bowie knife for school project

[M.J.Lampert]

so got my grinds done today, quench and tempering is planned for tomorrow

 

[George N. M.]

M.J.:  I suggest that you should not be done with grinding quite yet.  You need to square up the area between the tang and the blade so that the guard will fit in against the blade snuggly.  Also, and this is a personal decision but I'd continue to grind the flats of the blade to get rid of the hammer marks.  I know some people like to leave them to show that it is "hand made" but that makes the blade look unfinished to me and that the maker was in too much of a hurry or didn't care enough to do that last bit of work.  Your call.

Good luck on the hardening and tempering.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Welshj]

I second George's statement. You could also chuck it in a vise, clamp it down to a bench, etc... and hand work that bevel line with a file to clean it up a little straighter if you wanted. Easier to do any minor adjustments like that- before hardening it.

[ThomasPowers]

Well you don't want a sharp corner as that would be a stress riser right at the weakest point.  But a much smaller gullet would work.   Bowie knives were sold by the barrel in the 19th century by the cutlers in Sheffield England and with a high level of fit and finish.  Some cruder "homemade" ones did get used in the US Civil War, (See the D guard bowies).  In general knives were finished out smooth as they work better and are easier to clean that way.

[JHCC]

I agree with the three previous comments. As I see it, one can either grind a knife completely smooth or leave it with a cleanly hammered surface all over (other than the edge, of course), because both of those show consistent finish and a reasonable level of skill. Leaving something half-ground, on the other hand, just looks like the smith didn't have the hammer control to get an evenly forged finish or the patience to get an evenly ground one.

[M.J.Lampert]

thanks for the pointers Georgerge, Welshj, ThomasPower, and JHCC. I cleaned up the blade some more there are still two or three little pits but it definitely looks much better now quenched and waiting for oven to heat up

[JHCC]

Heating up the oven in advance is generally a good idea: some steels will crack from the internal stresses if not tempered right away.

[M.J.Lampert]

was heated in advance but not enough advance in now for first cycle

[JHCC]

Gotcha. Good luck!

[M.J.Lampert]

so this was the knife yesterday evening before it got cleaned up on the handle and polished up handle is moose antler

[JHCC]

Definitely looks better. Looking forward to seeing the handle all done!

[ThomasPowers]

Remember the PPE while working antler!  Bone/Antler dust does NASTY stuff to your lungs!

[M.J.Lampert]

and today.

the pins are brass, guard is 1"x1/8th mild steel tacked to blade as said before blade is leaf spring quenched in canola oil. 90% of finishing done with an angle grinder, handle (the last 10%) was done with a milling machine and orbital sander

had a few small fitting problems but figure after having my first 3 blades crack/shatter before I got close to starting handles, i can easily accept those few minor imperfections

 

 

[JHCC]

That looks very nice indeed. Might want to round the long edges of the handle a bit more, just to be more comfortable to the hand.

[ThomasPowers]

Now you can scrimshaw it!

[M.J.Lampert]

sorry Thomas what does scrimshaw it mean

JHCC most likely will after a while but we'll see might like it so

[ThomasPowers]

May I commend to your attention the succinct description of scrimshaw posted in wikipedia.

[JHCC]

Scrimshaw is the art of scratching a design into bone, antler, or ivory and then rubbing ink into the scratches so that it stands out. Perhaps the best known examples are the ones made on sailing ships (especially whalers) by ordinary seamen as a way to pass the time and to have something to sell when they got to port. 

Scrimshaw was also done in England by prisoners of war who had fought for Napoleon, from the bones out of the communal soup kettles. 

[ThomasPowers]

Used a lot nowadays to decorate knife handles with the addition of using coloured inks---the fast road downhill like adding a second actor to a play.

[M.J.Lampert]

ok might not do as detailed as wikipedia shows but will definitly try on next antler handle knife

[ThomasPowers]

Start simple; perhaps your name or a motto, (researching the history of ballock daggers I came across one inscribed on the blade: "Eat Cheese or Die"...)

[JHCC]

Or a simple decorative pattern surrounding your initials. Nothing too fancy; that would be out of character with the rugged simplicity of the knife.

[George N. M.]

Thomas: I have heard that motto was one of the suggestions to replace the Wisconsin license plate motto of "America's Dairyland" being modeled after Vermont's motto of "Live free or die."

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Welshj]

Like jhcc recommended- id round those handles scales a little more, make it a much comfortable grip.

You could cheat if you have access to a sandblasting cabinet, or hand held blaster... make a mask for it, blast the artwork and then paint it. Call it... modernized scrimshaw.

[Frosty]

Wouldn't a modern scrimner use a tattoo gun? Keep an eye out for one, I'll bet a lot of tattooists are selling them cheap right now. 

Hmmmm, A little creative grinding on small tig tungstens might let a boy scrimshaw steel or better. Engraver maybe.

Frosty The Lucky.