new tactical gladius design - ongoing WIP

[BePrepared]

wear resistance = edge holding

shock resistence = lateral stress and impact survivability

in a sword, i'd say the second is more important than the first. That's just me though

[crimsonfalcon07]

Well, if you like 5160 for a sword, 3V is supposed to be much tougher, and yet also holds a much better edge. So it's an all-around upgrade, although it's pricy. I don't want to get too much into steel choice though. I don't know if Darrin can even do a comparable job heat treating 3V as he does with 5160, so it may be a moot point anyways. It's a bit of a balance, and I think there are good reasons to choose a variety of different steels. I'm looking forward to trying 3V, and conveniently, I can buy it from Aldo, while S7 I cannot. I generally tend to think that good toughness and good wear resistance is better than great toughness and low wear resistance. I don't care how tough a blade is; if it doesn't hold an edge, it's little better than a crowbar in my book. If Darrin can do a good job on the 3V, which I expect he will be able to, it's going to be a fine blade. If not, I'll just stick to 5160, because it does what I want to, and I know that Darrin does a very fine job on 5160.

[BePrepared]

i definitely agree with you that 3v is gonna be a great choice.

I'll stick to 5160 though, simply because with Darrin heat treating it, its so tough already that i don't know what more i'd need.

I think this weekend, i might try a cinder block on the kukri.... considering that i cut a nail in half yesterday on accident and couldn't even see WHERE it hit the blade, i think a cinder block might be a breeze.

Seriously though, i was hacking a tree on a fenceline near my house and apparently there was a nail in it. Sheared it smooth in half and the edge didn't show a ding at all. I think this thick convex i have on it is TOUGH

[crimsonfalcon07]

Very cool! I'll direct Darrin to this thread; I'm sure he'd like to see some feedback on his heat treat.

Chris, would you mind putting up that feedback in either a new thread or the one I started on the kukri? I'd love to see how it holds up against a cinder block, if you do decide to try that out.

[darrin sanders]

Thanks guys, I'm always glad to hear that blades that I have treated are performing well. Heat treating is my favorite part of knifemaking and I appreciate the feedback. I've wanted to make a knife with the same geometry as one made with INFI to see how it would compare. I'm not saying it would or wouldn't outperform it, just saying I would like to know. I'm not telling you to chop cinderblocks but I would like to know the results if you do. Thanks again guys.

[BePrepared]

Darrin, i'm very glad that you were the one doing the HT on my Kukri. I just finished reprofiling the edge for the second time (i went to a true zero convex thinning out the edge a good bit)

If i can find the time this weekend, i'm going to use it to turn one of these



into this



I'll be very surprised if there isn't SOME damage, but i doubt it's going to be much worse than some nicks and dings, and i'm lucky enough to have to tools to fix a set edge.

I'll keep you posted. Pictures of course, will follow

[crimsonfalcon07]

Looks interesting. Please be safe! I hear that Darrin's got the gladius heat treated, so it's hopefully going to be coming back soon.

[gregorio]

Where would you think the balance ought to be? Maybe an inch above? Or perfectly neutral?

I've got the piece below and it balances at 5" in front of the handle. It's also 1/4" thick with no distal taper. I would prefer 2-3".

[crimsonfalcon07]

Oh...

You realize without spacers the POB is already only 2" above the guard? You and I seem to be on the same page already

[BePrepared]

yeah, if you go below 2" you're going to loose a lot of that nifty chopping power

Of course, it'll be as lively as a pissed off rattlesnake if you go down to 1"

On another note, i just did my first ever full blade regrind on another blade. It was another kukri that i got before you made mine

It's 6150 steel, and the grind was some sort of cross between a full flat grind and a hammered finish (very badly done).

I reground the entire blade flat (which MASSIVELY thinned out the edge) but it came out pretty nice. I think i like this whole knife making thing

I seriously wish i had a slack belt to work on though. My 4x36 grinder doesn't have that option

[crimsonfalcon07]

Yep, knifemaking is really fun. I definitely recommend buying a nice grinder though to start. The 1x30 (a good quality one with good belt tracking) I liked, and I did pretty well with it, but it was a lot harder to do things than it needed to be. The Craftsman 2x48 that I've got now is about as low-end as I'd recommend. I am looking forward to getting a real grinder with some HP behind it, and variable speed.

[gregorio]

Oh...

You realize without spacers the POB is already only 2" above the guard? You and I seem to be on the same page already

Thanks for the info, I would like to say great minds think alike but not sure I qualify

[crimsonfalcon07]

Just got word from Darrin that the blades are on their way back to me. Also have enough 5160 coming for a few more of these, as well as the 3V. Stay tuned. Should have an update on Friday of next week.

[BePrepared]

hey, i have an idea, send me the proto and i'll take it out for a test drive

i can run it around the woods with my kukri and see how it handles ourdoorsy stuff

Are you going to put kydex pants on this one?

[crimsonfalcon07]

We'll see... I may do leather pants on the proto, since it's getting spiffy wood and mosaic pins.

[BePrepared]

i think that would look pretty cool. Yours may be the only blade i've ever seen with Mosaic Talons... you might actually think of trademarking that since i have a feeling it's going to prove to be VERY popular if you go full blown knifemaker.

[Feezle]

I may be interested in one of these if you start making them to sell. I'm in need of something chopper size.

[crimsonfalcon07]

Sure, thanks for your interest. I'm getting the proto back on Wednesday. I'm hoping to get it handled and somewhat finished by next weekend. I've got some steel coming in for a couple sale versions, so if you'd like to put your name in and claim one of them, I can grind one out for you as well.

[Feezle]

I don't have the funds for it right now, but I will before too long. I'm very interested to see how your prototype turns out.

[crimsonfalcon07]

Okay, got them back from heat treat today, and will be working on getting the blade polished so's I can get the scales epoxied on.



I also talked to Jerry Busse, and the word is that I'm not going to be allowed to fill the holes with mosaic pins, since that evidently highlights the feature somehow. So there won't be any holes in any sale items, obviously, although Jerry graciously allowed me to keep the ones in the blades I'm keeping for myself. I'm still going to be filling the holes in these blades with mosaic pins, since I like the idea, and I do want some ornamentation there. I'm a little dubious about the claim that it highlights the feature, since the relevant feature isn't even there any more (compare to inserting a stained glass window into a hole in the wall--it's a decorative object designed to fit precisely into the hole, but does it really call attention to the hole, or does it call attention to itself? I think it's telling that we call a window a window, rather than a hole in the wall, and we sell panes of glass as being windows, not holes in the wall). Out of respect for Jerry, I won't be drilling holes in that area any more, but it seems to me that there's a lot of problems with that argument...

So, for instance, Jerry, if you're still checking out this thread, I'd be curious to know whether it would be fine to inset a mosaic pin into a countersink there. Because while it would look similar to inserting a mosaic pin into a hole there, there actually wouldn't BE a hole at all to start out with for the pin to "highlight," at least by what I think your operative definition of talon hole seems to be. So you end up with a similar look to the one your lawyer says is bad, but there's not actually a hole, filled with a pin or not, by what I think your operating definition seems to be. I'm not sure whether you've addressed the issue with whether or not it still counts as a hole if it doesn't go all the way through, since that sort of definition would prevent people from insetting things like jewels, for instance, in the guard area. So I'd be curious to know what the answer to that is, because I like the idea of having some ornamentation in the guard area.

Anyways, there will not be any holes by any definition in any items I offer for sale.