Stormcrow

"That was a wee bit b____sy, isn't it?" "Just a tad." I'm just impressed they left in Tobin's explanation of his idea for the cutlass being an espada ancha that had been re-handled by a local smith in the New World (which happened a lot, some of which used a rolled iron tube similar to Tobin's pipe handle) and wrapped with some hemp cord by the pirate owner.

When car brakes didn't stop you as quickly, you had more bumps with your bumpers. Yep, some of them from the early days of automobiles are essentially springs. I'm trying to remember what example he had of making something from a bumper, seems like perhaps shears?

Congratulations, Tobin, for your victory! The years go on... ...but the spirit remains unchanged.

From Tobin's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioM8SP-_bsI

Weygers' work is truly informative and inspirational. Some of it is dated, though, as the sources of scrap metal have changed. It would be hard to forge car bumper these days! So follow his guidance, but check for yourself before getting too far into a project.

Looks really good, and while I haven't used it myself, I know I've seen a number of fellows who really like bed rail steel for forging blades. What's the approximate spine thickness? Looks like maybe around 1/8"? Have you given it a workout yet?

As mentioned before, my buddy Tobin Nieto of Stonehaven Knifeworks will be in the episode of Forged in Fire on the History Channel next Tuesday, April 5. Here he is with a couple of his knives. Burt Reynolds, eat your heart out.

Thank y'all! Momatt - Me too. I'd rather build for warfighters than anyone else. Robakyo - The design is actually supposed to be based on a modified antique French lamb splitter. From the customer.

Thank y'all!

Heck yeah! Anything that will take an impact. I've made power hammer dies, axes, hand hammer heads, tomahawks, stump anvils, etc. from it. Good stuff, good score.

Here's some of the work that has left my shop since the last time I posted, from smallest to largest. Everything is 80CrV2 steel with Tero Tuf or marine epoxy-impregnated paracord handles, with one exception. This double-edged, slightly pointier-than-usual variation of my Little Rok pattern went to a fellow in Special Forces. He ordered it with black oxide finish. A couple of different Benghazi Warfighters that went to different customers. A couple of different Benghazi Warfighters that went to the same customer. The cord wrapped one is black on black and double edged. This double-edged Benghazi Warfighter has a hardened, beveled skullcrusher and handle slabs of Warwood, a corn-based product used in the IED-resistant bellies of MRAPS. And this big ol' Bowie has an 11" blade, is 2 5/16" wide at the base of the blade, and has a false edge. And this ridiculous thing has been heat treated since this photo was taken, but still needs the handle wrapped. Think it'll be with me at the Blade Show if someone doesn't take a shine to it beforehand.

I saw J. Nielson comment on Instagram that they have been sure to mention when every episode of season 2 was filmed that the blades were tempered after the hardening process, but that the footage apparently always got cut in editing.

Halfway through the pics, I hear Ozzy's voice in my head: "...He was turned to steel In the great magnetic field..." That's all kinds of awesome!

The knives are tempered after the time limit on forging, grinding, and hardening. The judges commented on how the guy whose knife they tested with a file looked like he was quenching too cool, which would not fully harden. A file might bite a tempered blade, but not as much as that file did if it was fully hardened first. Editing footage of four people working for six hours and then two people working for five days, as well as the footage of the two sets of testing, to fit into about 45 minutes means that a lot of what goes on is necessarily never seen by the audience. And this is popular entertainment, not a documentary, so the technical side of things is less important than the flashy side of things. Still, it is far better than what reality TV used to be. I was horrified when I saw American Chopper, American Hot Rod, etc. It was jerks screaming at each other with vehicles in the background. There seems to be a trend away from that, and I am thankful for that.

Well, his episode was the first one filmed, and was originally to be the first one aired, but they changed up the order. He's in the intro (first guy to talk besides the narrator, also wiping his sweat in slo-mo) and in this commercial for the show saying, "We get to build a cutlassss!" in a pirate voice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8oObxJN4NU

Looks like it would fall in the category of the Depew hammer design, unless my brain is too tired to remember correctly. I dig it!

Google will convert units for you. Say something like "mm to in" and it will pop up. It also works as a calculator.

Looking forward to seeing the demonstration. The meeting at Steephollow Forgeworks is always a good one.

Thanks, guys! I appreciate it. Daswulf - Even though there may be a fair amount of variety in the blade shapes, if you will notice, most of my chopping knives are laid out along an elongated sine wave. Variations on a theme, but with the basic physics remaining much the same.

I dig these! Love the leaf blades.

I have to say, I've really been enjoying your videos on YouTube. You do very clean work.

Y'all are stoking the fire in the back of my mind to make a big ol' seax. Don't know when that will ever happen, but it's burning back there.

Looks good!

Thanks, Theo! I do experiment with the handles, but I would rather focus in on the shaping of the blades to cut well and the shaping of the handles to be comfortable than spend a lot of time on new materials. That's why my materials list tends to be 80CrV2 and either paracord or TeroTuf. I know those work well, I just have to get them in the correct shape.

Just finished up this long tanto. The blade is 11 1/2" long, forged from 80CrV2 steel, and the handle is marine epoxy-impregnated tan-over-black paracord on top of a neoprene foundation. And a tan Kydex sheath with a set of webbing slots. There are a couple of things I tried on this one that is new to me. I have forged the spine thinner on some previous tantos, leaving a rough ridgeline. This time I filed the bevels as well. Also, the bevel at the kissaki is a thick penetrator edge rather than a slicey edge.