SpudFiles

inonickname wrote:Any input on style/design?

Came across this recently: http://www.winklerknives.com/knives.asp?id=188



Looks like it would be more useful than a simple knife...

Well, if i were you, i would get a piece of quality steel (1% C, silversteel, 0.8%C steel, ballbearing steel etc.) and do 6" long and 1/4" thick tanto blade, with 1" long bronze bolster, ironwood handle and steel butt cap. Tang could be 10mm wide and 5mm thick, to be very strong.

For shieth i would do a GOOD fitting piece of wood, oval shape and not much longer than the blade, coat it with epoxy resin and case it whit stainless steel.

That would be strong combo, simple tanto blade is great for cutting, slicing, stabbing etc.

Just my idea though

And JSR, i believe he does quality work, but... There's only 2 kind of blades that i trust, the ones made by myself, and the ones made by my master, my teacher, who i respect more than my own parents. But hey, that's just me

I want to do a full tang so that in the unlikely situation the handle is completely smashed to pieces, I basically still have a handle, albeit less ergonomic.

Agreed with Jake here, I may not make the prettiest or most perfected knives, but I know that what I build is dependable and I can rely on it.

JSR, that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

I'm just torn as to whether to go with a tougher tool like the one JSR posted, or a slightly more elegant tanto style like Jake suggests. Jay Fisher does his pararescue knives in a tanto design and they're well and truly battle proven. Not to mention that in situations where an axe/tomahawk design would be most useful there's also likely to be the fire brigade there with the jaws of life/axes. So I'm leaning towards a knife

Also, I don't get this. I order a handful of belts for my grinder and pay at the same time. They send me an invoice (marked as paid) but somehow can't manage to send the belts at the same time? Looks like I'm waiting until monday

Ino, just curious, what Belt grinder do you have?

Mr.Sandman wrote:Ino, just curious, what Belt grinder do you have?

I just use a 4x32 Sherline belt sander. I do most of the heavy work with an angle grinder then start with 40 grit belts on the sander.

Ha, i do the heavy working whit forge, sanding is just cleaning

jakethebeast wrote:Ha, i do the heavy working whit forge, sanding is just cleaning

Good point, though I still have a lot of learning to do with the forge

Well of course i have dents etc. I need to sand from my blades, but as you learn, sanding will take lesser and lesser time

Decided to make a quicky damascus letter opener this morning. Chain damascus. Forged it then rough ground the blade and etched in hot sulphuric (can't recommend it to everyone )

Forged with bevels marked:


Bevels ground and etched:


I need to go over the bevels again when my belts get here (there are a few scratches)- I just wanted to see the pattern. I think I will also grind the sides- just enough to get some smooth flats without completely removing the divots

How am I doing for a noob forger Jake?

Interesting!

Had to look up this "chain damascus", some people seem to be getting quite good results: http://www.radharcknives.com/Processes.htm

It can have good results, but is a little tricky because you need to stop scale forming before you weld it... So every link, pin, blade etc. needs to have the absolute shit fluxed out of it. Cable is probably easier but I didn't have any suitable

Hmm, looks like it hasnt welded properly from some places, next time more heat and hammer!

jakethebeast wrote:Hmm, looks like it hasnt welded properly from some places, next time more heat and hammer!

Well spotted, there was a weak spot or two that I picked up on and rescued. There's always a learning curve with these things

I think I need to do some changes to my forge to get it hotter.. it simply doesn't get to weld heat easily. Plus I need to get some borax- for this I used kerosene which burns and deposits a layer of carbon on the blade, making a reducing atmosphere to reduce scale. Asides from the spots you can se it worked well (I think the incomplete spots are more a function of low heat)

I have some 15N20 and 1% carbonsteel. Expensive materials, so i want to be sure to get the forge hot enough before testing

Can i get a pic of your burner?

Thought I'd kick this up and mention that I got a nice new Pekka Tuominen knife blade along with a few by Yuro Puronvarsi and some nice alder root, curly birch, linseed oil, brass stock and some other stuff. Gonna make my own handles