Wilderness & Survival Skills Extreme Build Off

[Brian Sargent]

The pommel is awesome!

So it will be wrapped to the finger choil?

[Aldo Bruno]

Hey Rick!, Is that the L-6 you want more of? You'll have to build me one.

[Brian Sargent]

Damn Rick, you're drivin' the price of steel up ...

[Rick Marchand]

Hey Rick!, Is that the L-6 you want more of? You'll have to build me one.

Aldo... If I place in the top 3, the blade is yours! However, I can't guaranty the condition of it, afterwards.

[Rick Marchand]

Frankly, this is the one challenge I am afraid of. New steel, new design and I am filled with insecurity. But I guess that is what the "challenge" is all about.

This puppy is coming with a set of instructions!

[Brian Sargent]

I wouldn't worry. I'm so skilled that I can make any knife perform.

[Joe Calton]

Along with instructions, i should send a bottle of asprin with mine, for the tester of all these is going to need it the next day!

Mine is almost ready for HT!!!

[Aldo Bruno]

L-6 FOR SALE!! Get your L-6 HERE!

[TheGame]

Frankly, this is the one challenge I am afraid of. New steel, new design and I am filled with insecurity. But I guess that is what the "challenge" is all about.

This puppy is coming with a set of instructions!

You? Nervous? Should I find a new set of people to root for now?

[james terrio]

How did I miss this? Way too busy to get one done in time, but I'll be watching for the next round. Lots of cool ideas here!

[Rick Marchand]

How did I miss this? Way too busy to get one done in time, but I'll be watching for the next round. Lots of cool ideas here!

That's okay, James... it's a bit out of your league anyway.










... and the seed is planted.... moo-ah-ha-ha...

[james terrio]

That's okay, James... it's a bit out of your league anyway.... and the seed is planted.... moo-ah-ha-ha...

Ouch! That sounds almost like a.... dare I say it... a dare!!

[Rick Marchand]

Oh, you can say it, my friend.

[Big Chris]

Alright, got mine finished today, all sharpened and ready to do battle.
Here is a pic from the photo shoot yesterday:


I named it GroB which is a German word meaning thick, massive, unruly, and unrefined.

Don't have much around here worth chopping on so going to take it out to my parents and do some chopping in the woods.
I love this knife. Will post some pics Monday after the tryouts.

[Storm Crow]

I gave the Challenge knife my typical triple normalizing, triple hardening, triple tempering heat treatment that I use on 5160. Given the nature of some of the proposed tasks, I decided to hedge my bets and selectively temper the spine to a tougher spring temper.

To do this I used a trick I learned from Tim Lively: tempering tongs. I have a pair of tongs with 1" square bar welded to the jaws. I heat the jaws up, then use them as a heat reservoir as I pinch the spine of the blade and temper down the length of the blade, drawing the spine to a blue color and the edge to a straw. This method is how I heat treated all of my big blades before getting a kiln large enough to fit them in. Some folks do the same with a torch, but I find that the slower speed gives me more control, as well as letting the heat soak into the core of the blade and not just temper the outside.



I keep a soaking wet rag (one of my old gray T-shirts) handy to control the edge from getting too hot.

I'm getting a haircut tomorrow so I don't scare folks away from my table at the Blade Show next week!



I work my way from the base of the blade to the tip. The jaws have to be pretty hot for this to be effective, and I had to reheat the tongs three times. It takes longest at the base of the blade because you are bringing cold steel up to above 400 degrees. After that it goes relatively quickly.





I drew the very tip back to blue to make sure it didn't snap off under stress. Before that, I held the blade up and dropped it on the cement floor point-first. No damage to the tip.



At this point it's ready to sand down, wrap the handle, seal the cord, and sharpen.

[Rick Marchand]

Looking good, James. I enjoy hearing other maker's processes. Do you overlap the normalizing/hardening cycles at all, or keep them completely separate?

[Storm Crow]

Thanks, Rick!

Nope, just finish all of my forging, normalize three times, do my stock removal, harden three times, and then temper three times. Boneheadedly simple, but I've seen some pretty amazing stories from my customers about what they've done with my blades with that heat treatment and how it's held an edge. Don't know how it would stack up against a propely heat treated super steel, but for general working knives it seems to do right nicely.

I'm going to get so thirsty at Blade with no one to buy me chocolate milk...

[Rick Marchand]

I've seen video of your blades at work... there is no need to defend your HT method, brother! Super steels are cool but if Odin/God/Hephaestus himself descended from the sky and placed the ultimate bar of knife steel in your hands, it will only ever be as good as your HT.

I'm going to get so thirsty at Blade with no one to buy me chocolate milk...

I'll speak with Luke and see if I can arrange something for you.

[Bruce Culberson]

Well a drew up a design, then forged it out. Now it is ready for heat treat. Due to having to get this knife done quick, it is going to be very basic. I've decided to call it the Z.F.U.X. (Zero Frills Urban eXtreme).







Steel is 5160. The blade ended up a little longer at 10 1/4". There is a forward lanyard hole that will be in front of the scales. And lastly there will be an exposed tang for pounding on stuff.

[TheGame]

Great looking blade, Bruce. Can't wait to see how it, along with the others perform.