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I Forge Iron

The Andaman Swipe


templehound

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I decided to make a film about a knife....that didn't work out, so I made a knife for a film and that turned out better.

The "plot" describes the philosophy of the mechanical advantages and properties of the construction and the knife, ... as there would be:

Heat treatment and geometry are more important than the alloy, the sense and purpose of real ferrules in hidden tang knives, the advantages of a laminated wooden handle,

the high performance, the handling, the balance, and last but not least the advantages of the sheath and its structure.

Capturing the atmosphere of the environment and making and performing own audio tracks was indispensable and vital.....

so, here is the film about this knife, it was an unbelievable amount of work, took me 1 1/2 years to make and ruined 2 1/2 cameras and my PC is drowning in a chaos of

files, folders, audio and video tracks and pieces....I even cannot remember what they are all about, but that's not important anymore.....

here it is,... 30 minutes of "spiritual" distraction....:blink:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCWHDekWt0o&t=4s

 


 

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I liked the video Templehound. It was great seeing the making and testing of that beautiful knife. I enjoyed seeing a little window into your surroundings you share with the critters as well. 

Thanks for taking the time to make and share it.  

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Thank you. Normally I wish people wouldn't post videos, that certainly does NOT apply to yours. That was one of the most pleasant and educational half hours I've spent in a long while. You even answered all my questions in the credits.

Again, thank you.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I'm blown away that it diced nails up, but wow it hurt to watch.  That blade surviving the torture is no surprise, and it held up amazingly. All the wood chopping and other stuff I would expect. I would never ask a knife to chop nails. Even if it could as this one does. :) 

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On 9/9/2021 at 10:21 AM, Daswulf said:

 Cutting nails with that thing. I really cringed. That is a test beyond normal use.  ......it hurt to watch.... I would never ask a knife to chop nails. Even if it could as this one does. 

 

On 9/9/2021 at 11:47 AM, Frosty said:

I'm with you Das, I almost couldn't watch and now he's torturing us with a pic of diced nails! 

 

Daswulf, Frosty: I cut nails 12 times and I felt some discomfort every cut, even I knew it was fool-proof:blink:.....normally I would not ask a blade to perform this either.

...even if I know the blade could take it....but I needed some "cringe" or  "excitement" for the video with a context

to the "geometry and HT are more important than the alloy"- subject.....Thanks for your contributions, Guys!

 

 

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You definately prove the blades strength. Funny how people want the wow factor with things now. Like testing to critical failure. I trust that you know what your blade can do. I'm glad it held up to expectations.  It certainly proves the expectations beyond, and that is a great selling point. I know people that could break a bowling ball, but they are usually cheapskates and would want it warranted due to their own misuse.  You certainly prove that false. 

 

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On 9/11/2021 at 1:58 PM, SlimW said:

you make it look easy. if only it actually was.

I mean, the grinding alone...beautiful work.

SlimW, Thanks for the nice comment!

Well, to be honest....I never felt that grinding a knife blade was or is easy...of course it depends....

the difference from a piece of crap to a good blade is space for plenty of results.

 

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Daswulf,

maybe You know this article already, but it is worth to post a link.....in the 1930's Frank Richtig did some performance that could not be matched until today.

It is fascinating how thin on the edge and how different hard his blades were...there must be some manual skills how accurate in angle and speed the blade is driven into a chunk!(not a nail!) of steel....he never gave up his secret until he died, ....imaging the bragging of modern knife producers if they could do the same performance...:D

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/07/08/frank-j-richtig/

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

Like the FIF tests. We will cut an Abrams tank in half, then split an atom with your blade.:D

I love watching FIF....very entertaining and "cringing"...:)...always fun watching and try to predict what will happen.

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On 9/12/2021 at 9:55 PM, templehound said:

It is fascinating how thin on the edge and how different hard his blades were...there must be some manual skills how accurate in angle and speed the blade is driven into a chunk!(not a nail!) of steel....he never gave up his secret until he died

I read an article about him a few years ago which contained less technical information, but more or less the same story.  What was interesting is one of the commenters on the article claimed to have been a child in the town where and when Richtig was making his knives.  According to this person one of the things Richtig did was tap each blade against something and listen to the resulting sound.  If he didn't like the sound he tossed it in the scrap pile, and if he did like it he would finish the knife.  Of course I have no way of knowing if any of that is true, but it is entirely possible that he did have quite inconsistent heat treating but also used sound to weed out those that would not perform well.

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I found the article and the comment.  Here's a portion of the comment:

"I can add a little to the Richtig story. As a young boy for a number of years during world war two he was in need of aluminum to make his knives. My dad had quite a few pistons from doing overhaul jobs on cars and tractors and when my Red Ryder wagon got full I would take them to Frank. Many times when I took them there he was tempering blades. In the process he took them off the forge and dipped the blade in a solution in a bucket, I don’t know what the solution was or how long he kept them in it, but after they cooled he would hit the blade on an anvil with one hand and with other he would hit a tuning fork. If the tone was the same the blade went into the good blade bucket, if not it went to the forge later."

And here's the article:

https://clarksonhistory.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/secrets-of-the-dead-the-richtig-knife/

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