neg Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 I just realized I haven't posted anything in a long time. Here's a few I've done over the past few months:Forged this seax a while ago, and yesterday I finally decided to finish it. It's made from a large old file, hammered to shape. I chiseled in a fuller on both sides. The blade is 7", and the whole knife is 12" long. The handle is made from brass, elk horn, and wood found in my yard. Made these a while ago, one's for me and one for my wife. Both made from old Nicholson files. I made the micarta from felt and fiberglass resin. The blue and brown one's mine. I'd been wanting one of these for myself for a while. The blade is 14", making it 19 1/2" overall. The steel is leaf spring. The handle consists of aluminum, steel, elk horn, and some wood I found in my yard. Ever since I started blacksmithing, my dad's been begging me to forge a big bowie knife. Well, I was never really a fan of bowies, but after watching a whole lot of Hell on Wheels, they've grown on me. It started out as an old farrier's rasp. I did a mixture of forging and stock removal on this one. The handle consists of brass and a special micarta that I made from leather, felt, pecan shells, and tree bark. I really love how this knife turned out, so did my dad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 great looking batch of knives! love the repurposing you are doing. think the first seax is a great use of the woods. Do you stabilize your wood?thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neg Posted May 29, 2015 Author Share Posted May 29, 2015 Honestly, I'm not real familiar with wood stabilizing. All I've ever done is find some nice old, dried wood and put on multiple coats of tru oil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 I am really not a fan of stress concentraters running cross ways on a blade; especially large ones where hard use may be expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbasan Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Nice looking bunch blades .5160 is some very tough steel . If it's nice and thick on big Seax I don't think there will be much problem as long as temper is good. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 I am with Thomas when I look at the rasp Bowie. Every one of the old teeth, and the big peen marks is a potential crack. Stress risers don't have to be big to create a failure.I like the micarta handles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Knives look pretty good, I especially like the pair of knives for your wife and you. Do you happen to have a closeup of the Bowie handle? I've thought about mixing various materials like that but never seen anywhere where someone has done it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neg Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 Those were the only pictures I took before I gave it away. It looks really nice close up though. I had a layer of leather in there, but if you try it, leave the leather out. It delaminated and the resin wouldn't hold it. After it dried I had to epozy it to the micarta to get it to work right, but it was a hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 I'll keep that in mind, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbasan Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Japanese blades have 2 obvious stress risers the Hamachi and mune machi . They never break there, its always some where else . Usually the last 8- 10 In. of blade. http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/glossary.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 If those points have a slight radius to them, or they are in a more tempered area they will be fine on a sword like that. Having multiple sharp notches along the hardest part of the blade like the rasp knife can be trouble. I had a file knife crack in several places during quenching, each crack was where a tooth was. A notch or corner in and of itself is not a problem, the shape of it is. Sharp is bad, radiuses are good. Take a piece of paper 1" wide and have someone hold the other end. Take a pair of scissors and cut a sharp vee notch in it about 1/4" deep. Now both of you pull on your ends. Next take another piece and cut a 4 to 1 radius in it IE; 1/4" deep x 1" long and see how much stronger it is. Now cut it even deeper to see how much strength it retains even when it is deeper than 1/4" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbasan Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I see what you mean . Although the Hamachi is a 90 Degree angle and the munemachi is a 90 . The spine or mune is pretty soft maybe 30 - 40 rc where as the Hamachiis hardened to 60 or more .It has a lot to do with support of blade with the Habaki . I do seean occasional blade made with verticle Grooves similar to a blood groove over the completeblade. Most of those are chefs knives ( hocho) The vertical grooves are there to stop sliced food from sticking to knife .There are also cleavers made for hard chopping with same grooves . I can see additionally that grooves with uneven or irregular grooves not clean and polished could be a problem with a chopping blade. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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