Manzanita Skinner (hamon process pics)

[Radharc]

Hello everyone. My name is Michael Mara, and for whatever reason, I just decided to jump in here today. Anyways, what better way to start than showing some knife process pics. There seems to be some interest in creating visible hamons in here, so I thought I'd post some pics, showing one I did last year. I started with 3/16" 1075, did some forging and grinding, then coated the spine with Satanite.

The blade's final shape, with the clay coating:



A closer pic of the clay coating:



After hardening, showing the decarb pattern. Pretty, but it's got to go:



It hardened up beautifully, HRC 60 at the edge, with the spine dead soft. The hamon:



A closer look:



A lot of polishing, some Manzanita burl scales, and we're good to go:

[bigfootnampa]

That is a very interesting knife design Michael! I have made several Karambits which are very similar except for being sharp on the inside of the blade's curvature. I can see how it might make a good skinning blade this way. I used an open turned eye on my Karambits. My feeling was that the eyes are still stronger than the fingers to which they are designed to attach. Instead of a hamon on my Karambits, I have preserved a forge scaled area at the back side of the blades. Here's a pic of one that I made for a friend who is now retired from law enforcement work. I think he likes it! Karambit and Sheath

[Radharc]

Thanks, Bigfoot. Interesting blade there, for sure. Good to hear that you have a satisfied customer.

[arftist]

Mike, glad to see you here. As usual, nice knife!

[Radharc]

Who is this? I checked your profile and all it says is New England. Yeah, I have a lot of time on my hands currently. I've been sitting in a cheap motel in Roswell, NM, looking for a place to live, all my stuff is in storage. Thanks!

[golgotha forge & anvil]

Great stuff...I like it !!!


Gene

[Radharc]

Thanks, Gene. I need to post some more stuff, and will, as I have time.

[felix24]

absolutely beautiful :)

[Radharc]

Thank you, Felix.