Thai jungle knife short bush sword

[Stormcrow]

This was made for a knife in the hat exchange, or KITH, over on Don Fogg's forum. The idea on this KITH was to make a blade that was either mythological (though myth could be of modern and even personal manufacture) or tribal in aesthetics. I was originally planning a forge finished integral socket bush sword with a La Tene-style blade inspired by Robert E. Howard's "The Valley of the Worm", but time drew near and I came across a style of blade from the jungles of Thailand that really caught my eye, and I went with that instead.

The blade is approximately 13" long and 3/16" thick, forged from 5160 and given my typical triple normalization, triple quench in canola oil, and triple tempering cycle heat treatment that I use for 5160. Here's what it looked like post-hardening and pre-tempering:



After tempering, cleaning off the oil, and wrapping the handle with hemp and tying two-strand Turk's head knots in cotton:



After sealing the wrap in black shellac:



And after sharpening to shaving sharp,



It's on its way to its new owner, Scott Roush, who makes awesome knives.