antigoth24 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 As requested here is the tutorial I posted over on a wilderness survival forum on how I make my Striker series of knives. I'd like to note that I do not have pictures of me attaching the bolsters unfortunately, but I will be making another tutorial fairly soon. Okay so with that out of the way let's get down to business... It is important almost any time you start a project to have some specs or diagrams, etc. Like all projects I started with a rough design that became more specific, and if you follow your design it almost doesn't matter whether you make your guard first or the blade or your sheath etc. it should all end up coming together, if you follow your PLAN. So here is my original design followed by the full design: Next I transfer the cut out paper model to a steel bar to have as a sizing reference while forging: The next step, at least in the case of this project, was to prepare the stock. Since these knives are going to take a beating how only people who love the outdoors can give these knives have to be resistant to bending, breaking, and corrosion; so I decided to use 5160. I only had 3 inch wide by 1/4 inch bars so I have to forge them down to size. I cut the bars into 10 inch long sections to have enough material for five knives. This process took about 1.5 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antigoth24 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 One of the reasons that is took 1.5 hours to prepare the stock is because I was only hammering by hand. If you have access to a power hammer and know how to use it, or know someone that does, this process could take as little as 15 minutes for both bars. After the bars have been drawn out the material is still roughly 1/4 inch thick but it won't be perfectly flat again until later on in the process. The resulting bars are now roughly 18 inches long each The next step is forging the point. I like to do this step next because as you compact the material to form the point while maintaining the same thickness the piece you are working on becomes longer. This is important to remember because if you start working on the tang first and then your blade the blade will most likely end up being longer then you intended and you will have to remove more material. When I am forging a point for a more clipped point that these knives will have I start the clip at about a 30 degree angle while keeping the stock flat against the anvil. I then stop forging the point about a 1/4-1/2 inch before the point is flush with the anvil surface. If you leave this extra material it will make it a lot easier to give the blade that desired upswing at the point where the blade meets the clip or false edge. The next step is kind of a combination of two steps in one. What you want to do is start forging the bevels. What you have to do for this is cock your wrist so that the stock (on the flat/wide side) is on a 15 degree slant meeting the anvil face. You then hammer the edge at approximately a 15 degree angle this results in two bevels that are roughly equal. It will also result in a distal taper which will add strength to your blade, with the added benefit of giving you a guide to match your angles while draw filing or grinding. The other step I like to do at this time is to mark where I want the blade to stop. To do this take the 1/4 thick side of your stock and let it hang over the anvil face. The edge of the anvil marks where the blade will be stopping, so make sure to measure your blade first! The next thing you are going to do is strike down half on and half off the anvil face, directly over the edge. This creates the "step" that marks the end of the blade. I like to use chalk to mark my anvil with the dimensions of the blade so that I can check on it throughout the entire process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antigoth24 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 I nearly forgot to mention an important step when working with 5160. While I'm forging one blade I always have the other sitting on the back ledge of my forge to begin the annealing process. This keeps the steel at a nice and even 1100 degrees which allows it to relax the stress I just put in it from all that hammering. So onto the next step: When making several knives at the same time that I want to be identical what I prefer to do is roughly forge the tang (in this case each knife will be a full tang) and then grind the profile in. This step is just more consistent and accurate for me when making a series of knives. (There are going to be ten of this one to start and I'm calling it my Striker series). These are the first four mid process. I only had time to fully forge two and start the blade on the third. The first two blades profiled and the remaining two blades have now had their plunge lines ground in: I used 50 grit belts to do all of the major grinding, I then switch to a worn 50 grit belt, then an 80 grit belt, and finally a 120 grit belt. After that I usually hand sand. All of the knives are now ground and brought up to 120 grit sanding Now it's time for the hardening process. The basic process is heat up each blade to a bright orange (non-magnetic temperature) all the blade to have an even heat (So uniform color through out the blade), remove the blade from the forge and (as straight as possible) lower the blade into the awaiting oil. These blades are all edge quenched. It's important to note that you don't want your oil to be too cold a way to warm your oil is to heat scrap steel and quench several pieces in the oil this should bring it up to a nice warm 90 degrees F. After hardening check for any warping and cracks in the blade (I was good on this one but you always have to check) and then into the oven. I will be putting these blades in at 375 for two cycles of two hours each. They are half way through their first cycle now: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antigoth24 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 So today I was able to finish up the blade on one of the knives 400 grit finish (hand rubbed) and then two phases of buffing. The area of contrast behind the plunge line is texturing. I use a dremel engraving tool to rough up this area it helps the epoxy grip more when attaching the scales and bolsters. The next thing I had to do was rough cut the bolsters the material is 1/4 inch mild steel. (The other knives will have a combination of either brass, stainless steel, or mild steel bolsters) The first picture is are the rough drawn on guides and the second picture is the bolsters after being cut out: I know they look extremely rough but that will all be fixed up shortly. The next step I had to do was prepare the scales. Now I'd like to mention that I like to save money whenever I can so I like to make my scales myself as opposed to having someone else make them. This takes a bit more time but I feel it's worth it. I started with two blocks of 5 inch by 1.5 inch of olivewood and bolivian rosewood: Next I cut them into 1/4 sections these will become the scales: Here are the rough scales: Sanded to 120 grit: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antigoth24 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 Lastly I wanted to give more of an idea of how the wood pops. I had a scrap piece of olive wood that I sanded up to 800 grit you can see the difference is fairly drastic no? I received a call from a customer today wanting one of these knives for her father's birthday but with an antler theme so I ended up spending a good portion of my work today on taking a 2.5 inch diameter piece of elk antler and turning it into scales for the knife. I was also able to finish up the ferro rod holder that will ride side saddle to the knife in the sheath; it also has an antler knob. The first thing I did today was make the knob (the one thing that everything went smoothly on :/ ) It's nice an easy. I took a 1 inch diameter chunk of white tail deer antler and drill a 1/4 inch hole into the center to accommodate the ferro rod and then drilled a 1/8 inch hole through the antler and ferro rod to place the pin and make everything nice and solid. Just as a warning the shavings from the ferro rod will spark (obviously but just for those of us who might forget such as myself) After everything is all pinned up I flip it arround and remove the bit from my drill press and insert the ferro rod into the jaws of the drill press just like a bit: I call this the poor man's lathe, basically it;s just a nice way to even everything up quickly. I turned the drill press on and hit it with a flat file and then a triangular file to give it a couple groves and then used thin strips of sand paper to sand it up to 400 grit (This whole process took maybe 15-20 minutes). Then to finish it up I hit the antler with a torch and then some orange finish, leaving me with this... It kind of reminds me of a marshmallow...I still might make some additions to it but that is how it stands now. Next came the bit of tackling the elk scales. I used my 4.5 inch angle grinder to cut it in half before refining it. The next pictures are steps in refining the scales. Lastly here is the first knife all mocked up...I didn't like the finish on the blade so I am re-polishing it and I still need to drill the holes in the scales: The last picture is of the bolster riveted on. I used copper pins peened and then I shaped the bolsters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antigoth24 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 Sorry no pictures of sheath making I will include that in my next tutorial but here are the first three striker knives finished: Thanks for looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akad Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 That was long, but very well worth the read. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antigoth24 Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Thank you Akad, these were the first knives that I ever did using scales and bolsters I had only ever done full of hidden tangs before. I know I still have a lot of work to do on my pin holes and on my stitching holes, but I plan to work on that on my next knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 well done!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearhartironwerks Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Nice work! Thanks for the pics as I really like to see work in progress. I know it's a lot of time and effort. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Great stuff and good lookin blades thanks for the effort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Great stuff and good lookin blades thanks for the effort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antigoth24 Posted December 6, 2012 Author Share Posted December 6, 2012 Thank you for the kind words Gibbo, this has been a lot of work with plenty of frustration all along but I feel it was well worth it in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmarginalo Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Sorry for the reanimation of this old thread, but the pics aren't working anymore... Can I find this somewhere else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 No. The poster choose to not load them here, and he used an off site host, which has now lost or moved them, there is nothing we can do Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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