diminishes usability. To continue with the car analogy, a rat rod and a billet rod may both be just as driveable, but to a large segment of the public, the $40,000 paint job on the billet rod is something they would hate to damage, and will therefor baby it and limit the driving to perfect weather and special occasions. The rat rod in primer or patina will more often be driven frequently and a lot of times be the owner's daily driver. In the meantime, the billet rodders think the rat rods look like haphazard junk shlocked together by untrained monkeys, while the rat rodders think the billet rods are giant Hot Wheels toys for overgrown snobby kids who look down their noses at anything not built the way they like it. And both groups are right to a certain degree, depending entirely on which individual they're thinking about. :) I read a book a number of years ago by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, creator of fiberglass-bodied custom hot rods like the Beatnik Bandit. When talking about his early years in hot rodding, he said that at the hot rod gatherings everyone would try to outdo each other in fancying up their rides, chroming more and more. I think Ed said he was the first to chrome the gears in his transmission. There comes a certain point in making a custom knife where one is metaphorically "chroming their transmission gears". That appeals to a number of knife enthusiasts; I can't picture using it and therefor can't picture enjoying it and therefor I prefer something else. If a person likes that, more power to them. I may think it's kind of a silly thing to do, but it's their life, hobby, and money. That being said, nothing you describe doing on your knives would reach "chroming your transmission gears" in my book. I am with you in that I would like to see more well-done forge finished blades than badly done forge finished blades. But a lot of them are beginners who are drawn to the style as being accessible to their equipment and skill level. I do know some makers who consistently make work that shows they can't hit straight with a hammer or shape a handle with any kind of symmetry, and they sell for multiple hundreds of dollars. It bugs me. But my approach is to simply produce as well-made of a blade as I can and put the pictures up for the world to see. If they can see the difference in the craftsmanship, I did what I wanted. If they can't, either I need to improve, or they don't have the eye to tell good work from bad. Rich - I'm very humbled by that. I have taken inspiration from so many tremendously skilled knife makers over the years that it is awesome to be at the point where one says that I am a source of inspiration. Thank you!

I'm not an ABS member, but I do make forge finished knives. I'd say that what you ask isn't a dumb question, but it does give an opportunity for explanation and for some return questions. For one, I'm not sure I follow what you mean by "inclusion" in this case. I would consider an inclusion to be something like a piece of slag mixed in with the steel made from a bloom, but the way you're using it sounds like perhaps you are meaning the gray scale oxide? In which case, I don't see many blades with a forge finish where the scale is left on. My method is to soak the blade in vinegar to eat the scale off, leaving the texture behind. I would say that yes there are a growing number of knifemakers who are playing around with using the forge texture in their final product. I can't speak for everyone, but I can give my reasons. 1. Utility - The forge finish is very durable and hard to scratch. If it gets rusty, you just rub it down with some 150 grit sandpaper and it looks like it did when it was new. It makes for a good working knife finish. 2. Aesthetics - It is interesting looking and does not break up the flow of lines in the blade. My eye looks first to the outline of a knife, and that is where most of the beauty derives for me. Anything that breaks up a good flow of lines detracts from that. A well-executed forge finish provides visual interest without messing with the flow. I'm not a big fan of damascus in part because for a lot of it the pattern breaks up the flow of lines in the profile and jars in my mind. I do like san mai and low-layer count damascus because it tends to not break up the flow of lines while adding visual interest. 3. Appreciation - I have a hard time enjoying something useful and beautiful like a knife or a car if I can't envision using it. If I see a very high-end knife with damascus, mammoth ivory, gold, engraving, etc, my breath may be taken away by the skill and the beauty, but there's always that nagging part (which gets stronger as I get older) of, "I can't imagine doing anything with that except displaying it." I prefer Chevelles over Lamborghinis, rat rods over billet rods, and a well-done forge finished blade over a well-done damascus one. Neo-Tribal Metalsmithing, which is the school of thought from which I approach my bladesmithing, started up in part as a way of having fun with making knives when making them the same old way over and over was getting to be a drag. It was also a reaction against high end "safe queens" and as a way of making quality knives without having to lay down an investment in thousands of dollars in equipment. It's very similar to the rise of the "rat rod" movement in hot rods, which was a reaction against "trailer queens" that were loaded down with billet accessories and paint jobs that cost multiple tens of thousands of dollars yet would barely be driven. Build it yourself, build it to be driven, and freak out the normals a bit. :) I see many forged blades that are indistinguishable from stock removal blades. That is fine as long as it well-executed. But I don't want to make my blades look like they were ground from a bar if I have hammered them into shape instead. I like to acknowledge how they were made, and a growing number of knifemakers feel the same. That may range from stainless san mai with the spine left as-forged and the rest polished and etched, to the entire blade being forge finished like Raymond Richard and Tim Lively do. Forge finish also separates the look of the blade from the standard 20th/21st century American style of handmade knife. I like things that have a timeless look to it, and a forge finish helps with that. At the same time, it can lead to, or derive from, laziness. I have seen some horrifically sloppy hammer work on forge finished blades, and the attendantly poor jobs of fitting handles and guards, all in the name of making it look "primitive". Primitive does not equate crude. A good forge finish shows the knife maker's skill with a hammer, and if it is covered with missed hammer strokes, it is obvious that he has not mastered forging to shape yet. Just like any other aspect of style in hand craftsmanship, it can be a benefit or a detriment, depending entirely on execution of the individual craftsman.

Thank y'all! Kwisatz - I brushed it on using disposible acid brushes from harbor Freight. I give it an initial coat, then immediately follow with a second one. After it's had some time to soak in, I brush on a third, then will let it set up overnight. If it's too rough on the hand, I'll give it subsequent coats as needed to make it comfortable. Bnewberry - Give a wrapped handle a try and see what you think. They're simple (not to be confused with easy) to do, and if you don't like it you can take it off and turn the knife into a hidden tang. Think of it as making a composite handle in place. As for the lines, I do have a good eye for flow of lines, if nothing else. :)

This was made for a knife in the hat exchange, or KITH, over on Don Fogg's forum. The idea on this KITH was to make a blade that was either mythological (though myth could be of modern and even personal manufacture) or tribal in aesthetics. I was originally planning a forge finished integral socket bush sword with a La Tene-style blade inspired by Robert E. Howard's "The Valley of the Worm", but time drew near and I came across a style of blade from the jungles of Thailand that really caught my eye, and I went with that instead. The blade is approximately 13" long and 3/16" thick, forged from 5160 and given my typical triple normalization, triple quench in canola oil, and triple tempering cycle heat treatment that I use for 5160. Here's what it looked like post-hardening and pre-tempering: After tempering, cleaning off the oil, and wrapping the handle with hemp and tying two-strand Turk's head knots in cotton: After sealing the wrap in black shellac: And after sharpening to shaving sharp, It's on its way to its new owner, Scott Roush, who makes awesome knives.

This one went out today to a retired SWAT officer who works at a military school and does survival training with the cadets, the Boy Scouts, and Venture Scouts. He wanted a similar pattern to the SERE knife I made for the airman at the beginning of the year. I forged 3/4" round 5160 into a blade approximately 8" long with a spine 1/4" thick and a cross section that tapers from the spine down to the secondary bevel (or as some folks call it, the primary bevel. :D ). Essentially a full flat grind except that it's forged and filed instead of ground. You can see how closely it was forged to its final dimensions. Not a whole lot had to be ground away to clean up the profile and not a lot had to be filed to complete the primary bevel. After my typical triple quench in canola oil and triple temper cycle heat treatment I use on 5160, I cleaned off the oil and cut out a slab of leather for either side of the handle and cut a hole to match the anchor hole drilled through the tang. A little patience, a little tape to temporarily hold things in place, and I started wrapping the hemp cord around the leather. It anchors at the end of the handle through both the steel and the leather. Then I tied the two-strand Turk's head knot a the front of the handle using black cotton cord. And then plenty of amber shellac to seal things and create a natural composite material in place on the handle. After the shellac was nicely dried and hardened, I sharpened it to shaving sharp (giving it its secondary (or primary :D ) bevel. Here's what it looked like right before being packed away and dropped in the mail. I would consider this to be part of my Primal/Tactical lineup, but leaning a bit more on the primal side of things.

This one got picked up by a member of the Hoodlums forum at the local monthly gun show before I could get any decent pictures of it, but I was able to snap this one before handing it over. This is a light and fast one, though the weight is balanced just forward of the Turk's head knot. After I made this, I thought about it in comparison with the Fairbairn-Sykes as a fighting knife, and I have to say I would much rather carry this pattern if I had been a British commando in WWII. I would make the false edge into a fully sharpened clip and add a double guard for such duty. This is forged from 5160, triple normalized, triple hardened in canola oil, triple tempered, shaving sharp. The usual. The handle is green paracord for the underlay and black paracord stripped of its core for the overlay and with core intact for the two-strand Turk's head knot. It's been impregnated with Minwax Wood Hardener to make a solid handle.

Hey, Sam, can you make those blueprints available somehow?

Can you link to the video? I'd like to see it and be able to show to other folks.

Make it with an anvil height that's comfortable for you. If you have a solid anvil, it's going to have a lot better than the 10:1 anvil-to-ram-weight ratio folks talk about a power hammer needing.

I think you can go either way. The dies for my homebrewed power hammer are made from 4140 welded to mild steel base plates. I heat treated the dies myself first, then the next day or so pre-heated them to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour, welded them, then post heated again at 400 for an hour. No problems from them at all. If you're going to weld on 4140, I've seen it highly recommneded that you do the pre and post heat to avoid cracking. I'd do it whether you are heat treating or not and whether or not you weld before heat treatment or afterwards.

Looks like a good first start! I made some railroad spike knives to begin with and they don't look that knife-like. :)

This one walked out of my shop today in the hands of an airman. I had not made a sheath yet and didn't have any pics, so I built a quick foldover Kydex sheath while he waited and snapped some pictures. The blade is just under 5" long, forged from 3/4" round 5160 spring steel. Triple normalized, triple hardened in canola oil, triple tempered, shaving sharp; the usual. The tang runs the full length of the handle and is wrapped in paracord with a black underlay and desert tan overlay. The paracord is impregnated with Minwax Wood Hardener, essentially making a composite material in situ, and anchors through a hole drilled in the end of the tang. The underlay still has its core, while the overlay and the single-strand Turk's head knot have had the core stripped. The sheath has a small MOLLE lock. The shiny spot on it is where I got it a smidge too warm with the heat gun.

Nice work! Why don't you tell us something about 'em, like alloys used. :)

Sonoran6 - Have at it! I recently noticed how similar the profile is to one of the Scrapyard Knife Works designs. I have a large folder on my computer full of blades that are inspiration to me, and it tickles me to be on the inspiring end of things. Just post pictures when you're done.

I forged this out last week while contemplating and assessing what I needed to prioritize as far as working on projects. Kept my hands occupied and my mind calm and I got done what I needed. Made a little bit of money with it too, as it has sold. Typical for me: 5160, forge finish, filed bevels, triple normalize, triple quench in veggie oil, triple temper. This is the first forged blade for me to use this particular type of cord wrap; the others using it were stock removal blades. There's a leather slab on either side under the wrap that runs the full length of the handle and it has a hole in it so that the cord wraps through the steel and the leather. Cotton two-strand Turk's head knot at the front, hemp cord for the rest of the wrap, sealed in shellac. I forgot to take measurements, but it's a large blade. I'd say in the 7 inch range.

You did a lovely job on it and should feel proud! My mom has the first rose I made. :)

The airman who ordered this knife completed his SERE training. With his permission, here's what he told me about using it: "Ok, so im back from SERE school and it was rough. Learned alot though. My wife sent me the knife and out of the box i thought it was awsome. Sheath is very cool and functional. knife stays well with tension. The clips work very well on a web belt as well as MOLLE attachments on my vest. The knife itself is very beefy. I was not able to take pictures because alot of the training is classified and i was not able to bring a camera. I can say that the knife worked like a dream. We had many tasks during the training that involved a good knife. They issued us all bolt knives but i chose to use yours even though i still had to lug around the bolt knife as well. cutting tree bows down was very easy. I probobly cut down about 150 bows for shelters and camo. We also cut down alot of tree bolts for fires. we used large branches to beat the knife through the the tree bolts to have smaller pieces and the knife went through like butter. finished way faster than the guys with the bolt knifes. probobly went through about 20 bolts of wood. the tip worked real well for breaking down wood too. I also used the kinfe to start fires with a metal match and cut down alot of brush while evading. The knife worked like a dream and i had alot of guys ask where i got it so your cards went to good homes. Im sure you will get a few calls. This knife is definately staying in my helmet bag when i fly. Great knife. email me with any specific questions you have. Im still telling alot of people about it. Oh and the knife is still as sharp as it was when i got it in the mail. Thanks again. " I had to look up that a "bolt knife" is the USAF-issued survival knife, named that for it's bolt head-shaped pommel. I also hadn't heard the term "tree bolt", but he sent some pictures to show me. Folks, I was surprised to see his comment about the blade being as sharp as when he got it after putting it through the kind of work he described. I was hoping it would serve him well, but this is by far the hardest use one of my little blades has seen and it performed better than I had expected. That's why I made that part bold. I'm pretty proud to have made a blade that would do that well. I asked him about how the handle had been both in comfort and in durability. His response: "I really liked the handle wrap as well. It fit good in my hand even when i wore gloves. It was very cold so we wore nomex flight gloves as well as calf skin leather gloves. Very good grip. also the sheath worked very well and was very quiet with the knife in as well which was good because we had to do alot of evading." A couple of pics he sent of it on his bag: This is not the last primal/tactical knife I will be making. I have four in the works for active-duty military and hope to have more serving our armed forces in the future.

That is beautiful execution on a great idea. I have a buddy thinking along similar lines that I'm going to show this to. I agree that the wheel being that wobbly would make me a bit nervous. The contact wheel on my 100 lb. guided helve's tire clutch is steel oilfield pipe, by way of suggestion if you want to change out the nylon contact wheel you said slips too much.

a.) As others have pointed out, it would not be a practical using size when finished. Maybe it could work for a portable fortification to hide behind, but try swinging those four leaf springs at the same time tied together into a bundle with baling wire and see if it's something you want to fight with against an opponent with a much lighter, faster weapon. b.) 5160 (which is what the leaf spring has a decent chance of being) is darn cheap. By the time you figure in the cost of the fuel and labor to do the forge welding, you could buy a big enough chunk of new steel for far less. This reminds me of the time before I had done much forging that I got the bright idea (without intentions of trying it since I already had a good 150 lb. Peter Wright) of building an anvil by forge welding railroad track caps together to build it up. Wiser heads pointed out the folly, the fever passed, and I make light blades on my Peter Wright. :D

KYBOY - A good wife is indeed the greatest boon a man can have in business or in life in general. I'm looking forward to when I get to have one in a year or two (depending on her schooling schedule). Joshua M - Yep, pretty much. I still stand by my recommendation of an Appalachian-style, but a DePew-style helve hammer can be put together with a minimum of welding. This one was built by an Iforgeiron member a few years back (I think) and I saved it to my files: Something like that could be conceivably built using heavy timbers and bolted construction with very little fabrication. Your cost in materials would be less than getting a 25 Little Giant in need of repair. But it would need work on your part and a bit of mechanical skill (which is a good thing to have as a blacksmith) to do. Balances, pros and cons. Pick what works for you. By the by, Grant's Junkyard Hammer whose video I put up earlier is a variation of this design as well. There were commercial versions available. This picture was also snagged from earlier posts on Iforgeiron: There was also video at one point, but it got lost in some forum computer troubles, I think. Just trying to show you options. Time, money, and talent are required to make stuff, but a shortage in one area can be made up for int he other two. So if you have less money than time and talent right now, perhaps another route is the way to go. By the way, these hammers are running heads that weigh 10 lbs or less, meaning that a scavenged 1/2 hp motor will run them just dandily and the anvil portion can weigh only 100 lbs. Stick a couple of handles on the side a la the Ark of the Covenant and you and a buddy could move it around. They hit very fast, relying on the acceleration part of Force = mass x acceleration.

KYBoyy - You need to gold to breed gold... Yep, a power hammer will be a game-changer. If you want to work efficiently as a one-man shop, it's pretty much essential unless you stick with small-sized work.