- Joined
- Feb 15, 2006
- Messages
- 362
A few weeks back when Steven asked that forum members post some of our work by David Broadwell as a tribute, I mentioned that I would be doing a WIP thread soon on a recently completed dagger.. This project took about 2 years total, and I would like to give you a look at both the process, and finished piece.. David's comments will be in quotation marks...
"The blade was completely carved before heat treating, then the bevels were ground. I fitted a block of stainless steel that will become the guard to the blade, and I've bored the mammoth ivory to slip over the tang."
"I've fitted the ivory to the curved back of the guard and roughed in a stainless finial. The finial is threaded to the end of the tang and holds the knife together. I have also ground the guard closer to its shape."
"This is a close up of the handle showing the rough shapes. Still a long way to go!
"The guard's shape has been refined and it is now ready to be carved. The finial has been turned to its final shape. I've penciled in the shape and carving pattern to the ivory."
"This close up gives a better view of the guard and what I plan to do with it."
"You can see here that I have already carved the basic elements onto the ivory, and have begun carving the steel guard."
(Finished Handle Shot) "Now you can compare the roughed in guard with the finished parts on the knife."
"The handle parts are all but finished, so it's time to finish the blade. The plan for this knife was to etch only the bevels to show the damascus pattern. The fuller and other carved elements, as well as the texture, were to be left as satin polished surfaces. I discussed this with Chad Nichols last year, emphasizing that there would be no room for error in his welding. I needed his damascus to look like any straight stainless steel in these areas, and that I would put many hours into the blade before I heat treated it and ground the bevels. Chad was a little antsy, but believed he could do it. I wasn't expecting perfection, but I needed to know that he was reasonably confident in his abilities to produce flaw free damascus. Chad did not let me down!"
"All of the components in the handle are completed now. All that needs to be done is instal my identification button."
"(Carving Shot) This shows the carving of the ivory on the back side. You can also see the technique I used on the finial and some of the texturing on the guard."
"The blade was completely carved before heat treating, then the bevels were ground. I fitted a block of stainless steel that will become the guard to the blade, and I've bored the mammoth ivory to slip over the tang."
"I've fitted the ivory to the curved back of the guard and roughed in a stainless finial. The finial is threaded to the end of the tang and holds the knife together. I have also ground the guard closer to its shape."
"This is a close up of the handle showing the rough shapes. Still a long way to go!
"The guard's shape has been refined and it is now ready to be carved. The finial has been turned to its final shape. I've penciled in the shape and carving pattern to the ivory."
"This close up gives a better view of the guard and what I plan to do with it."
"You can see here that I have already carved the basic elements onto the ivory, and have begun carving the steel guard."
(Finished Handle Shot) "Now you can compare the roughed in guard with the finished parts on the knife."
"The handle parts are all but finished, so it's time to finish the blade. The plan for this knife was to etch only the bevels to show the damascus pattern. The fuller and other carved elements, as well as the texture, were to be left as satin polished surfaces. I discussed this with Chad Nichols last year, emphasizing that there would be no room for error in his welding. I needed his damascus to look like any straight stainless steel in these areas, and that I would put many hours into the blade before I heat treated it and ground the bevels. Chad was a little antsy, but believed he could do it. I wasn't expecting perfection, but I needed to know that he was reasonably confident in his abilities to produce flaw free damascus. Chad did not let me down!"
"All of the components in the handle are completed now. All that needs to be done is instal my identification button."
"(Carving Shot) This shows the carving of the ivory on the back side. You can also see the technique I used on the finial and some of the texturing on the guard."
