Chris Bell Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 With The Hobbit movie out now i thought it would be a good time to do a bit of "fantasy" work (not hokey) its a 1095 blade and copper furniture with poplar handle and sheath. The notches out of the blade do remove strength but its not meant to be a "user" more of a semi functional display piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert A Rasch Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Interesting piece, I like the use of copper accents. Are the notches meant to be a key? Oh, and how about a picture of the back-end of the knife? Thanks for sharing! Albert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bell Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 I really just wanted to give it that Tolkien feel with the blade design. do you mean the copper cap on the handle or back/spine of the blade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert A Rasch Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 The cap if you don't mind! I've always liked flat caps so i was curious how it looked. thanks, Albert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bell Posted February 3, 2013 Author Share Posted February 3, 2013 sorry for the delay ill get a pic up for you tomorrow sir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman50 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Looks nice and rustic, great combination of the wood and copper and a nice touch on the burnt carvings. -www.sawblade.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 This stresses me,,,but then its not my work,,you say that the notches are part of the picture and its not meant to be a usable knife anyway,,,makes me wonder why you used a knife steel, 1095 for it, and also if you heat treated it...it does look like yoiu sharpened it! Big concern is if someone actually put some pressure on it and it b roke if they would get hurt. But as i always say,,your shop your rules,,,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 also his Insurance and lawyers if someone does get hurt, this gives me the topic for next knife chat. Would have been safer to make the blade from Solfer material like Aluminum so it bends rather than breaks, when someone tries to use it. After all it looks like a knife, you call it a knife, and therefore a person should be able to think it could be used likie a knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Smith Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Im a huge tolkien fan and thats pretty good design, Im intrested in what the runes mean... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bell Posted February 13, 2013 Author Share Posted February 13, 2013 by usable i mean its not meant to be taken out and used with a baton to build your bushcraft shelter. the blade is very sturdy with great flex and spring. i did not razor sharpen it for the fact that it might be purchased as a display or "wall hanger" and not as a daily use knife. even the thinnest part under the large "V" is thicker spine to blade than most knives with the same blade length. As for a lawyer, the only way this knife will break is with true misuse, not because of the design. So if i misuse a drill bit and snap it and it cuts me i can call a lawyer and go after craftsman or whoever made the bit? (there's the problem with the world) Thank you for the kind words Matt Smith it spells out "Thorn" the name of the knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Chris wot I said was wot I meant,,I am worried about the notch in the blade as a weak point, I know it is easy to see that the distance from the bottom of the notch to the edge may be for sure larnger thatn the blade width on alot of knives....However there is a lot of failures traced back to something just like this, You can search for enginearing stress risers,,I am not an engineer but fairly well studied, In fact if you slice all of the top off of that blade and made the width of the blade a week bit smaller then from the bottom of the notch to the cutting edge of the blade it would be stronger than it is now,as long as you leave no trace of the notch..... If you get near Phx AZ in times other than summer come by the shop and we can do some testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bell Posted February 13, 2013 Author Share Posted February 13, 2013 i do understand what your saying sir i was just defensive in the fact i was just defensive on my work the bottom of the "V" is actually rounded to reduce stress fractures at that point in a true sense of a knife this is it cuts it stabs it whittles. it does not and will not hammer pry and baton. i do appreciate your knowledge and expertise. the people i have looking to purchase it now are hard core Dungeons and Dragons players and total book worms with absolutely NO intent of ever using it and they were even more excited to hear it had a high carbon blade it feed into their zeal for a "real dwarven dagger" lol and if the invite is an honest friendly invite i would accept to get with another smith and test a gamut of tang designs and importance's of no sharp notches from blade to tang. if it was bring the knife and lets try and break it weellll there's another answer for that... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalmangeler Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Chris I think that you should get over to see Rich as soon as you can. He has always seemed to me to be most helpfull and knowledgeable. I am sure his intent is not to break your stuff. Though if he were closer and offered to help me and it involved breaking a few of my blades I would take him up on the offer as I am that sure of his insight and that insight is of much more value than a few of my knives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeshow Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I agree with Mr. Mangeler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 To clear my part of this up: I do not remember ever testing a finished knife to destruction. That is due to one thing. I can do all of that kind of testing on pieces of the same piece of metal I use for a knife. For instance in the first lesson of the knife chat listed in knife making in the forum I took a mystery steel (used coil spring) and forged a sample of the same rough thickness that the blade would be. I then took it to non magnetic and allowed it to air cool. It did not harden. Then reheated and quenched in oil. it did harden. All of this for several reasons: Since it did not harden in air I knew when I finished forging I would not have to anneal it to file and sand to finish, Secondly it did harden in oil, that tells me this is a steel I might use for a blade. And last of thes items is I broke the blade and looked at grain structure and size. It was even and small like I had seen before in testing that proved out in field tests. So I used that same coil spring steel and forged the blade. I have also done the is kind of testing when I had thought that at the blade tang junction I would know whether I should take the time to radius that spot or just leave it square. I radius each blade there now. Another key is that for mystery steels this type of testing is needed on each new piece you obtain. Bring home another coil spring (or wotever) and cut a sample piece and test. i have not mentioned edge retention testing for after tempering testing. i have typed all of this for a reason: I do not make and sell baldes from mystery steel. I did this one like many I have done in the past to record the procedure in the blade making section of this site, I buy new known steel for my blades and no longer need to try and determine the way to prepare the blade structures for use as a blade. I also limit the steels I use. I know the results are correct and consistant. I have done shop and field testing on finished knives. I know when one leaves the shop it is going to work as desired. And Chris remember this for sure You stated several items that this knife would not do in its future life. But you have no way of knowing wot the new owner will do with it and to it. you may indeed tell them not to hammer, throw, or etc. And for that matter it may well be used as a daily user. It is after all your shop, your rules. My shop has different rules, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EtownAndrew Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I like it. The handle with the copper is particularly nice. I'm not quite sure how you put on the two handle end pieces. I recently finished a 16" overall length Bowie knife and at the time we were commenting that it could be a hobbit sword. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubvertDylan Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 You are genius, this is so rad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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