Hello all,

I finally got someone to lend me some photographic expertise to get a
couple of pictures snapped of one of my pieces, so I figured I'd
share.

This is my third knife, and I think it turned out pretty sharp. The
blade and handle are made from one solid billet of 1095 steel, the
scales are Amboina burl, the hanger is bead-blasted 304 stainless, and
the base is black walnut.

Pictures are he

http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3apq1.gif

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3bha5.gif

http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3cbb5.gif

http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3dvh6.gif


The blade lifts off the stand for use, and sits as shown for display.
It was forged to rough shape, then the slot was milled in the center
of the blade, and then ground to final dimensions before
heat-treating. Final grinding was done freehand with a 4" angle
grinder with an 80 grit flap wheel. File work on the handle was done
freehand with a chainsaw file and a triangular file, as was the
pommel.

The scales are attached with two-ton epoxy using "epoxy rivets" (holes
through the steel allow epoxy to connect the two scales through the
blade, and slightly larger stopped holes in the scales allow the epoxy
to form a "head" on either side)

Topcoat on the scales is polished acyrilc conversion finish, and the
blade was polished through the grits up to white rouge. (The dull
spot on the blade in one of the pictures is a thumb print) Only the
cutting edge is hardened, to retain flexability as much as possible.
I got tired by the time I turned the walnut base, so it only has paste
wax as a finish.

The hanger was laser cut from 14 ga stainless steel, and bent to shape
with a vise and hand pressure.

My total time on the project was about 60 hours, but I'm pleased with
the results. I ended up giving it to my father for last Christmas, as
he's a bit of a knife buff- probably a bit extravagant, but he's
agreed that it will return to me someday, and not be given away or
sold to anyone. Anyhow, thought I'd share.

On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:42:28 -0500, Gerald Ross
wrote:

I'm having trouble visualizing what is knife and what is stand. Is the
curving pieces part of the stand?

The bead-blasted stainless that is curving around and looks a little
like antlers is the stand, as well as the turned walnut base. The
knife itself is the shinier steel in the center, and under the Amboina
burl. The knife rests in the gap between the "antlers" and is
suspended there, with a very shallow depression for the point to make
sure it doesn't wiggle around too much if bumped.

Probably should have had one taken of the blade alone, but I wasn't
the photographer.

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 10:42:35 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

I am thinking of making another knife, this time a folder from one of
the really nice kits that are out on the market today. The quality of
the the steels, the milled pieces, the predrilling of the liners etc.,
make it hard to go wrong. After contacting the manufacturers of the
one I am looking at towards purchase, they told me that MANY knife
makers use their kits to make their custom knifes. They regrind the
blades a bit, detail and reshape the scales on the handles and call it
their own - they are that good.

That's not a terrible idea, particularly for the folders. There have
been many monents when I wish I just had a CNC mill in my basement for
some of this stuff, but you make do with what you've got!

So on your knife, did you grind out the billet and drill/file/grind
the void in the blade, or did you heat treat and start from there?

I started with an annealed bar of 1095, forged it thin where the blade
and the scales were going to be, normalized it a few times and then
allowed to air cool without quenching, then put it on a knee mill and
cleaned up the forged areas a bit and milled the slot. The trick was
just to leave enough of the blank unmolested so that it could be
clamped properly. After that, most of the rest was done with angle
grinders- a 7" grinder with 40 grit fiber discs for the real hogging,
and a 4.5" grinder with 80 and 120 grit flap wheels for finer shaping.
Final touches, before hand sanding, were done with a die grinder and
2" sanding discs, with a quick "polish" with a unitizing wheel.

The heat treating was done after the blade was almost entirely
complete- after the blade had been sanded to about 320 grit, and right
before adding the scales. There were two reasons for that- the first
was that it's a lot easier to wipe off the black crud from the forge
when tempering to see the colors on the blade, and the second was so
that there was little material removal left to do after the quench and
temper, and therefore less chance of me overheating the edge and
drawing too much of the hardness when shining it up. Getting the
edges close to final thickness also allows for differential heat
treatment, as the edge will get up to temperature much more quickly
than the thicker spine.

Inquiring minds, you know.

Robert

Hi Jesse, Fine piece of work. Who says, "Machinists can't be artists?"

Your knife is very nostalgic for me. In the hippy days of the early
sixties my daughter upset and embarrassed me by what I considered at the
time, a waste of a good education by doing skimshaw on the streets of
Providence and San Francisco. I'm very proud of her now and the knives
and belt buckles she made then. "Time Marches on" ...and attitudes
change. That's a very good thing.

Congratulations on your innovative work and thanks for sharing it with
us.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Prometheus wrote:
Hello all,

I finally got someone to lend me some photographic expertise to get a
couple of pictures snapped of one of my pieces, so I figured I'd
share.

This is my third knife, and I think it turned out pretty sharp. The
blade and handle are made from one solid billet of 1095 steel, the
scales are Amboina burl, the hanger is bead-blasted 304 stainless, and
the base is black walnut.

Pictures are he

http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3apq1.gif

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3bha5.gif

http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3cbb5.gif

http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3dvh6.gif


The blade lifts off the stand for use, and sits as shown for display.
It was forged to rough shape, then the slot was milled in the center
of the blade, and then ground to final dimensions before
heat-treating. Final grinding was done freehand with a 4" angle
grinder with an 80 grit flap wheel. File work on the handle was done
freehand with a chainsaw file and a triangular file, as was the
pommel.

The scales are attached with two-ton epoxy using "epoxy rivets" (holes
through the steel allow epoxy to connect the two scales through the
blade, and slightly larger stopped holes in the scales allow the epoxy
to form a "head" on either side)

Topcoat on the scales is polished acyrilc conversion finish, and the
blade was polished through the grits up to white rouge. (The dull
spot on the blade in one of the pictures is a thumb print) Only the
cutting edge is hardened, to retain flexability as much as possible.
I got tired by the time I turned the walnut base, so it only has paste
wax as a finish.

The hanger was laser cut from 14 ga stainless steel, and bent to shape
with a vise and hand pressure.

My total time on the project was about 60 hours, but I'm pleased with
the results. I ended up giving it to my father for last Christmas, as
he's a bit of a knife buff- probably a bit extravagant, but he's
agreed that it will return to me someday, and not be given away or
sold to anyone. Anyhow, thought I'd share.

I'm having trouble visualizing what is knife and what is stand. Is the
curving pieces part of the stand?

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

I Have To Stop Now, My Fingers Are
Getting Hoarse!

Nice work Fireman!

For a third effort, that looks absolutely great. Probably better than
a lot knifemakers no matter how many tries.

Years ago, I made several knives, and by comparison to yours, they
were.... let's just say "utility" knives. They were knives I
patiently ground from treated/hardened blanks since I had no way to
heat treat them reliably if I annealed the metal first. I made three,
and quit. Two survive today, a kitchen knife, and a heavy bladed
carbon steel camp knife.

Since I ground my blades for hours and hours, it became apparent to me
that I could invest in a good quality knife and come out waaayy ahead
for me. But I really like to the whole knife making tradition and the
craftsmanship involved. (By the way, I really like the file work on
the tang - it looks great!)

I am thinking of making another knife, this time a folder from one of
the really nice kits that are out on the market today. The quality of
the the steels, the milled pieces, the predrilling of the liners etc.,
make it hard to go wrong. After contacting the manufacturers of the
one I am looking at towards purchase, they told me that MANY knife
makers use their kits to make their custom knifes. They regrind the
blades a bit, detail and reshape the scales on the handles and call it
their own - they are that good.

So on your knife, did you grind out the billet and drill/file/grind
the void in the blade, or did you heat treat and start from there?

Inquiring minds, you know.

Robert

Gerald Ross wrote:
Prometheus wrote:
Hello all,

I finally got someone to lend me some photographic expertise to get a
couple of pictures snapped of one of my pieces, so I figured I'd
share.

This is my third knife, and I think it turned out pretty sharp. The
blade and handle are made from one solid billet of 1095 steel, the
scales are Amboina burl, the hanger is bead-blasted 304 stainless, and
the base is black walnut.

Pictures are he

http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3apq1.gif

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3bha5.gif

http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3cbb5.gif

http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blade3dvh6.gif


The blade lifts off the stand for use, and sits as shown for display.
It was forged to rough shape, then the slot was milled in the center
of the blade, and then ground to final dimensions before
heat-treating. Final grinding was done freehand with a 4" angle
grinder with an 80 grit flap wheel. File work on the handle was done
freehand with a chainsaw file and a triangular file, as was the
pommel.

The scales are attached with two-ton epoxy using "epoxy rivets" (holes
through the steel allow epoxy to connect the two scales through the
blade, and slightly larger stopped holes in the scales allow the epoxy
to form a "head" on either side)

Topcoat on the scales is polished acyrilc conversion finish, and the
blade was polished through the grits up to white rouge. (The dull
spot on the blade in one of the pictures is a thumb print) Only the
cutting edge is hardened, to retain flexability as much as possible.
I got tired by the time I turned the walnut base, so it only has paste
wax as a finish.

The hanger was laser cut from 14 ga stainless steel, and bent to shape
with a vise and hand pressure.

My total time on the project was about 60 hours, but I'm pleased with
the results. I ended up giving it to my father for last Christmas, as
he's a bit of a knife buff- probably a bit extravagant, but he's
agreed that it will return to me someday, and not be given away or
sold to anyone. Anyhow, thought I'd share.

I'm having trouble visualizing what is knife and what is stand. Is the
curving pieces part of the stand?

Forgot to say--it's gorgeous. My only foray into knife making started
with a HSS planer blade. Put a wraparound handle on it. Comes in handy
at hog butchering time.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

I Have To Stop Now, My Fingers Are
Getting Hoarse!

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 07:45:30 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

On Mar 3, 3:33 am, Prometheus wrote:

SNIP

Just about any project made of wood I can blast through since that is
what I do for a living.

But reading the details of the knife project, I honestly think it
would have taken me six months of steady project time to do. I am not
discounting the fact either that mine would not have looked anywhere
nearly as nice as yours.

Well, that's all just a matter of practice, of course- ten years ago
or more, I would have been in much the same situation, but time and
elbow grease have a way of making things quicker and easier.

I will agree that blacksmithing is a whole lot more complicated than
it first seemed to me as well- I figured it was just hitting hot metal
with a hammer, but I discovered pretty quickly that there's a whole
lot more to it.

when tempering to see the colors on the blade, and the second was so
that there was little material removal left to do after the quench and
temper, and therefore less chance of me overheating the edge and
drawing too much of the hardness when shining it up.

Getting the
edges close to final thickness also allows for differential heat
treatment, as the edge will get up to temperature much more quickly
than the thicker spine.

So are you treating with a torch from the center of the blade watching
the colors move, or are you using another heat source?

When hardening, I use the forge, which in my case is a big steel tube
with fire swirling around the interior instead of the more traditional
pile of coal, and the edges get to quenching temperature more quickly
than the thicker spine- then, when it gets quenched, only the edge is
actually hardened. The handle is left unhardened, of course.

But you've got it dead to rights when it comes to the tempering- the
center heats first, and you watch the colors run out to the edges.
When the edge reaches a "dull straw" color (just the color, not
glowing at all), it goes back in the quench tank. Some other guys do
this in an oven, but the first one I tried that on cracked on me
because it wasn't enough to temper it properly, so I just use the
torch now.

Thanks for taking the time to type out the details. Metal working is
fascinating stuff.

No problem- since metal working is what I do for a living, it's kind
of like you and wood. And, I like to share some of this stuff- it
seems like a real shame to me that so much of our culture is moving
away from things like this, and towards a "throw it out and just buy a
new one" mentality.

Of course, the blacksmithing is just a hobby- my real day-to-day work
is all done by computer controled machines, and I'm basically just a
glorified draftsman and parts loader.

On Mar 3, 3:33 am, Prometheus wrote:

SNIP

Just about any project made of wood I can blast through since that is
what I do for a living.

But reading the details of the knife project, I honestly think it
would have taken me six months of steady project time to do. I am not
discounting the fact either that mine would not have looked anywhere
nearly as nice as yours.

when tempering to see the colors on the blade, and the second was so
that there was little material removal left to do after the quench and
temper, and therefore less chance of me overheating the edge and
drawing too much of the hardness when shining it up.

Getting the
edges close to final thickness also allows for differential heat
treatment, as the edge will get up to temperature much more quickly
than the thicker spine.

So are you treating with a torch from the center of the blade watching
the colors move, or are you using another heat source?

Thanks for taking the time to type out the details. Metal working is
fascinating stuff.

Robert



Inquiring minds, you know.

Robert