What's your latest blade look like? Post em and let us see.

[Buzzkill]

Thanks guys.  My wife does absolutely no hunting.  She does buy a fair amount of my scales though, and she is my consultant usually when choosing which scales to put on a blade.  She just really likes the pattern - and the scales she chose. 

The twists weren't quite as uniform as I would have liked between the 3 bars, but overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome.  There is an awful lot of "wasted" steel (for me anyway) to get that pattern.  Since I don't use flux, every mating surface has to be as close to perfectly flat and clean as I can get it with my equipment each time I forge weld.

The transition from the guard to the blade part of the spine is actually a smooth transition.  It must be a lighting issue or something.  I see the same thing you see in the picture, but in reality there is no abrupt change at the guard.

I built a grinding jig that I've used on my last couple simple knives.  For me it decreases the time spent standing in front of the grinder quite a bit. I'd rather be heating and beating and I've done quite a few blades with freehand grinding, so for me it's the option that allows me to maximize the time doing the parts I like and minimize the time on the more tedious work.

Here's a pic from a different angle.  You can see that the spine has no abrupt change.

 

[Latticino]

Looks even better from that angle.  Nice work.  Is the guard slip on from the blade edge side and pinned in place?  The fitup looks very clean.

[Buzzkill]

Thanks again. The guard is slotted.  I file these guards until I can barely get them to start to fit and then I hammer them into place. There are no pins, but I do use a low temperature solder(a little over 400 degrees F melting point) to secure them in place. I heat from the tang side of the guard to reduce the chance of ruining the temper. Between that and the epoxy on the scales, the guard isn't going anywhere without some unreasonable abuse.

[Frosty]

I disagree about the twist, the little bit of variation sets it off nicely, it gives the viewer reason to examine it more closely.

No hunting?!? You do all the shopping then? I'll bet if she wore in on Sale days grabby shoppers would give her wide berth and she'd never have to draw it. 

I keep seeing a petite little lady being confronted by a punk with a switchblade on the street, drawing her strikingly beautiful BIG KNIFE and quoting Crocodile Dundee with an anticipatory smile.  

This is a good camera angle to include when showing knife pics. Your lighting is excellent!

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

There is an old SF con tale that predates CD by a decade or two where the line goes "I'll see your six and raise you thirty!"  (Involving a sword of course.)

Now has she started keeping it under her pillow at night and do you wear a chainmail cravat to bed?????  I once spotted a nicely done hand sewn sheath on the table of "blades of little distinction" at a fleamarket.  Peaking my interest I checked out the blade in the sheath and it was definitely a custom made pattern welded blade with decent hilting and priced WAY TOO LOW!    So I bought it and next time I was home I asked my wife who we should gift it too...Luckily I have a chain mail tie already...

[Buzzkill]

She does almost all of the shopping, but I think that falls into the "gathering" category more than "hunting."

As far as I know she has never taken any of my knives with her, but at home the phrase "That's not a knife ...... that's a knife" has been uttered a few times.

The first one she wanted was a dagger, and since a dagger is pretty much the "assault knife" of the cutlery world I wasn't too sure what to think.  She does keep that one on the stand next to the bed.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should invest in some chainmail.  On the other hand she's had it for a few years now and I'm still waking up in the mornings.  She wouldn't be lulling me into a false sense of security now would she?

[George N. M.]

Buzzkill, The fact she keeps a dagger beside the bed indicates that she would be willing to use it if she had to.  This is a good thing.

In the late '70s my late wife, Martha, and I were working as geologists in Riverton, WY.  We were not living together and one night a guy broke into her apartment and assaulted her.  She broke away and he broke a hand mirror over her head causing considerable bleeding.  She had a couple of guns in the house but I had given her a reproduction medieval broadsword because of our mutual interest in medieval history.  All she could think of was that she had to get to her sword.  She got to it, drew it from its scabbard with a "shring" and with blood pouring down her face went for the guy with 3 feet of Toledo steel in her hand.  He left through the kitchen window without bothering to open it first.

At the time she was about 25 and a small woman.

The cops caught him soon after.

I was treating her carefully becuse I thought she might have PTSD but saw no signs of it.  I realized that she won and he was the one to be traumatized.

The sword leaned in the corner of her and our bedroom for the rest of her life.  And I knew which side my bread was buttered on.

Her tae kwon do master used the story as an example of ideal "indomitable will."

Some folk when confronted with a situation like this panic, some freeze, Martha, and I suspect, your wife, go berserker.

So, love her for her strength of character and her willingness to be prepared for a tough situation.

George  

[ThomasPowers]

I hope my incident a couple of decades ago where I came screaming down the stairs in the middle of the night, stark naked, holding a spear to repel a home invasion, (Worked!),  has been a good example of how crazy can work in such situations.   Or as Dorthey Sayers once put it "A bullet can go almost anywhere; but steel is bound to end up somewhere."

[Chad J.]

Buzzkill, where did you get that handle material from?  I love it!

[Steve Sells]

Looks like Diamondwood aka Pakawood

[Buzzkill]

On 11/21/2022 at 9:02 AM, Chad J. said:

where did you get that handle material from?

I believe Steve is correct about what that material is called.  My wife buys a lot of my scales, and she said she got those through Amazon and the brand name/seller is xxxxxxx.

[Chad J.]

Thanks guys. 

[Hefty]

My first in quite a while and it's been a while in the making. Earlier this year my head of department gave me two springs from his 80 series Landcruiser so I started making this knife, from some of said steel, as a thank you for him. This coming week is our last week of the school year and I only just finished the final hand sanding! My brother made the sheath for me two weeks ago.

My first integral bolster (well, sort of. It ended up quite slender), 4-inch blade, copper liners, Tasmanian Oak scales and a cyanoacrylate (super glue) finish.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Jono.

 

[Max1775]

Not much of a poster, more of a lurker but I appreciate all the info here and wanted to say thanks. Working on my second knife. Made one out of a RR spike a long time ago, but wanted to practice creating something with a real handle. I started with the stock coil spring out of my truck. Not sure what the steel is, but it hardens in water (didn’t harden with air or oil quench). Been educational so far. Looking forward to seeing how this comes out. Not good at taking pics throughout the process but this is one after a rough grind and after an oil quench.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Looks pretty good for a first. Most coil springs are made from 5160 steel.

[Jimw3326]

Second try at damascus. Ladder pattern.

[Rojo Pedro]

Nice work everyone.

I have tried several coils springs  and find them hit or miss when it comes to my crude heat treating methods.

This one is from a spring that I know will get very hard in oil. 1-1/2” blade, 6” total length, unknown handle wood from my wood working brother. 

[White Fox Forge]

I made a edc/hunting knife for my buddy. Not its intended purpose for him. Just something for him to carry around. It is made from 8670 steel, has a brass guard, leather, deer antler and dyed oak handle. Got it HT to. Around 59 Rc as far as I can tell.

 

The other is a skinning knife I made for myself. It is also out of 8670 and has a wrought iron guard, leather, cocobolo and elk antler handle.

Cheers!

Emery White

[Simian]

I'm still a noob at this, so be gentle

ball bearings (turned out they were plain carbon steel, not 52100) & 1095 powder = my first canister. Bubinga & brass

[White Fox Forge]

Woah! That looks awesome! I like the design. It looks nice.

White Fox Forge

[Latticino]

21 hours ago, Simian said:

they were plain carbon steel

How did you determine the bearings weren't 52100?  Even if they are a "plain" carbon steel hopefully they have enough carbon to properly harden to make a quality blade.  I suspect even 52100 will experience some carbon migration, and even loss, being forge welded in a  canister due to the time at elevated temperature required.

That is a very nice drop point hunter design with what appears from the photo to be a nice grind and fitup.  You even included a pin and bolster.  I think you did a great job. 

[Simian]

Oh, make no mistake, the blade heat treated & tempered very well  It's taken a lovely sharp edge, and certainly isn't soft. I assumed all bearings were 52100, but they etched darker than the 1095 (I assumed the chrome in the 52100 would resist etch?)... The company that makes the bearings make them here in the UK (they're Bicycle bearings), and when I checked up they're an unspecified carbon steel. 

Thanks for the kind words, I need to practice my bevels, and 'Forge thick grind thin'... this blade is much thinner than I'd have liked (2.25mm/around 3/32in). Always learning!

Edited January 7, 2023 by Mod30
Excessive quoting

[M.J.Lampert]

no matter what you made a fine knife and learned lots for the next one

[Randy Griffin]

[gmbobnick]

I really like it Randy.  Nice clean lines.  All around beautiful work