Tiapan

i like that little knife, would be interesting as a letter opener kinda gift.

a mean looking knife for a mean kinda job. wild pigs are no joke, Especially here in Texas, get plenty of them well over 500 lbs. some closer to 7 or 8.

I think its looking great. I am glad i live more southern then you, its in the 80's here in houston the last few days. come summer time it might be too hot to forge, but i doubt it. Just wont be doing it after noon lol.

I likes the look of it so far. That took a lot of pounding to get it that far. keep at it and show the pics as it comes along, I am really interested to see how it turns out. Also post some pics of the spring clips before you started. a true before and after.

with smaller plates riveted to the leather sry half asleep still

Now that took some time. I tried my hand ant making mail before and just did not have the patience for the constant crimping and cutting, just too repetitive for me. so as soon as i get some time and my leather tanning up and running i am planning on doing some brigadine style work.

i like the overall look, practical and straight forward, i also like the 3 pins at the forward and rear area of the tang.

poly coat the whole grip maybe?

looks similar to some blade on another forum i frequent. I love the look of double sided blades. I was playing with an idea in my head of how to do a doubles edged blade with both edges being differentially hardened.

hey any sharp pointy thing is better then no pointy thing. All things considered obsidian is much sharper then steel, it just breaks much easier too. A lot of trail knives that see hard use are not made of very high carbon steel because its much harder to sharpen in the field. the Cliff knife is a great example, So are most machetes. I am doing much the same as you though and using spikes and rebar to practice on because it cost me pretty much nothing. When i feel my hammer control gets so good that i dont need to practice (read that as never, I can and will always need more) then i will stop using scroungeable materials. I just love the idea of taking something that someone was going to trash,leave sitting on the ground and rust, or turn into a scrap place, into a new usable and attractive tool. Once i feel i have done well with the spikes, thats when i moving on to files and the springs, then one day i might spend money on new stock, but i got a whole lot of old to get through first. ;)

i like each pattern individually but i prefer the bolster the most. looks more organic to me, which is definitely more my style. But i would LOVE to see it with a clean blade like you suggested in 1095, with the same bolster. I think that would have them compliment each other better without overloading the senses, and i would not mind using it. Also i have not had a lot of experience with 1095 but how does it take to differential hardening. I know a lot of people prefer the tool steels for that, but i have seen some really nice hamons on knives made from files and they are sometimes 1095. I think a nice steel blade with a pretty hamon with that damascas pattern for the bolsters would look just right in MY hand , If it becomes a good seller maybe i get a discount on one for the idea?

i like the combination handle. a little wood and then the twist for the front. would like to see how it feels in the hand.

i am really loving the look of these blades. If i remember the guard on a cutlass or more often a cavalry saber resembled a stirrup quite closely. a horseshoe seems just as practical. though i think the riveted was a good call. much easier then trying to forge weld it together. maybe next time put it on after heat treatment of blade. one question i had was are you using butted mail or is your mail riveted?

yeah i cant wait to see what it will cleave through

its so simple its Elegant. love the nice clean lines.

I agree, that is one of the most beautiful Blades i have ever seen. One day i hope to have the skill to make something of similar quality. but you know what they say. practice makes perfect, and you obviously have had lots of practice to make a blade that pretty.

I cant wait to see the final project, I bet the pattern will look amazing.

I am curious. Everything i have read says to harden once, and then do several temperings, not to harden multiple times. Is that what you were meaning or are you heating the blade up to non magnetic 3 times in a row and quenching each time?

holy cow thats a ton of coal (well 4 but its a pun for a reason) I think a lot of people use charcoal because of cost, if you have easy access to free wood, charcoal is basically free. But you seem to have plenty of coal, so that would make more sense, my only concern is the difference in using coal vs. charcoal. You need to have a specific shape to a coal fire to get the best results from what i have read, where charcoal needs less air and consumes fuel faster and therefor will be burning a little more evenly. Someone with more experience please chime in, but those are just my thought. but hey you got a lot to work with, im sure you can figure something out.

but back on the knives i especially love the use of malachite, I was wondering if you have had any issues with that getting damaged in use?

Like i said a part of me. the knives are wonderful, much better then anything i can put out. But i love them in original condition too. Especially even earlier ones. I have a sword bayonet from 1875 and there are few blades i would rather have at my side. the craftmanship is amazing, and the balance wonderful. oh and its french too. Now if only i could get my hands on the rifle that it would normally have been attached to. but oh well. But you are also right, a lot of the time you can get old surplus military items for cheap, sometimes like new and others with some rust. But i have found that a lot of older military gear tends to hold up better then modern reproduction. All the bayonets i have seem like really sturdy tools and fierce weapons.

I love a good knife, and these are just wonderful. But i cant help but say there is that small portion of me that loves history and is sad to see it altered. Kind of like when you see a historical weapon sporterized to go hunting. but hey lots of people do it old nagant rifles. of course those cost less then 100 bucks and there like freakin plenty.

thats just awesome, not even considering the work you put into it. about how long would you say that took you to work out? and do you still have it, and how does it function. I was actually planning on doing some machetes with some chunks of rebar, it being a medium carbon steel.

Nice spearhead. what is the steel make up of your damascus, and how did you heat treat the spear?

WOW, thats all i can say. those are amazing, and you are right the maple is an amazing contrast to the steel.