T.J.watts

Thank you for the info gentleman. I'll post the blade when it's done.

The stuff I'm looking at is stabilized but I wasn't sure it would hold up. I've discussed it with him and he told me to do what's best but I wanted to try and give him what he asked for. 

Texas knife maker supply carries the spalted burl. I just want to be sure I'm handing him a quality knife that isn't going to fail. 

I'm making a kukri for a guy that will most likely be using it in Africa. He has requested spalted maple burl for the handle. It's a hidden tang and I'm wondering if the burl will hold up to a 9" kukri. I don't want a military guys weapon to fail in use and I'm wondering if I should use cocobolo or some other hardwood. What do you guys think?

I'm glad I got on here today, I just started playing with some roller bearings today. This stuff is tuff. I forged one to a bar and quenched in water just to get an idea of what it'll do, and the thing skates a file but won't break when I wack it with a 4lb. I'm pretty interested in how a blade will turn out. Frosty I just welded a rod to the end of mine. I still have a lot of work to do on tongs. 

Very beautiful piece, I really like the design and how it looks in the sheath.

Nice, don't be afraid to bring that bevel up.

try putting a piece 2'' pipe in the forge and heat the blade inside the pipe. I use coal and if your not paying attention you can easily destroy all your work. With the pipe you can still see whats going on and get an even heat.

I have absolutly no clue how to make it but there are damascus rings all over and i believe they are using stainless and titanium, that would fix the rust issue.

Blacksmithing Projects by Percy W. Blandford, $10 on amazon. It has all sorts of projects to start with from punches, chisels to gates. Its always a good place to start building your tools.

Nice blade, even my 2yr old son said a knife a knife i like it lol.

I cant chime in too much on the Damascus but you may try a dark face shield instead of the goggles. I use a shade 3 and keep it half down so that I can still see the anvil but it dulls the forge enough not to blind me.

I'm not really a fan either but that's what I was asked for.

regular old plumbers solder.

This one if for me, it started as a show off piece more or less. I don't think the crack will hurt anything as far as normal use goes but as the same time I know its there. Since this is my first time pattern welding I'm trying not to kick myself to much but I can be pretty critical of myself. I guess more than anything I'm struggling to make up my mind on whether or not to keep it.

With only a couple months it seems your learning curve is straighter than most. Nice  blade, I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Well the blade is ready for ht but I found a small crack at the start of the tang. I'm debating whether or not I should finish it or put it with the other shiny patterns. I etched and buffed so you guys could see the pattern better. What do you guys think should I finish it or just start over.

I didn't like the finish or the wrap.

This one was for my younger brother who is really in to boy scouts. Its my first leather handle and I tried a fine bead blasted finish with a light sanding and buffing. I also tried soldering the guard piece, but for some reason after everything was glued and the cap piened in place the handle shrunk after shaping the leather. I don't know if it was the gorilla epoxy or the heat from sanding the leather but I ended up with a .0625 gap at the guard and the cap, so this one is now a shop knife. I didn't really like the way it turned out anyways but I now know that leather handle make a massive mess.

spike or not, it still looks nice and practice is practice. looks like your on the right track to me.

Check out the welding specs for the steel you are using before you weld it. Or just weld one as a test and see what happens.

What exactly do you mean by certed master.

 Very nice

very nice

The wife asked me to make a para cord wrapped knife for my nephew for Christmas so here it is. I still need to resin the handle and make a sheath.125'' 1095, 7'' over all, 3'' blade.