JPH

Brother Thomas:

 A  STRAIGHT!!  (geeze that dates me..)  Some patterns you "loose" to grinding between 60 to 75% to get the desired patterns...Yet that is what makes all of this "fun"...

JPH

Hello!!

The monumental work by Mons. J.J. Perret..   "The Art of the Cutler" is currently being translated into the English language and I have been signed on as the technical editor.  This IS a wonderful thing indeed... I need to say no more..Those that know..will understand..those that do not..well do some research..

JPH

Rick:

I am already running that down.. just contacted my "French Connection".. heh heh heh..  

JJ Perret was an amazing craftsman indeed..

JPH

Rick:

I am not certain about this but the last I heard it was in the French National Museum...I will see if I can run it down. Mons. Perret  did amazing work and this piece actually had the French Motto of "Liberte, Equalite, Fraternite " spelled out... Talk about pattern control to the 100th power...

JPH

Brother Thomas..

Very true but I used toasted iron ore not black sand on this...very interesting to work from the rock vs the sand... They since closed down that  whole area as the EPA had a conniption fit and had TiMet remove 100's of truck loads of desert topsoil (if you  can call it that)  to clean the area up due to contamination..plus there is also a chloride plant right down the road a tad as well...  There use to be a rocket fuel place out here but that blew up a while back...

JPH

Hello: 

At first glance I thought it was alloy banding but after looking at it under magnification I realized that there are some rather funky dendrites in there as well..I have shown this one to a couple of other folks and we did a sparky on it and it comes back that there are some rather interesting trace elements in it...the one that got us was the Ti.. The area where I got the ore (a iron rich area just a tad down wind from TiMet) must of been contaminated with TI due to the processing plant...which could possibly be the culprit,,no matter..it makes for a very interesting piece either way

JPH

Ohhh K.  I wanted to stay out of this but I can't.

Pattern Welding is Pattern Welding and Crucible Steel is Crucible steel and at one point they were both described by the same term: "Damascus Steel" ...You are fighting centuries of folks using this term to describe both of these materials and frankly..the earliest "Modern" reference I can readily find that used the term "Damascus Steel" to describe Pattern Welding was from JJ Perret in the 18th Cent... (That man was AMAZING!! His "Liberty" bar is mind blowing..)..

So the way I look at it you have "Crucible Damascus"  for the Wootz. Bullat, Jahuar folks...and "Mechanical Damascus" for the Pattern Welded crew. That would be, at l;east as I see it...the easiest way to end this "controversy" ..if ya ask me..which you didn't so take it for what it's worth...  Besides..What do I know about this stuff anyways?? I am just an old Hammerhead..

(I am att a photo of some stuff (that I made from raw ore here in S. NV.).. that was suppose to be a straight Bloomery Steel a couple years back that I hammered into one of them there Sam-Mary swords...For some reason I got a "Wootz" like structure on the unhardened portions of the blade..It is NOT alloy banding...so I am still trying to figure this one out..This is a Kogarasu Maru style of  Kat...the hardest part was that arrowhead shape at the end..believe it or not..

So tell me how would you all "classify" this puppy?? It's Bloomery steel with a "Wootz" pattern..

JPH

Hello:

Easy answer..  Yes...No...or Maybe.. all depends upon who is using what and all..Quality varies greatly from workshop to workshop..  When I was deployed to Asia Minor back in 2005 for the last I had some "free time" and went back into the mountains to visit my  family and I did make contract with several local "village blacksmiths" that for what they were working with were doing SUPERB work. But these are Kurds.  Not Pakistani...No real electric power (maybe 3 or 4 hours a day)...A LOT of hand labour (strikers and files and slow rock grindstones ).. but dead on HT and the tools they made were very high quality as most were old leaf springs or reclaimed files... Primitive does not have to mean low quality...Here again I am talking Iraq/Kurdistan..not Pakistan...

That while area (Pakistan) is unstable and things change rapidly from day to day..sometimes hour to hour.. Personally I would suggest that you learn to do your own and not have to worry about the X factor.

Ask yourself this question...Do you really want to put your name on something that you have, honestly...no idea as to the quality of the materials or the level of craftsmanship involved in the most important part of any edged tool? I mean if the blade fails..it's YOU that they are going to call... Not Haji ...

Now if you want some barstock or bare blades... get them from a well established maker...someone who knows what to use and how to use it...someone who stands behind their work...that is my suggestion...It will cost you a bit more filthy lucre but at least you will KNOW what you are getting...

JPH

On 11/22/2017 at 1:21 PM, C-1ToolSteel said:

Pure eye candy.

I'm a huge fan of your Bowies. I don't even feel qualified to say that you did a good job!

Hello:

If you wish to acquire  one NOW is the time as I am entertaining best offers through my website's  "Jim Needs A Studio Sale",,,

Mosquitoes are no problem...I have never been bitten by one..they do not like my body chemistry I guess...  I am going to start a snail ranch though..I am going to be a mollusk magnate ...come on down for branding time...

Seriously I am going to start to raise them as there is a major market for fresh snails and the climate is much more "snail friendly" than here..Just have to keep the peacocks out of my snail pens...

Back to work for me

JPH

Hello:

This will be photo heavy. I am getting ready for my move down south to our new place next month so I have to get as much work done and posted as I can in order to get enough filthy lucre to build my new studio. Hence the 18 hour work days for the last three weeks. I need to move a LOT of cutlery...so I need to make a LOT of cutlery!  I have another 16 pieces that should be done in about 14 days.

All the below pieces are PW and are available for immediate sale on my website... Thought I would post these and share before they all go away.  If any of you have any questions by all means feel free to ask.

Hope these photos come out..

JPH

Hello:

Something I whipped out yesterday and today... A pair of Bovine Ivory gripped blades.. both blades are in my "Solar Storm"Pattern" and welded from 1905 and L-6 steels

The first is a rather NASTY and wicked looking  "Bowie" with a 12"  blade... 1 3/4" wide with a 1/2 blade length fuller on each side.. Blackened  "Bovine Ivory" grip and silver fittings and studs...Very fast and responsive this one...

The other is a "Boz Taurus" hunting dagger with a 12"  double edged blade, 1 3/4" wide with a single full blade  length fuller on each side... Phosphor bronze mounts and studs on some my  "fossil Boz Taurus" ivory grip... Impressive blade...quite stout but it still "dances in you hand" and is quite a "powerful" feeling piece...

So that's pretty much what I did this weekend... I hope these photos come out OK...

JPH

This Way Comes....

Ohh K...wicked pretty much describes this  bugger...on several different levels.. The blade is a three core Twist/Counter twist  two (2) outer two cores  with a interrupted twist centre core.. All three cores  are welded  SS HT foil and 1045  (and this wasn't "welded in a can" either.).. It was just forge welded as "the usual"  around these here parts...   The edges are 1070 HC

Now getting the tip to "work" took some serious.. and I mean a good hour or so seriopus T&E but I finally got it to the right shape and curve. The curved fullers (one on each side) were a real PITA to do but,.... I managed to get it done by using a shorter fullering set in my fly press..(Had to make new fullers but  what the he......)  Recurved blades are a real challenge to get right  sometimes..especially when they  are as long as this one is   ..33" thereabouts and it is a MONSTER..

Some of my fossil Boz Taurus ivory with bronze studs and bolster/pommel plate complete this slayer....

I call this one a  Scimayagatana..a cross between a scimitar, yataghan and a katana... I dunno what I was doing... I just got another wild hare  involved and I  just went with it.. this is what came from that...  OK..my mind works in odd ways sometimes (especially when compared to "normal folks") ...

This little SOB of a blade wants to cut and the  follow through is smooth and very "powerful" due to the centre of gravity being so "forward" due to that recurved section..Man this is a WICKED Bugger!!

So here it is...in all its Wickedness... Now I got to figure out what to do for a sheath... and...the hits just keep on a comin'...

JPH

Hello!!

Ok here is something I whipped out yesterday and today.  I guess ya'all can call it a  "Bowie" knife...but it looks a bit too rakish/stylish to me for a Bowie..but what do I know?? I just made the dang thing..

Anyway I got a wild hare and went with the flow as they say...All I know is that I needed website stock so...I just went with it. I guess that this one just wanted to be this way so..Who am I to complain?? It worked...at least I think it did.. The more I hammered the more it wanted to become what it became.....This happens sometimes.. Didn't want to fight it..just went with it..

Now this old boy has a 12 1/2" long  blade with a single fuller along  the spine on both sides...I swaged the clip...just because I think felt that it would look better that way....( and it seemed to work so...) ..Blade is in 1095 and L6 steel in my "Solar Storm" pattern with phosphor bronze fittings. The grip is a piece of my "fossilized Bos Taurus"  ivory and it is set with hand made phosphor bronze studs..(I got to find a ready made source for these little buggers...these guys take forever to make by hand ..geeze..)...  I tell ya'all it was a time getting the tang to the right shape to fit the grip material..the bone was a bit "weird" as far as the opening inside but I endeavored and I prevailed...all I had to do is to be a bit "creative" and all... After an hour or so of T&E I finally got it all to fit right. That and getting that fuller to curve right to match the blade profile..... THAT was a bit annoying ...Yet it all tries together (more or less)..

Still not too bad for a day and a half worth of work..I have enough of this Solar Storm bar left that I welded up for this guy  for another couple of three more decent sized blades as well!!

Ya know I think this one turned out pretty good for a old, unknown to the world, ham handed, hammer head like me that is still trying to figure this all out..

JPH

(This guy is listed for sale on mus site in case any is interested...)...

Frosty..Mi Compadre..

OK...now remember I am NOT all that experienced in using this stuff so...I was using a 1/2" Dia "sanding arbor" and those little wittle sanding bands.. I cut these flutes "free hand" not using anything other than the old "eye ball" measurement as I was going along using a 40 grit band on the Foredom.... did some refining with a 180 grit and the final shape and "blending" with a 360grit... after that it was wet 600, wet 1500, wet 2500 and wet 3600 grit..and during the wet polish all the colour and character started to show up.

This was followed with a black grease based crocus on a semi hard muslin and then a 6000 grit white pumice on a hard muslin buff.. the buffs were a wet buff (using WD-40 as the slip..worked GREAT) and this is what I got...I was gob-smacked at what I was seeing as it was being buffed... YOW_ZAAA! some really different stuff as far as I am use to..

So all in all and SLTT I think this one turned out pretty good for an ignorant old "Hammer Head" like me that had NO idea at all as far as what he was getting into...

As always..

JPH

Frosty...the grip was mostly done by hand tools and the flutes were cut using my Foredom flex shaft...the usual PPE was all that was needed..

Now the funky part is the way this stuff  came off during the fluting..instead of a regular "dust" like a wood saw dust this stuff formed a very coarse and rough grain about the size of reject sand...really odd...and I had to polish it wet to keep it from melting...

Still I think it turned out pretty good when you factor in the fact that I have no clue at all as to what I was doing with this...

JPH

Frosty, Mi Amigo...

I scrounged and did a whole LOT of research and   SLTT and I found a couple of guys that make custom bowling balls and who do re-hab on BB's as well.. So...

As  they say...this stuff that you all can see up above is..on most B balls about 3/4" thick..  MY contacts that make these balls can do all sorts of "
interesting" stuff as they say and this is...more or less..the results as far as what we have come up with.

JPH

H.R. :

THANK YOU Sir!! As I said before..I don't think it turned out half bad for a "What the Heck" sorta project..

Thanks once again..

JPH

Hello:

I go through 3 or 4 leaher aprons a year due to my sweating through them and they getting top be a bit more than a little "stiff"..

Leather is great for a lot of things..keeps the sparks off and it can keep you in one piece if you do something stupid  (I speak from decade's worth of experience on this one...)

JPH

Howdy ya'all!!

OK  IK have been doing a good bit of of scrounging here and there and I have, after doping a good bit of chasing around..  some bowling ball material that "acquired" and that I decided to try to use for a grip on some stuff...

I tell yas.. did I learn a bunch as far as working, finishing and polishing this..  Yet  Geeze Louise.this stuff was totally and completely different from I have been using for the last 40 plus years...but... So be that as it may.. I went ahead hammered out one of my quick and dirty Ladder Pattern shortsword blades and put this stuff on it.. 

All I can say is WOW...this stuff looks like a cross hybrid  between gold Tigers-eye and Baltic amber...(my pics ain't all that hot but)  when I saw where this was heading... well....

DESIGN CHANGE!~ Went all out and went  and finished/mounted this one up real spiffy like....

Specs: Double edged  21 1/4" long  x 1 1/4" wide blade.. L-6/1095/meteorite iron..  Ladder pattern.. 4/5ths blade length fuller each side. Forged  and file worked phosphor bronze mounts and that bowling balls stuff that I fluted for the grip  (this is just mind blowing stuff).. Mounted the leather sheath with a chape and locket and set a  33.10 Ct star ruby (I cut this one myself) into it...

Didn't turn out half bad for a blade made on a whim/what the Heck, why not ?? sorta project... At least I don't think it did anyways... But what do I know?? I am still trying to figure this stuff out...  So...If ya ask me this one turned out OK for what it is...an experiment...So...ya'all...

Let me know what ya'all think..

JPH

Heck...when I was in school if you didn't have two (2) knives...a fancy one with at least two or three blades for show and a user one you were considered weird...

JPH

Hello:

This stuff was pretty rusty when I scrounged it so I did a vinegar soak after I unwound  the strands into the 7 basic parts. Followed that with a rather aggressive wire brushing to get out as much rust as I could. Now this cable had a sisal fibre core so that went away . That made it a bit interesting when it came to putting the things together again but it worked.  After I got the pieces as clean as I could I took some strips of the SS foil and spiral wrapped then around 3 of the six strands and then just bundled them together as best I cold and started to weld and twist. This is what I ended up with.

Didn't turn out half bad at all if ya ask me..

JPH

Hello..

I had a few hours of what would be (Dead) free time... so I whipped this out not wanting to waste working time...

Welded cable from a pre 1910 mine here in Nevada with some SS  heat treat foil thrown in for colour/contrast just cause I can... "Fossil Bos Taurus" ivory and phosphor bronze mounts..

I think it came out OK for a "time killer" project...  It's up on my site as we speak/...

Hope these pics come out OK..

JPH

Hello:

These RR spikes make OK knives IF they are made from the right spikes and you know how to do he correct thermal treatment...even then..they are just OK....

Wrote this a little while back....may behoove you to take a look..

hope the link works...if it doesn't,  look in the knifemaking section  it's in there.. I sell these things by the dozens...

Hope this helps...

JPH

RCT:

Thank you for he kind words..yous should see it up close and personal..my feeble photo skills do not do this one justice at all... Still it turned out pretty good for an old hammer head like me...

JPH