antigoth24

One of the ideas I've played with over the past couple of years is the American style puukko knife, the goal being to preserve the essence of the puukko but to also modernize it. This is my latest attempt at doing that and normally the only thing I'm deviating from are the standard grinds. But here is it forged from 1095 with bolivian rosewood ferrule, leather spacers, bocote, and curly birch. All comments are welcome and thanks for looking. Robert

I was able to finish the sheath today, I just wish photographing the handle wasn't such a bugger. It seems no matter what I do I can't get the luster to shine through. But anyway here she is I've decided to call it the Relic Fighter. What do you think?

Thanks everyone. Here is an update on the sheath. I decided to go with a horizontal carry and fold formed copper inlay. While the lighting in my shop is terrible for photos I think you see what I'm going for :)

This was a knife I wasn't planning on making originally, but when I saw Aldo's hamon contest on Facebook I figured I'd give it a shot. I've only recently started playing with hamons and I only know enough now to know how much I still need to learn :D If my mind serves correctly this is (I believe) my fifth knife with an attempted hamon. This one if made from 1095 and was also a continued experiment in my interest in laminate handles. This one is a mix between curly maple, walnut, and leather; I also decided to do my take on a clam shell guard from antiqued copper. Tomorrow or later today I' start working on the sheath and I think it will incorporate some fold form copper. What do you think? Specs: Blade length: 9 1/2 inches Blade width: 1 3/4 inches Handle length: 6 inches OAL: 15 1/2 inches Steel: 1095 Thanks for looking. Robert

I wanted to share some pictures from my first knife making class in the new shop in Minnesota. He had a fairly ambitious goal in mind of completely a full knife and sheath over two 8 hour class days, to add to this we decided to add a hamon as well. The hamon looks low and lean (in the good way) in person but unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good photo with the lighting and time at the end of the class. This was his first knife he had fully done from start to finish and his third he had worked on. In either case I think he did an excellent job and so I wanted to share his work, I think I'm as proud of his work as he is :) But here is the knife he did. It was forged from a bar of 1095 and given rosewood scales with stainless steel pins. Robert

I wanted to get input on my new Wilderness Pack Axe from a design stand point as I will be doing a lot of them with the first run being fifteen. I made a prototype a while ago but wasn't too found of the head geometry so I made some tweaks and here I am again... :P So any input wood be appreciated especially from anyone that does woodwork/ timber framing. Okay so this axe was forged from 1018 and a 1084 bit running back to the eye, the head measures 7 inches long with a 4 1/2 inch long edge and is 18 inches long made from hickory and weighs in at 2 1/4 pounds. In dimensions it is closest to the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest axe with the Gransfors weigh about 3/4 of a pound more. So as far as pack axes go it's on a the light side but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. This one still needs my maker's mark, but it will be my personal one to see how it is to live with as that will be the ultimate test of its design. But enough of me gibber jabbing what do you all think? Thank you for your input. Robert

The steel I used on this blade was 1090

I thought I would share something I just finished up last night as it was a complete first for me. I had a customer approach me about making a primitive style hunting knife. After tweaking his design some I went to work. We decided to use red mallee gum burl because of its gnarliness and beautiful grain and he also wanted a rawhide sheath which I had never done before, but after reading some great tutorials on the subject I felt somewhat confident that I could give it a shot. Let me just say that being new to working with raw hide it was a pain in the *** to cut unless it was wet so chalk that one up to experience. But overall I was very please with how it turned out and would love to hear everyones comments/ criticisms. The only thing I may have changed was to add a bead to the lanyard but as he will be using it to gut and clean animals I thought I should leave it without ornamentation. Specs: Over all Length (including hook): 11 1/2 inches Blade Length: 5 inches Handle Length: 5 1/2 inches Thickest part of spine: 1/4 inch Tip: 1/16 Blade Width: 1 3/4 inches Handle material: Red Mallee Gum Burl with rawhide There are four stainless steel pins one being hidden under the raw hide. Also there are four small grooves in the spine to act as a thumb grip while skinning. Thank you for looking! -Robert

It is indeed mokume I also made a pair of earrings from the same piece for her aunt but ran out of time to snap a photo.

That turned out beautifully...love it!

Like so many other good folks on here I thought I would share some of the Christmas gifts I've made this year. Let me know what you think. Most of these projects were new to me aside from the axe but the spoon, cheese knife, and cutting board were all new, I felt like I was working at the North Pole this past week and no it's not jsut because I live in Minnesota :) But blather aside here are some of the things I made this year... First up is the cutting board and cheese knife for my sister. The cheese knife is 16 layers of 15n20 and 1084 with a diver salvage oak handle from lake Superior. The cutting board is olive wood, rosewood, maple, 100 year old walnut reclaimed from a local barn, and (what I'm guessing is) cottonwood burl that I dug out of the mud of the Minnesota river a few feet from my shop. Next up is a small "Viking axe" for my future father-in-law with a white oak handle. Followed by a spoon and necklace for my fiance. The spoon being made from curly maple and treated with natural dyes and mineral oils. And finally a flesh for for my fiance's uncle who is a big time hunter. This thing is beastly at 30 inches long with 5 inch long tines and a beer bottle opener! Not my prettiest forge welding but it works and I kind of like it. And that's all for my elf work this week...now to hop on the train and hope security doesn't inspect my bag.... -Robert

So in my attempt to make jewelry for my fiance as a gift for Christmas I decided I would try Mokume Gane for the first time. Instead of pressing it between plates as I have seen in videos I used a small piece of mild steel wire to hold it all together, fluxed, and then when I though it was at the right temp I smashed it! It seemed to be holding together OKAY and so I flattened it out to make a small pendant. Once I started to grind into it though I noticed something odd...When I twisted to wire tight to hold it together I intended to take it off as it fused together...it seems that I missed a part of the wire and accidentally inlayed it into the mokume! The only benefit to this being that it was the twisted end and so came out kind of interesting and I think my fiance will like it. What do you all think? -Robert

Thanks guys, Theo, I etch for about 30 seconds pull out and wipe down and repeat about 4-5 times.

Thank you for the kind words.

Here is a knife I just finished up and while it has no real connection at all to a "peasant's knife" it was the type of look I was aiming for, utility and beauty through it's utility. I'd love to hear what you all think of it. The blade is forged from 1095 and differentially quenched and measures 4 1/2 inches long. The handle is 5 1/2 inches long and made from smelted copper, leather spacers, desert ironwood, and white oak burl with a copper pin. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with the sheath yet but I will update the post when I get around to making it. Thanks for looking. Robert

Thank you for the kind words everyone.

I just finished up the second in my line of "Wilderness Axes" this one being a pack axe hence the name. This is a fun little axe and it was a fun project to make. Axes really do have their simple pleasures and they are fast to make too! In any case this axe was wrapped and welded with a 1084 bit to a mild steel body. The head measures 7 inches long with a 4 inch cutting edge. The handle is hickory and measures 19 inches long at 1.5 pounds. Unfortunately it started to rain before I was able to get any pictures of the axe with its sheath. Let me know what you think! Thanks for looking. Robert Burns

Well here is the knife performance test video I promised, let me know what you think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSEu4rRZuRE

Thanks for the comments everyone :) Okay so I still need a lot of improvement on my leather work but here it is with it's sheath. This was my first inlay and I used stingray skin which dulled about 5 of my exacto knife blades before cutting the pieces I needed... I'll post the performance video later tonight if I get time. Thanks for looking! All comments and criticisms are welcome.

Here is a recent project that I just finished up, as the title says it's a camp chopper. I forged this knife up last week and just got around to finishing it yesterday, but still need to make the sheath for it. The only thing that I dislike about this knife is that the hamon is a bit faded near the choil, the hamon is there but you can only see it when you are looking at the knife up close (so frustrating) but otherwise I am pleased with how this knife turned out and performs, I will post a video later showing its performance. The handle of this knife was a new challenge for me as I haven't done a multi-lamination before but I decided I would give it a shot. The woods I used in this knife are Australian red mallee gum burl, zyrcote, desert ironwood, and Bolivian rosewood. It was a pain trying to get all the angles lined up and to stop sliding, but eventually I got it. This was a fun project and I will post more pictures as it is finished up with the sheath. Let me know what you think! Specs: 1084 with hamon Blade: 8 3/4 inches Blade width: 1 3/4 inches Handle length: 6 inches Overall: 14 3/4 inches Thanks for looking. Robert Burns

I wanted to share a recent project that I have been working on, I have been trying to make a wolf's tooth pattern axe and this was my first attempt which was a disaster on the side of the pattern but it still turned out to be a nice axe. This axe was wrapped and welded with a body of mild steel and an edge of 1095 and 15n20 with a central core of 1084 giving the edge about 32 layers. The head is 8 1/4 inches long and the edge is a little over 6 inches, with the weight of the whole axe sitting at about 4 pounds. The handle is hickory and measures 35 1/2 inches long. All comments are welcome thanks for looking. Oh also I did take photos step by step on the forging of this axe head so if anyone is interested in seeing the process I can post that in a separate thread.

So now that the project is officially over I can share with you all that Ryan and I were being considered for having our own TV show, the production company made this character reel to show to companies and while it wasn't picked up they allowed us to keep the video for our uses. Unfortunately we had no influence on the editing and so the forging is done out of sequence and may look confusing or incorrect but it is simply editing. Just a heads up so I don't have to explain it a million times. Hope you guys enjoy watching it let me know what you think! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfvTZth1aVQ&feature=share Also while on the topic of axes here is one that I am currently working on, a viking felling axe with pattern welded bit.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Here is one I just finished up, minus sheath. I'm calling it Splinter and it's your basic utility knife, the blade was forged from 1095 and 15N20, the handle is made from copper, maple burl, leather, and zyrcote. Thanks for looking. -Robert Burns

So here is a fun project I was working on while hanging out at Dave Delagardelle's this past weekend, this axe head was greatly exaggerated from one of his sketches but I think it came out well. Dave was kind enough to give me some wrought iron he had to use in the axe body and to kindly let me use his press. I welded up a 16 layer mini billet of 1095 and 15N20 to make the edge and wrapped it in the body of wrought iron. Having almost no experience working with wrought this certainly was interesting and I will definitely be experimenting with it in the future. I also decided that since this axe head was a bit over the top I might as well go all the way in making it crazy. So I pulled out my wood encyclopedia (no joke it's very handy) and looked for exotic woods that have similar properties to hickory so that I could laminate the handle to give it character without really sacrificing strength. And this is what came out of it: 21 inches long of laminated rosewood and hickory, a 9 1/4 inch long head with a 4 3/4 inch long edge. So thanks for looking and I hope you all enjoy a laugh at least at this viking goofiness.