Stormcrow Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Some mid-sized blades finished up a while back. All are 80CrV2 steel. First up is a small meat cleaver commissioned by a customer. He liked the looks of a cord-wrapped cleaver I had forged for the Blade Show and wanted one with a TeroTuf handle. I liked the results well enough I traced it out to have a reference if I do future versions. It's about a 7" blade. cleaver01 by James Helm, on Flickr cleaver02 by James Helm, on Flickr It was picked up at the Usual Suspects Network Gathering knife show, and I didn't get a chance to get good pics before traveling, but here are a couple of interesting shots of it. The first is during thermal cycling, after forging and before stock removal. cleaver03 by James Helm, on Flickr And a picture from the customer himself, just prior to cutting up these ribs. According to him, the cleaver "went through them like they weren't there". ribs by James Helm, on Flickr And speaking of cutting up critter parts, another customer had this pic of his drop point processing out rabbit along with an ESEE. rabbit by James Helm, on Flickr This bush dha was another casualty of having to get everything ready for the show. These are the only pictures I managed to get. It was originally intended to be a different blade shape, more of a bolo, but sometimes you have to work with the steel rather than boss it around. It's about a 12" blade with a handle of hemp under paracord. dha02 by James Helm, on Flickr I did get an awesome shot of it with the infamous Ed Calderon, the Taco Ninja. Got an interesting upcoming project with Ed. dha01 by James Helm, on Flickr And this 12"-bladed Persian fighter was originally planned to be on my table at the Blade Show, but ended up missing out because I was running out of time. It went to the Gathering with me and came back where it was claimed once I posted it on Instagram. The blade is about 12", and the top edge is unsharpened. I'd consider this to be about as close to doing a fantasy piece as I do. persian01 by James Helm, on Flickr persian02 by James Helm, on Flickr The customer requested a mild steel trainer to be predominantly used on his BOB training dummy. That was a first to me, but I agreed. I used 3/16" mild steel and trimmed out the shape on a bandsaw before cleaning up on my belt grinder. The handles of both are hemp under paracord, and it took three tries to get the wrap to feel almost the same as the original. Then I worked on getting the balance the same as the original. persian02 by James Helm, on Flickr The result was a trainer that's a bit lighter than the original, but due to having the same balance it feels very close to the same. persian01 by James Helm, on Flickr persian03 by James Helm, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
templehound Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 My pleasure to be the first to write a comment The combination of clean, static Kydex and Brute de forge blades make Your knives look like wild animals in modern cages, especially those with Asian influence. Cheers and my whole mutual respect, bro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyuv Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 me liky! How to you produce that semi-rough surface finish? It's not exactly hammered, and it looks more "uniform" than I usualy get just from scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 I assume the holes were step drilled starting small and then getting bigger till "just right" non the balance and weight? I hope you charged enough to cover the time spent "adjusting" it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormcrow Posted October 26, 2017 Author Share Posted October 26, 2017 Thanks, guys! Templehound - One of the terms I use to describe my style is "primal/tactical". Lyuv - The texture is just me hammering the steel to shape. I soak in vinegar overnight to eat the scale off after I normalize, do my stock removal, heat treat, and then sand off the quench oil. The vinegar doesn't do anything to the texture; that's just my hand hammer and the natural texture left by the scale. Thomas - They were all drilled with the same drill bit, starting near the tip where the leverage would make the most difference, then moving back toward the handle. After I was getting close to the POB, I went back and enlarged three of the holes to 3/4". They all got countersunk. It was a bit surprising how much steel I had to remove to shift the balance back. The difference between a blade with multiple compound tapers and a flat bar cut to the same profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Levers are like that... And yes that's one way to tell a machinist knife from a blacksmith knife---the blacksmith knife pretty much tapers every which way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Frisse Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 That Persian hunter is SEXY, man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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