Stormcrow

This Bowie was commissioned by a customer who saw a similar one I had done last year. I had traced it out, so I used that to make a pattern, but tweaked on it a bit. It has a wider handle, which I like better. The steel is 1/4" 80CrV2 steel, with TeroTuf handle scales and flared stainless steel tube rivets. The top bevel is a false edge. I played with the Kydex also, bringing it up onto the handle more than I usually do. It's fitted with a Combat Loop for belt carry. It's a sizeable sucker, with a blade that's 10 7/8" from point to choil and an overall length just under 16 1/2". Balance point is about at the touchmark. The customer commented, "Very nice. Big yet light. Good job."

It's amazing what a top-of-the-line craftsman is capable of doing.

Here's the cutting video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvlknRrWrQk That's some pretty good-sized mesquite that has been seasoning since it blew down in a big windstorm just before the Blade Show, so it was plenty hard. The ring of the blows echoed from the hills (literally) as I chopped. Since the soldier who ordered up the twin is wanting it in part to chop mesquite, it seemed like an appropriate testing medium.

Thanks! The video with the mesquite chopping should be up tomorrow.

Chris Thorn of the YouTube channel Drop Forged Survival has been doing a series of videos featuring the (fairly numerous) custom knifemakers around south Texas, including my buddy Tobin Nieto making and testing a seax with an elk leg bone handle. Chris also filmed me making a bush sword, as well as some cutting tests. I had a commission from a soldier for a bush sword with a sharpened top edge, so I built one for him and one for the video at the same time. After filming, the test blade got bought by a repeat customer at a discount. Winners all around. These bush swords are the two closest to each other that I've ever made. Both have 16 1/2" blades forged from 80CrV2 steel, fully sharpened top edges that shave hair, integral socket handles wrapped in epoxy-impregnated paracord, and Kydex sheaths. The soldier's rig got set up with a double-adjustable quick-detachable shoulder sling, while the test rig got a pair of MOLLE locks. The test blade did some water jug and coconut cutting as seen in the video below, then was put to real work chopping seasoned mesquite (which is part of the intended use of the other bush sword). The mesquite chopping will be featured in an upcoming video. [video=youtube;toOIC8sXG9M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toOIC8sXG9M[/video] Watching the video really drives home to me how much work goes into making a bush sword. And I'm the guy making 'em!

This may have shown up on the forum before, but I just came across this video of a very well-designed Swedish guided helve hammer. It has a quick-change height adjustment system, with coarse and fine adjustments. At 25 kg, that works out to about a 55 lb ram weight.

I think this is my favorite one of yours! Awesome job.

Thanks, guys! Thomas - I'm glad I was able to learn bladesmithing on automobile springs, and glad I made the jump to new steel when I did. A lot of newbies get advised to steer clear of scrap steel these days, and it's not necessarily a bad approach, but an unbroken domestic leaf spring sure is cheap learning material. I do have to scratch my head over some of the scrap that newbies try to start with, though. Tubalcain2 - That's pretty much the highest compliment I could ask for. I want my blades put to work. Templehound - Thank you! It shares some design elements with your big choppers. Science!

Some recently finished blades, all in 80CrV2 steel, with marine epoxy-impregnated paracord over neoprene handle wraps and Kydex sheaths. This blade was commissioned by a customer that wanted a rig similar to one I built for an Army sniper, as a gift for his dad. The blade is 12 1/2" long, with a black oxide finish. The top edge is fully sharpened and shaves hair, and the butt of the tang is exposed to give some hammering ability. The sheath got a retention strap, a couple of MOLLE locks, and some extra paracord of the same color used for the handle wrap's overlay (the underlay is olive drab, though it looks black unless you look closely). Give you an idea how much the epoxy darkens the cord's colors. The paracord is secured, but easily accessible. Even if the end comes untucked, it's not going to come loose. And a couple of 7 1/4" Benghazi Warfighters that went off to different customers, one in tan over black and the other with black over black.

Beautiful work!

Beautiful work!

That's one of the great things about custom knives: They can be approached from so many different directions, with different intentions, and if done right, all approaches will make a good knife. Everyone uses knives, everyone has a slightly different taste and interpretation. It's a versatile art form focused on one of the most primal tools and weapons mankind has. Some other names to looks at in the style you mentioned: John Cohea, Levi Graham, Gib Guignard, Chuck Burrows, Wade Hougham, Tobin Nieto

Thanks, Templehound! I just posted on my blog pictures from various customers using their blades, including three o-tantos. Not sure if I can post a link, but I'll give it a try... Commercial link removed as per ToS

Pictures would help. Perhaps try stainless wire? It holds its strength at higher temp than steel wire, and has a higher melting temp than copper.

Tubalcain2 - I appreciate that! I've drawn inspiration from so many sources, it's good to pass some of it along.

Thank you!

I use a lot of 4140 for tactical tomahawks (as well as ax heads, hammer heads, and power hammer dies in the past), and they will skate a file with a quench in McMaster-Carr's 28-second quench oil, at far below "almost white" temperatures. Which leads me to think there's something off on your heat treatment or this isn't 4140/4340. What makes you think it is one of those alloys? I'm all for using scrap steel to learn on, but scrap steel that is semi-known. Lots of good blades have been made from leaf springs. Stick to older domestic springs and you will have a decent chance of having something worth using when you're finished with it. Of course, do some quench tests before you invest a lot of time and effort into it.

Some work that went off to customers this past month. All of 'em are 80CrV2 blades with paracord over neoprene handles and Kydex sheaths. First off, a Little Rok with exposed butt that went to a Georgia state trooper. This had a 5.5" blade, longer than usual for that style. Next, a 6" little black tanto that will be going on a duty belt. A little 6" kwaiken in tan over black. Which ended up being bought along with Costello the o-tanto... ... which got used to carve the customer's Thanksgiving turkey. This black-over-olive drab Benghazi Warfighter went to a soldier. And this one was supposed to be the one above, but the touchmark ended up getting stamped sideways. I decided to aggressify the profile and make it a fully sharpened top edge. I posted a pic of it on Instagram after the cleanup grinding had been done on the profile and offered it up at a pretty good discount (especially since it was a cosmetic flaw), and it ended up getting snatched up literally about two minutes later by a repeat customer in Special Forces. He asked me to leave the butt exposed for hammering (or skullcrushing!) purposes. It, too, has a black-over-olive drab wrap.

Tai Goo and Tim Lively are the biggest influences on my work, but I draw from a wide range of inspiration. I think Phil Hartsfield, filtered through other makers, would also be one. Lots and lots of unknown third world smiths making big blades.

Every small detail is so perfectly executed, and the overall flow of lines (the most important thing, in my opinion) is beautiful.

Thanks, Theo!

Some of the work that I've completed in the last few months that hasn't gotten posted yet: This double-edged meat cleaver was built as close as possible to a sketch sent to me by the customer. I'm pretty pleased (and so is he!) with how closely I was able to get to what he drew. The blade is 13 1/2" of 5160 steel, the top edge is fully sharpened, the handle is marine epoxy-impregnated blue paracord over black over a foundation of neoprene. The butt is left exposed, and there are Turk's head knots fore and aft. He also ordered up a Benghazi Warfighter with matching handle wrap. An idea of scale: Forged at the same time as the cleaver was this carcass splitter, with a single layer of black paracord over neoprene for the handle. The blade is 17 1/2" long of 5160. This was a short sword I forged a few years ago, inspired by Celtic and Chinese ancient swords. It ended up being bought by my best customer, a Navy SEAL. A few months ago he asked if he could send it back. He loved it, but it just was not a practical blade to carry on the battlefield, so it had been on display, unused. He wondered if I could re-sell the sword and put the money toward something he would actually strap to his gear when in the dangerous parts of the world. I agreed, and put forth the offer to any interested buyer that I would re-wrap the handle with my improved methods in their colors of choice and build a new sheath, once again since my skills in that area have improved. It ended up getting spotted on Instagram by a customer who had seen it when I first made it and loved it then. He jumped on the opportunity and laid claim. His choice of colors was to keep the original black over retina-searing neon lime, but decided to make the three-strand Turk's head knot blue instead of black. The handle doesn't look a lot different from what it did before, but it fits the hand much better than before. The blade is 13 1/4" long, again 5160. And the improved sheath molding is obvious. The original black one was done by heating about 6" of Kydex at a time with a heat gun. The new tan one was heated with a T-shirt press. The T-shirt press is one of the best tooling investments I've made. And less dramatic-looking but at least as special to me is this long Little Rok. It was ordered by the soldier who ordered the first-ever Little Rok (along with Mightor, the big ol' Bowie that went it it) to carry in Afghanistan. This one was commissioned as a gift for his father, the blade extended to current legal carry size in Texas, 5 1/2". Wrap is tan over olive drab over neoprene. He has built a leather sheath for it in addition to the Kydex one I made. The original Mightor/Little Rok and two mini-prybar rig from 2013: And a little video showing some of these blades and some others that I've already posted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGq6c6K6Y7M

Seeing a big jump forward from the first couple you posted. Nice sculpting!

I wouldn't be changing the design if I didn't make the mistake. But, like I teach students, "Remember, you can screw it up beyond saving at any point in the process. But if you know what you're doing, you can save a lot."

Yes, a good deal of knifemaking is making the mistakes work.