DRoberts

This piece was my very first commissioned work, as such I tried my best adhere to the dimensions, look and function of the item. It’s a very hard blade with great flexibility, and it is very sharp. This is also the first sheath I've ever attempted but I think it turned out ok. Specs: Steel: 9260 Length, Overall: 11.5” Length, Blade: 7.5” Length, Handle:4” Width, Blade Edge: 1/8” Width, Blade Max Width: 1.25” Width, Handle: 1” Taper, Distal: None, until the last .25” Blade Edge: Taper Grind Handle Material: Walnut, brass rod/tubing Finish, Blade: Smithed look(unpolished very light sanding), boiling vinegar bath. Finish, Handle: Walnut Danish oil Quench: Vegetable oil full length of the blade and halfway up the handle Temper: 45mins at 500F, dark yellow and light purple hues visible. Sheath: Cow leather, black polish, wet soaked to knife shape, cooked in dehydrator. Detailed post, more pics. http://davidproberts.com/2014/01/02/blacksmithing-finished-english-scalping-knife/

only other one i have of it atm. thats the spring i cut the stock from. kinda neat before and after pic.

been busy. this is the coil spring knife. customer wanted it to look something like this: Historical replica of an English Scalping Knife (1750-1790) I believe the metal to be 9260, land rover coil spring. Assembly: Testing Walnut colored Danish Oil on walnut handle. Cut the tree down myself. Black color is from boiling vinegar bath.

ended up not using a bolster on these two. i believe i made the tang width too thin. went with quick and easy oak handles from my property. i'll still stain them, but not something i'm ready to be proud of making yet. definitely learning from mistakes rapidly. i re-worked the remaining 4 of the 6 blanks i made, they now have much wider tangs and should take to having metal bolsters much better. tried my hand at layered and fully enclosed handles, i dont know if there's a proper term for these handle types feel free to chime in if you know. I've also taken my first commission and have begun work on a historical replica of an english scalping knife for use by an individual that participates in historical reenactment events. I'm using truck coil spring steel for this job as I'd like it to turn out to be a good quality blade. I believe it is most likely 9260 as I've never seen the type of oxidation on plain carbon steels. there must be some kind of alloy in it as the oxidation produces a very subtle reddish pink tinge that i'm not used to seeing. if anyone has experience with what alloy produces this i'd appreciate it. the metal is extremely hard to work unless it's near yellow heat, and doesn't really budge at all at low orange/red under a 3lbs hammer. i had to heat the entire section of coil to high orange and rip it open with tow straps tied to a tree/jeep. new territory here, really looking forward to seeing how it ends up. my wife is starting to complain about my hammer hand not being soft anymore. 3rd & 4th knives with unfinished handles. coil from land rover

making 6 knives at once as practice with different styles of blade shape/finish and handle types. going to give them away as christmas presents. red/green stained oak handles, plain steel bolsters with brass pin work. 3rd knife (right) 4th knife (left) pre-handle stage.

threw something together in an afternoon for my buddy's 35th birthday. "something big and stabby" he wanted. 2nd blade - started with cuttings from some scrap 1/4'' thick sheet from scrapyard. turned out to be medium-high carbon. hardened very well to spring temper. got lucky on this steel as i picked up a LOT of it. will use for more blades in the future.

using this thread as photo dump of blade work. 1st blade ever smithed - started with bar stock from giant wooden spool. turned out to be low carbon, didnt take differential hardening and barely hardened at all for that matter. scrapped.

200 lbs of 4340 annealed still in the shipping packaging at the scrap yard. got it for 30 cents a pound.

thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

33yr old from Guthrie Oklahoma, married, 6 m/o baby girl. Avid outdoorsman & DIY enthusiast. I was about 10 years old the first time I worked steel into the shape of a sword & ever since then it's been a lifelong dream of mine to take up smithing. Well, last year the wife & I had our first home built on a patch of woods (bout 3 acres) and my dream can finally be realized. This evening I'll be chainsawing out a spot in the woods for my smithy. Hopefully within 6 months I'll be fully operational. I look forward to sharing knowledge with you all as I grow into this skill set.