-Quint-

5640 is 303, which can be forged, but it must be forged very hot, otherwise I think it crumbles. As far as heat treatment, I believe it will work harden, but heating/quenching won't harden it. When I was looking for a good alloy to use to make medical type instruments, I researched the 300 series and wound up going with 304. Quenching 304 optimizes it's corrosion resistance but like 303, it won't harden I honestly know nothing about 5673 without looking it up. By the way, I just looked in my stainless section of my Forge log and the site I have written down for info is steelforge.com. Tons of info on alloys there.

I think it's gorgeous. I love the Forge finish/polished look and that olive is outstanding. As for the "hammer dips", one option is (prior to attaching the scales of course) to fill them in with some weld and then grind everything flush. If your weld is clean, the filler will blend right in and won't really be visible to the naked eye unless you're etching...

Those curtains are awesome. And so is the knife, nice work.

Thank you, it is truly beautiful. Just out of curiosity, since I hear of several bladesmiths doing so, why weld or braze threaded rod on? Is there an advantage to that over just threading the tang? I'm working on a blade now that I plan to secure with a nut/washer under the pommel but I'm planning to swage the tang and then thread it, so I'm just wondering if I'm not doing it the best way. Thanks!

Fantastic! What did you do on the butt end? Is there a bevel on the spine? I'm only looking at the tiny pictures on my phone so maybe the pattern is tricking my eyes

Not sure if this is the one they're referring to, but this is one that I have. Seems fairly decent.

Thank you all very much, I appreciate the kind words. Jasent, the guard and pommel are silicon bronze (655 to be exact). I have a huge 2-1/2" diameter rod of it that I slice pieces off of and Forge into whatever I'm in need of. So much fun forging bronze, I've really fallen in love with the stuff. I'm really not a big fan of this knife to be honest. It's probably my least favorite so far. The handle seems too big (or the blade is just smaller than what I typically make?) or the lines, something... I don't know what. It came out ok, but it's not breaking my heart to hand it over to the customer, which is usually the case with me lol.

Ok so not the coffin bowie you were expecting, the guard is coffin shaped (customer is a funeral director giving as a gift to another funeral director...) Why left hand? Well I forged the blade blank right handed (like I normally do, since I'm a righty) and then shortly after that I shattered a bone in my right hand so I finished the knife primarily left handed. Still a little final polishing to do here and there, some mistakes that I made I can't fix, at least not in the time I have left, so this is pretty much the finished product. 1095, deer antler and forged bronze. 14" overall, 7-1/2" blade.

Yes! Good eye. I knew I had seen it before but couldn't place it. Haven't seen the movie in several years.

Very nice work on the guard, Theo. Reminiscent of some of Jody Samsons cutlass guards!

Double bass strings usually have some sort of organic core, like sinew.

Very interesting idea. Maybe some nickel wound strings thrown in would make some great contrasts in that pattern.... As far as carbon content, I have no idea but what I would do (especially if you do end up throwing some nickel wound stuff in there) would be San mai. I know, then it wouldn't be 100% made of guitar strings but it would still be very cool and you can guarantee that it would also be very functional by making the core out of a known high carbon steel. I have a friend who owns/operates a string manufacturing company, I'm going to ask him what type of steel the plain strings are typically made from.

I think you did a great job, and should be proud with only 8 months experience. Is the tang just set in with epoxy? I don't see anything peened over the crown. Also can you tell us about your 5160 heat treating process and how it went for you?

I like it a lot. My only comment, based on my own personal design taste, is that I wish the profile transition from ricasso to handle was less "abrupt" but I really like the knife quite a bit. I wouldn't be friends with someone who would "turn their nose up" at it lol. The shot of the spine really sold me on it. Great job.

Hello Michael Cochran, Latticino, Frosty and others! I don't have any empirical or metallurgical evidence to offer and I'm also not saying "you MUST quench three times"... If I quench a 5160 blade and it's HARD after the first quench, I stop there. My recommendation was based on my personal practical experience and yes, hearsay. I've had a few blades not harden and when I investigated and did some research I found several seemingly knowledgeable people/sites suggesting hardening three times and sometimes more. When I experimented with that, it did in fact work for me, so that's about as much stock is I put in it. I wrote it in my Forge diary, I'll write it here as a suggestion, but I'm not writing it down and asking anybody to swear on it, that's for sure. But I also don't point my blade North when I quench it Just for the record I am using known 5160 (I buy 21 feet at a clip from Admiral Steel), not leaf springs or something else that's believed to be 5160.