RyanW Turner SanMai Chopper WIP

[RyanW]

RyanW / Mike Turner SanMai Chopper WIP (Virtual BBQ Addition)

I started a “Camp Chopper” thread a while ago HERE. RogerP pointed out it was more of a “Tweener”. With input from some great people I worked out a larger version. Mike Turner Cut me a sweet deal on one of his HUGE pieces of SanMai. We discussed doing a quick WIP, so here it is.

As some of you may know I am headed to the OKCA knife show this month. I plan to have this finished up for that show, time is short I leave town on April 12th. After the show Mike is putting on a forging clinic for a few of us. I plan on moving in that direction in my knife making endeavors.

The Design:


SPECS:
Steel: Mike Turner SanMai (Wrought Iron with Cru Forge V Core)
OAL: 15.5”
Blade: 9.5”
Handle: Undecided Stabilized Wood
Misc: Brute De Forge Finish on Flats, Tapered Tang

I cut out the pattern and sent it Mike so he could get the billet forged to the rough shape.

The Billet:
Wrought Iron Anchor cut up and rebar welded to it for drawing.


1 1/2" round wrought Iron sitting on my 300 pound Vulcan anvil waiting for the forge to warm up, I threw this one in as Ryan's chopper is drawn on the anvil for reference while forging out the san mai billet.


Heat number 2 on the 2 Wrought Iron Bars, the first heat we straightened the bars out and managed to square them up a bit.


I have drawn the wrought iron down to the thickness need for this san mai. Not all of this wrought Iron will go into Ryan's billet, I wanted to make sure I had enough plus I always draw out extra wrought iron for future projects.


Here we are ripping down some Cru Forge V stock for the core.


Here we have our materials gathered.


Here we have ground clean all the materials.


Have the pieces clamped up in an orientation that we will have 2 pieces of Cru Forge V in the blade end and 1 piece in the handle end.


Sorry missed a few shots as it is hard to take pictures of the action shots working alone, so here we have the bar forged down to what Ryan has asked for and I have pre bent the bar to fit his chopper. Now get to work Ryan.


Mike was very quick and I had the billet in my hands a few days later.



I marked the pattern on the billet with a White out pen for higher contrast for my old eyes.


Profiling:
If I was doing this chopper by my usual method of stock removal I would need a huge piece of steel and most would have ended up on the floor. Mike was kind enough to shape the billet to my design, one of the big advantages of forging, not to mention the beautiful piece of SanMai.

... Stay Tuned

[Jonathon Belt]

looking good i love the design

[Patrice Lemée]

Subscribed!

[Railrider1920]

What Patrice said!

[Ed Braun]

San Mai by Mike T and a Blade by Ryan W? Oh this, this is going to be a real treat.

[JGguns]

Awesome thread! Looking forward to following this one

[Patrice Lemée]

Ryan, you know that Mike is just using you to get more folks like me hooked is his steel right?

[RyanW]

Really glad to see some interest in this project! Thanks for the comments everyone. Patrice I do believe you are right, in fact Mike said "I gotta keep my addicts hooked" I am definitely a Turner SanMai Addict!

[dsgibbs1]

Subscribed also. I want to see the finished project and the work to get there. Keep it up.

[RyanW]

Mike told me the billet still needed to be annealed, I ran it through an anneal cycle bring up to 1600 F. then a slow cool to room temp in the oven.


I have been told a few times that I do this step out of order… I prefer to drill holes while I still have a square billet/stock. I hold the material in a Shop Fox Vise on the drill press so it makes the “helicopter of death” a rare occurrence. The holes with the cross marks will be pin holes Drilled with “F” (1/4” Pin) and #30 (1/8” Pin)


I then take the billet to the saw and remove the excess material.


I then profile the blank to its final dimensions on the KMG with an old 36 Grit Belt. I also use files and wheels to make the appropriate curves in the design.


I used my center scribe to mark the center line of the billet. I do this around the entire blank because I am going to be tapering the tang and distal tapering the blade.


I noticed some high points on the flats that I wanted to knock down so I did a little flat grinding. I didn’t get a photo of this, but you will see in later photos the clean portions on the ricasso and spine where I want to have Forge scale and marks (Brute De Forge). I will have to address this a little later on.

I made a template to mark the planned plunge line on both sides to help keep them as even as possible during the rough grind.


Here I have done my primary grind with Blaze 36 grit belt down to approximately .030” on the edge. In this photo you can see the removed forge marks mentioned earlier. Upon close inspection I can already see the CruForgeV core along the edge. Looks great Mike T!


Now I want to get those beautiful forge marks back for the finish I am going for. Off to the forge and anvil, as many of you may know I don’t have a lot of forging experience. I made a quick phone call to Mike to get some advice, then took the plunge. Brought the billet up to temp. making sure to keep the billet flat on the anvil began hammering. Also ran it through a few normalizing cycles to relieve any stress during forging.


Now to taper the tang, I hog out the center of the tang to make the taper easier to flat grind.


I wanted to make sure the handle scales would line up nicely but need to keep that forge finish in the ricasso. I also took the belt grit up to 120 so she is ready for HT!


Here is a before and after comparison photo to show the Brute De Forge finish.



Tomorrow I will be firing up the oven for HT!

[cbr900son]

Man I love san mai! This looks very interesting!

[Ed Braun]

Mike was one of the first folks to Pm from the forum and lend advice after I got hosed on an anvil deal. Since then whether kibbitzing damascus or a "how do you do" Mike's a great fellow, as are you Ryan--seeing the combined efforts of two makers I respect and that are already outstanding gentlemen makers is a real treat.

[Matt Brook]

Nice Ryan. Nice Billet Mike!

Subscribed. If you want to send it to me for testing Ill look after it for a few years!

Matt

[Mike Davis]

Hell yes!! Very nice looking blade Ryan, And out of some really nice san mai Subscribing guys.

[Mike Turner]

Looking good Ryan, glad to see you posted this here as well.

Thanks for the comments guys, wish Ryan would hurry up and etch this already so I can get more San Mai junkies hooked :P.

[A C Richards]

Looking good. Get her etched so we can drool.

[jonnymac44]

Ryan and Mike....great thread guys!! I was wondering when I was going to see this billet in action.

Mike, beautiful job forging and shaping that billet. Ryan, very nice work so far buddy! Really looking forward to seeing more.

[NickWheeler]

Looking good guys

[JGguns]

That's looking awesome! Excellent job to both of you fella's. Really looking forward to seeing that beast with a etch. That's gonna be a beutiful blade.

[RyanW]

Thanks for all the great comments on this project... The pressure to etch is becoming too great!

Ed - I agree 100% Mike is a very generous person always willing to lend a hand where needed.
Matt - Sending it your way can be arranged for a small monthly fee!

On the docket Today - HT, and Temper cycles. I may get a chance to do some final grinding as well.