Will W.

Wow. Outstanding. I'm blown away. Seriously, that has to be one of the coolest knives I've ever seen. 

On 3/28/2017 at 9:08 PM, Marc1 said:

no onlookers when I work.

This is my philosophy. For people who want to learn about a tool, be it a drill press, grinder, forge, whatever, they first get a thorough explanation of how it can hurt you, second how to avoid it hurting you, and third me showing them the scars from when it's hurt me. Aside from that, all work stops when visitors come by. 

Most dangerous tool in the shop? Probably angle grinder.

Kevin Olson

So sorry to hear about that.

JHCC 

I actually stumbled upon that design. I considered it for a while, but then thought up this design (obviously wasn't the first though!) It seemed like it would make a burner almost like a propane BBQ underneath the barrel, but I'm not sure exactly how effective it would be. I'll reconsider my options. I kind of forgot about the Hookaway design so thank you for re introducing me. 

Smoggy

My whole thought process is to use the gas that you're offering a flame to. Once it's burning, use that heat to make more gas, more flame, more heat, yada, yada, so you don't have to keep sacrificing wood for your heat. This design just seemed pretty efficient *on paper.*

6 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Sharkskin seems to be a favourate with bladesmiths the world over for hilts

If I remember correctly, that's what katana hilts were wrapped in. Or was it ray skins? Japanese techniques always seem to elude me.

BIGGUNDOCTOR

Thank you for the info, I appreciate it. I will definitely check those sites out. 

Marc1

Thank you. Never had the opportunity to skin a cow, but boy! That would be a lot of leather!

Old-ish post, but in case it's still relevant, a buddy of mine bought one of these, and uses it only occasionally, couple times a week at the most. After 2 or three weeks, he said the fan is beginning to grind against the housing and it's becoming more difficult to crank. I recommend against it. Try to find an old champion blower, or make one yourself if possible. Mine is made from an old blower out of an oil furnace, a couple belts and pulleys to give me about a 10:1 crank ratio from hand to fan (one rotation at the hand is 10 at the fan) some 1/2" rod as axles, and a 1/2" rod bent into a handle. 2x4 frame. Its kind of backwoods engineering, but it gets me up to forge welding temp easily. Just my two cents.

Hello all. I've been thinking about making a charcoal retort for a while now, because I prefer charcoal to coal, and it's expensive to buy. I would rather put the time and energy into making my own. I found a picture of what I was thinking of making. 

This. My main design change would be a ball valve placed halfway on the vertical section of pipe, to close off once the charcoal is finished burning off. 

Now, does anyone have experience making and using a retort similar to this? My main concerns are if the 3/4" pipe and 1/4" holes recommended here will be large enough to properly vent and burn the gas (I don't want to build a pipe bomb) and what exactly would stop the fire made by the combustible gases from traveling back through the pipe and into the charcoal chamber? It seems to be an efficient design, in my mind anyways. Once the gases become mostly combustible and the water vapor is mostly gone, the process would feed itself, requiring less sacrificial wood. Yes, I've read the stickies, and the designs there were different from this one. Also, all of the pics in the stickies, I was unable to pull up. It said "file not found." Not entirely sure why, but I'm not very technologically savvy. 

Thanks for looking!

On 4/6/2017 at 4:46 PM, JHCC said:

That's some kind of crazy awesome. Nice job.

I think that pretty much sums up what I was thinking. Well done, Bo.

The knife looks good, and the sheath, I really like. But Steve is right (as if that needed to be verified) that is definitely a stress riser. I would listen to him if I were you. If that knife sees any sort of heavy use (which it's a Bowie, it will) that thing may end up in two pieces, with the sharp end potentially coming for somebodies face/arm/chest etc.

Bearded Guy

Thank you. I appreciate the kind words. But yeah, I would like to see dimensions of yours. 

As the fellow members have said before, it would be truly difficult to come up with a genuinely new design for just about anything, tongs, hammers, knives, etc. but I still felt it was necessary to say that I did not intend to just copy your design. Your skinner turned out really nice btw, I loved the antler handle. 

JHCC

That's interesting. Must have taken quite a few salmon skins to make a whole parka! 

Smoggy

Thank you. This knife probably wouldn't be used unsighted (for gutting I assume you mean) I agree with you, I prefer a MUCH smaller blade for that. You nick a bladder *one* time, and it makes you reconsider your knife size haha. It would be mostly for skinning and fleshing. I've never tried using trout skin though. Seems kind of fishy...

I feel your pain, same thing happened to me, but with the neighbors dog. Figures, the one day I forget to shut the shop door! Haha. Were you planning to chemically tan or brain tan? I have no experience chemically tanning, but with brain tanning, the magic happens when you smoke the hide. That's when you can color it (depending on the wood used) and control the softness of the leather.

Looks fantastic! Awesome work, JPH, I'm blown away. 

No, I appreciate the input. Thank you. 

I typically use the leather myself. I'm not very good at working with it though lol. I need to learn how to make sheaths, but mostly I use it to make arm guards for archery (to protect against string slap) and as a traditional backing for bows. I've never thought about selling it to be honest. I only have a supply of it during hunting season after all. 

Make friends with your local railroad track repairmen. They can usually get you "junk" spikes and maybe even a section of rail. I've gotten quite a few spikes that were deemed unusable simply because they were bent from being extracted.

Michael Cochran

I have skinned a few critters in my time, and I tan the hides as well, for leather mostly, not furs. That being said, any hole in the hide really impacts the product, as you have to work around it. I liked this design because the tip is plenty far back, reducing the chance of accidentally poking a hole. Drop points have the tip a little too close for comfort, in my opinion. As for the size... Yes, I agree, it should be smaller. I wanted it to be a little more wide and less long than it ended up. Hence why it became a little thinner than planned too, i tried to pull too much out of it i think. Yet another sign that I have a lot to learn.

Hello all. Firstly, the design of this blade was inspired by Bearded Guy's cable welded damscus knife. This is, in no way, supposed to be a copy. I really liked the design, and wanted to give it a go, though I believe his turned out far better than my own. 

Now then, the knife is 10-1/2" overall with a 6" blade, 1075 steel. The scales are black walnut, with no stain (I absolutely love the look of the stuff!) 3/16" brass pins. The blade itself turned out thinner than I would have wanted, but I was cautious with the heat treat, and tempered it appropriately (I think) at two cycles of 425° for an hour per cycle. It retained hardness quite well, and is moderately flexible. 

I must thank Thomas Powers for introducing me to the technique of draw filing. I believe it has allowed me to be far more accurate, and achieve more crisp lines for the plunge line and ricasso. I still have a LOT to learn though. 

Any thoughts, comments, or critiques would be appreciated. Thanks for looking!

I second everything Thomas said. And fixing mistakes often teaches one that it's a pain, and more caution should be taken to do it correctly the first time around. This is my experience anyways haha. Good luck! And keep us updated if you do clean it up. I, for one, would like to see it. 

No problem. I realize you already explained what you did wrong and what not, and you didn't ask for critique, but why not take a file, grinder, etc, and clean up your edge, bevels, spine, and ricasso? Like I said, the design is neat, but your lines are a little wobbly. 

JM

My table is 3/16". Works pretty well, I think. I second everything arkie said as well, regarding bracing thinner steel and sagging. 

4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

do your initial grind by draw filing and then harden and then use the grindstone to touch up the edge you would be ok.

This is exactly how I have been making knives for a little while now and it works great, I think. I find the treadle grinders put a better edge on than whetstones or anything of that sort. Just hammer in your bevels close to finish, draw file them nice and neat, and put a final edge on with the grindstone. Using them for the rough grinding though? I don't know about that. It may take you a while, and may produce a lesser product than draw filing would.

I like the design of the knife. Looks unique. 

JMForge

Gauge of sheet metal for what exactly? The tuyere? Or the top of the forge where coal will be put? Obviously you're not talking about your firepot, as you say your using a rotor for that. We need more details of what you're planning. 

I didn't see it mentioned yet, so worth noting: be careful of micro cracks in the steel when working with springs. I personally have not had to deal with it yet (knock on wood) but I've read horror stories of guys working on an extravagant knife from a spring, just to have the piece break later, likely due to a micro crack.

I think they look great! Nice work. I, personally, would have scrolled the tips a little bit more, but that's just personal preference, not a critique. 

Awesome video jlp. Thanks.