Graham Fredeen Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Well, its been a good while since I've posted anything over here so thought it would be about time again. Been super busy as usual with all manner of things, mostly un-shop related unfortunately, but been doing things in the shop as well. Anyway, here is the latest blade. I'm calling it a "modified" Persian Kard. Not what I had in mind when I made it, just kind of happened along this way as they tend to do sometimes. Don't know what else to call it style-wise, so this is what well go with for now. If someone has a better classification, please let me know. Blade is forged 1075, differentially hardened with a pretty nice hamon. Blade Length: 6.5" OAL: 11.25" Antiqued wrought iron guard nickel spacers Bubinga grip wood Its a pretty wickedly sharp thing, super acute edge due to the really shallow angle on the flat grind. I've shaved my face with it, just for the fun of it. By requests on other sites, I'm going to try and get a video of it doing some cutting (cutting a free falling piece of paper in mid air) sometime soon. Hope everyone enjoys it. Its good to finally post something here again, hopefully I'll not have such a long time between posts anymore. Also got a big pattern welding tutorial I'm in the middle of, a complete documentation of a blade from start to finish, with tons of pics and lots of video. Check out my website for the progress so far, its under the tutorials section. I'll contack Glenn about getting it made into a huge blueprint for everyone here once I finish it up. Graham Fredeen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin (the professor) Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 pictures two and three really show the blade off. I liked it, but it has a lot of subtle complelxity that I did not notice at first. As I said somewhere else, I also really love the fittings. I would like to know how you shaped and polished them. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Mayo Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Very nice Graham . Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markb Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Great job, love the blade shape, and when you think how sharp it is:o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecart Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Beautiful work. That bubinga is a pretty wood isn't it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 I really like the lines, it's graceful sweeping and delicate looking but with some serious depth and mass to it. I'm not really a blade guy but know what I like and I like this one all round. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Gomez Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Absolutely beautifull work! What a great hamon, tons of depth. Love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Fredeen Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Thanks all. Glad you like it. Got the video of it doing some cutting posted to YouTube. Its got a couple of shots of cutting a free falling piece of paper in mid air, and some other standard paper cutting. Didn't get any shots of shaving hair, don't really have any left after testing the edge on this thing, lol.YouTube - Cutting with the 1075 Blade with Hamon Kevin, the guard is done out of some wrought iron anchor chain. I drilled a series of holes in it and used a file to open the slot for the tang. Once I got it fitted snugly against the shoulders of the blade I took it to the grinder and did all of the rough shaping on the outside, then took a round file and filed in the groove. Then sanded everything up evenly by hand. For the finish, it was achieved through a combination of multiple cycles of heavy etching in Ferric Chloride, with flash rusting in a hydrogen peroxide and salt mix, with sanding in between each cycle, and it was finished off with torch bluing it to a deep gray. There is a series of 3 thin nickel spacers inbetween the guard and bubinga, that were just sanded and buffed to mirror finish, they don't show up too well in the pics. Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the archer Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Thats a really nice knife. What did you use to get it that sharp. With the knife i have now nothing seems able to sharpen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 The subtle and graceful lines of this knife are outstanding! I have seen very few that I liked as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Beautiful knife, clean simple design and sooooooo sharp. Great video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin (the professor) Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 (edited) Got the video of it doing some cutting posted to YouTube. Its got a couple of shots of cutting a free falling piece of paper in mid air, and some other standard paper cutting. Didn't get any shots of shaving hair, don't really have any left after testing the edge on this thing, lol.YouTube - Cutting with the 1075 Blade with Hamon Kevin, the guard is done out of some wrought iron anchor chain. I drilled a series of holes in it and used a file to open the slot for the tang. Once I got it fitted snugly against the shoulders of the blade I took it to the grinder and did all of the rough shaping on the outside, then took a round file and filed in the groove. Then sanded everything up evenly by hand. For the finish, it was achieved through a combination of multiple cycles of heavy etching in Ferric Chloride, with flash rusting in a hydrogen peroxide and salt mix, with sanding in between each cycle, and it was finished off with torch bluing it to a deep gray. There is a series of 3 thin nickel spacers inbetween the guard and bubinga, that were just sanded and buffed to mirror finish, they don't show up too well in the pics. Excellent work on the fit and finish, too. I need to work on a couple of the techniques you displayed so well in this one. I need to file a round groove in the bolster of my p-welded seax that I posted here (Dr. JPH suggested it, and I thought of this blade of yours as a prime example of the technique!). I am impressed with the salt bluing, etc. too. You have taken the time to really learn about your chosen medium. Thanks Kevin Edited July 6, 2009 by mod07 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Fredeen Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Glad everyone enjoyed seeing it. Kevin, if you need any further explanation or advice on anything, feel free to drop me an email or PM or something, I'd be more than happy to help on anything. Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Waldon Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Here it comes folks: The Complete Novice Question of The DAY!!! How is the wooden handle held on? I can't see any pins. Unless you did it with epoxy or something similar. On a different note, Great job, I watched the video and just admired the pictures in general. Beautifully sharp blade and a nice Hamon! I LIKE IT!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Fredeen Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 You are correct, there are no pins for the grip. It is held in place with epoxy. However, there are "internal" "pins" that are actually formed by the epoxy that lock everything in place and add additional strength. In other words, I drilled a couple holes in the tang and got epoxy placed in them, and I also notched the edges of the tang, as well as put some grooves in the sides of the tang. All of this creates some mechanical strength to everything, instead of relying just on the epoxy bond, which can fail under shear stress. You'd be hard pressed to try and get that handle to come off, unless you smashed it with a hammer and chiseled the pieces off. Anyway, thanks for the kind words all, glad everyone enjoyed seeing it, and got some entertainment out of the cutting. Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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