June 13, 201610 yr Well, this one isn't going to please everyone, but it has a reason for existing. Another group I am a part of does an annual challenge. This year the project was to make a Bowie style knife using only materials that you could find in your local hardware store. I decided to go for a rat-rod sort of theme, and tried to incorporate components that would be identifiable in the end product. The following materials were used: Blade - Stanley Wonder Bar Guard - Part of a grade 8 Bolt head with a 6" Wonder Bar Handle - Part of a pick handle Pommel - a bronze pipe fitting with a weed-wacker spark plug Pin - A piece of a 3/16" Allen wrench Scabbard - Wood core covered in cotton cord, impregnated with auto-body fiberglass resin and covered with a piece from old blue jeans. This is a tongue-in-cheek art project, but it actually came out much cooler than I imagined.
June 13, 201610 yr I wouldn't poo poo that peice of work, atleast not by looks and material, if your heat treat is as good as the looks it's a very nice knife
June 13, 201610 yr Author The heat treat process was what caused a lot of angst with this challenge. People were doing a lot of interesting things to come up with usable steel with predictable properties. In the end I was running short on time and I had it on reasonable authority that the Stanley Wonder Bras Bars are 5160 so I treated it as such. It hacked through a 2x4 rather quickly with no noticeable loss of sharpness. EDIT: Ooops, I had to read this 3 times to find the type-o Thomas mentioned. I had to fix it in such a way as to not ruin his daydreams at work...
June 13, 201610 yr So a merger of Stanley Tool and Victoria's Secret did not occur? So Sad....not watching TV I miss out on a lot of daily trivia...
June 13, 201610 yr Author 1 hour ago, littleblacksmith said: ive never seen jeans in a hardware store..... Littleblacksmith I actually buy my jeans at the local farm store. Piasesy daughters off, but you can't beat $10 a pair. I did buy a new pair, and use an old one for the sheath though...
June 14, 201610 yr 2 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said: You arn't hanging out in the right store... I guess not. Littleblacksmith
June 14, 201610 yr I like the theme .... Can you still use the pockets in the denim? Would be a great place for a stone or something. Also ...how did you fit that allen wrench pin so tight? Doesnt look like any filler so did you file it to shape? As a side note .... I don't know how many of y'all are familiar with the absolute goddess Ellen Durkan .... but I believe some of her Wonder Bras might very well be 5160. She haunts my dreams.
June 14, 201610 yr Author Unfortunately, the pockets got sealed up because the fiberglass resin soaked into the denim. I used a 3/16" hex broach to form the hole for the pin.
June 14, 201610 yr That's super! For a "rat rod" it's quite sleek. Maybe like a Lamborghini "rat rod " We have a hardware locally that has just about everything imaginable. In their commercials and on a sign hanging in the front is the phrase "If we don't have it, you don't need it" 99% of the time I need something oddball, or need something to repurpose, I'll find it there. There's another in Ithica about an hour away that has anything ever manufactured as far as farm and hardware is concerned. Clothing too. Buildings full of stuff. Even some anvils. The guy who owns it is a real piece of work tho.
June 14, 201610 yr If your bowie doesn't win the challenge I want to see pics of the one that does. Identifiable repurposed materials always makes something more interesting to me. Fantastic work!
June 14, 201610 yr Author Thanks guys. The challenge isn't a competition, but rather everybody just agrees to try a certain challenge. In the end, you swap your knife with some other maker at random. It's all for fun and learning. My work is pretty amateurish compared to a lot of the other makers, and certainly won't be the "Best" knife in the lot. (whatever best means...)
June 14, 201610 yr rhitee, may I ask what group you are a part of ? I'm not up on the local knife makers. I have met a few down by Elnora tho....nice work. Dave
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