Jclonts82 Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Made a skinner. Its a little heavy. Steel was forged from a slice of a 2 1/4” round drop I bought a little while ago. Pay attention to the direction of your touchmark... so its not upside down... DOH!! If I’m honest, I had to forge REALLY thick, to a rough shape, then anneal, then A LOT of stock removal. I’m not patient/skilled enough to keep it in that narrow of a forging temperature range. Red shorted, or plain cooked 2 pucks I cut off trying to forge closer to finished shape. Proximal and distal taper. 7/32“ thick in the middle point. Final cutting bevel is about 20-21 degrees. SS foil wrap w/ some charcoal dust for O2 consumption. Heat to 1850F and held at temp for 30 minutes. Aluminum plate quench w/forced air. Straight into a semi-controlled temp/rate drop for a liquid nitrogen soak for 40 hrs. No snap temper on this one. here it sits above a pool of liquid nitrogen until it drops below about -100F then immersed the spine. Once blade equalized, dip right into the dewar for 40 hrs. Extra holes in tang an effort to reduce weight a few grams. Double temper at 450 for 1 hour each run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 What's the handle slabs and are they "bedded"? I like a light skinner personally; but I don't skin any large game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 Handle is linen micarta. Not sure what ‘bedded’ means in this context. I did put a few thousandths concave on the scales, then roughed up the tang with a carbide burr before epoxy. Skinner is for an avid elk hunter, who likes em big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Its the epoxy; wanted to be sure no crud could seep in and build up in the hidden holes. Have you thought of sandblasting the scales to make them less slippery when covered with skinning crud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 I actually was about ready to sand blast, I had read about that for a matte finish for grip, but decided not to for fear of not properly covering the blade portion and having some blow through. That and my cheap-o harbor freight gravity fed blaster is a little hit or miss on consistency. That was after I originally sanded the handle to a 400 grit finish, but it was too smooth, so instead I selectively went back and hit the more griping parts with a light 120 grit for a little more texture. I scored a heavy line 1/8" from the edge of scales and ran a small bead of epoxy there after the regular paint-up of the whole tang. purpose being to squeeze out when clamped to make sure there are no gaps to let fluids of any kind get between scales and tang; should be sealed really tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Sounds like you know the drill, Is the sheath kydex for washability? I used to skin and taw furs about a generation ago and "messy" is a tremendous understatement! I'm always amazed by the number of professional knifemakers that have made swords with slick handles---definitely wall hangers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 Kydex for cleanup, also since its not stainless, high chance of leather discoloring the blade. Though, leather can affect stainless as well, if stored in the skeath for long periods of time. Liners in the sheath can help, but not always 100%. Plus Kydex takes me a whole 10 minutes to make a sheath... and I don’t get as much time to put into this craft as Id like. So time is my premium. I WAS going to use a checkering file and put some ridges in the spine from where the handle meets blade and extend to where a forefinger might rest, but since I was not doing a snap temper, I was worried about those being stress risers during the stress/shrinkage of cryo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 You might think of using the screws/nuts they make for belts so your sheath can be opened up slightly for a thorough cleaning. Lacing with replaceable paracord can also be used. I made a set of adjustable gambrel hooks for a hunter friend in my Church---paid in bison and elk! Anyway I forged them from stainless so he could just rinse them off and then run them through the dishwasher, Many folks don't realize that stain*less* means exactly that. Not never stain! (And D2 will discolour with use; but it's a great steel anyway. Giving them a diamond hone for sharpening in the field?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 He has a set, they go with an adjustable sharpening system. I suggested he bring the top 2 grits with him. I’m hoping his hunt is successful, because I can trust him to give me a fair unbiased opinion on how my heat treat holds up. Ive heard from some that their D2 skinner handeled 2-3 elk before needing a touch up. No bones/joints though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted December 30, 2018 Author Share Posted December 30, 2018 *Update: This knife has skinned and boned one 6x6 elk, and this weekend a mule deer and he reported to me today that it still shaves! Its nice to have feedback on something you make. Positive feedback is nice, but negative lets you improve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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