Jclonts82 Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 So very new to forging, have messed around with cotton picker spindles and made a few simple, plain, knives. Tried my hand at forge welding/damascus and made some mothers day gifts for mine, and the wife (fleur de lis placard, and heart pendent necklace). I know I'm getting WAY ahead of myself, and its my first large knife, but I'm working on a beefy bowie-ish knife for Fathers day, 72 layered damascus. Still a WIP, but here are the pics I have so far. 1095 & 15n20. Hand hammered, hot cut folds. More pics to come as work progresses, I plan on doing a full tang-ish handle. Carve a channel out of a mesquite blank I made and fit the tang into the groove. However the tang won't go all the way through to the finger side. Reason being that the tang did not end up being thick enough to make it all the way without thinning it too much to support the weight of the blade (these details will grow with experience I guess?) Plus I can more easily contour wood to perfectly fit a hand than the metal. I'm not doing hidden tang, because I want every bit of the pattern to show up as possible. I might even do some decorative drill & Dremel work on the top of the tang to bring out more pattern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted June 6, 2017 Share Posted June 6, 2017 Looking good so far. What do you plan to use as an etchant? And what are the current dimensions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted June 7, 2017 Author Share Posted June 7, 2017 Most of the rough grinding done, almost exactly 6 inches of blade, 6 inches of tang, might trim that off a bit as I go along. I will just have to see what feels right. I meant it when I said BEEFY, the spine is at 0.32 in!! BUT I'm planning on doing a very high grind bevel. can see that projected line faintly on the profile pic. My trigonometry puts the long taper angle at roughly 14-15 degrees. The etch will most likely be back and forth between ferric chloride and about 18% of some kind of 'stabilized' HCL I found at my local ACE. Worked well on the Fleur De Lis and the heart I made with my first ever damascus billet. and abot 4th from the bottom post on this one Time lapse of the damascus etching on the wife's heart necklace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 6 inches of tang is pretty long, but it all depends on what you're going for. But WOW that thing is definitely beefy! No doubt there. That time lapse video was interesting as well. Thanks for sharing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted June 14, 2017 Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 After much toil and tribulation... I finished the beast. Unfortunately as the epoxy cured the handle cracked... oh well, I think it adds character. Also while 'attempting' to drill little teardrop patterns just for looks in the top of the tang the bit caught and either found an occlusion/delam, or made one and created a crack/pocket in the tang. seen on the 3rd mark down.not too deep, I didn't feel like welding/filling it so kept on going. After letting everything cure I vacuum impregnated the whole thing with boiled linseed oil. (submersed in oil and put under vacuum, -27 in Hg at 2800 feet elevation, for about 2 hours). It sucks the air out of the wood and as you release pressure, the oil is sucked/pressed in and takes the air's place. So the whole handle is penetrated all the way to the epoxy with oil. To set the oil I left it in the sun for a couple of afternoons. This last week it was ~ 104 in Arizona. Wipe off any weeped oil until it stops weeping out... consider it done at that point. BTW, handle is Mesquite, made from the log the knife is sitting on in the grass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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