Hey all

Just to give you a little info....
The blades are forged from 5160 leaf springs, normalized 3 times., quenched in veg oil once and then tempered 3 times in the kitchen oven until the spine was purple with bronze on the edge.

These are crafted as recreations of knives that would have been used around the time of the French and Indian/ Revolutionary wars.
The 2 top knives have domestic walnut handles with poured pewter rivets and bolsters, while the antler handle knife is a half tang secured with iron pins, also with a pewter bolster and end cap.






Yes, I know that my finish work leaves a lot to be desired at this point :-) There is still a bit of sanding and finish work yet to be done.
Another thing....I made these to sell, and reenactors for some reason like to see pits and hammer marks to "prove it was hand made"

They look great. I like the look of the antler one the best.

i like the antler too, the shape of the small one is very nice as well..

Very nice, nothing to be ashamed of at all. Nice lines and best of all, functional.

Mark <><

Very nice work. Can you describe the priocess for pouring the pewter. Years ago, I watched a guy wrap aluminum from a pop can around the bolster area, melt pewter and pour it into the bolster area. Is that the process? What is a cheap source of pewter.
Thanks.

I'm really diggin' the first two.

Brasilikilt,

Don't apologize about your finish work. Your blades look great, and the best thing about doing recreations is that a lot of the times they don't have to be perfect. These knives LOOK like they are from the time period. To me that is a perfect example of a recreation.

-Adam

Hey all, thanks for the compliments :-)
It's definitely has given me a strong indication that I will actually be able to sell these, and am not merely adding to my own stash of cutlery :-)
To be honest with you, I have done pewter casting with nothing more than thick paper, but often prefer to use cloth such as denim or old bed sheets covered with craft glue.
I do this because it's more flexible and tends to conform to the shape of the handle better than stiff paper. I sometimes get bubbles or blemishes, and using the glued fabric makes it easier to take off and re apply if another pour is called for.

Chichi...Here's a link that will explain everything better than I could:
http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials/_pewter.html

Once again, thanks a bunch for all the kind words......I'm currently working on some more blades, including one with an African black wood handle which hopefully will turn out nice.

I'll keep you all informed

Iain

Nice work with the pewter on the third. Like how it's run down into the handle, bit like water frozen in place.
Did you use nails/screw/etc to anchor the pewter?