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Almost finished. Just sending them out to Richard to get sharpened.
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2011 mini knife KITH
- Thread starter fast14riot
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Feeling better now.
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RyanW
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Zaph no reason to feel unwanted, I think there is very little activity here due to Friday night and Blade weekend. They look great, I really like the damascus on the top knife. The GI Joe concerns me a little bit!
I am glad to see you work everything out and get them done. Much better than some people around here... 
I would have no problem getting yours in this KITH Zaph (just don't include the doll... HAHA). keep up the good work
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Zaph1,
I'm sorry they really are very cool! My wife and I both like them a lot and were commenting on them last night, I should have told you! I think everyone was speechless when they saw the mini damascus... too cool! The guard and hidden tang construction is ambitious. It is true no one seems to post much near the weekend, over at knives for sale it has been ultra slow.
Don't feel too bad, I have a forum I started without a single comment... I have 1 member besides myself!
I'm sorry they really are very cool! My wife and I both like them a lot and were commenting on them last night, I should have told you! I think everyone was speechless when they saw the mini damascus... too cool! The guard and hidden tang construction is ambitious. It is true no one seems to post much near the weekend, over at knives for sale it has been ultra slow.
Don't feel too bad, I have a forum I started without a single comment... I have 1 member besides myself!
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Sorry i have been away for a while. Zaph, the G.I.Joe size knives are crazy! That is freakin tiny! You making sheaths for them? The damascus is awesome, looks like a tiger stripe patina! Really nice. I am on number 13 now.....grrr. Great work. How hard was it to do the guard? I tried but keep screwing them up lol. I finally have one that made it past the HT and fit...might actually get this done yet. Nice work...I would happily take that...G.I. Joe and all
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Dude, way cool! I was just thinking that the brown handled one looks almost camo patterned on the blade! Awesome that they are damascus, too! Are both of them going to be exchanged as one?
-Xander
-Xander
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Thank you all, I'm glad you like them. I know I'm still a newer maker who's only been doing this about a year now, but I was getting the feeling that no one wanted to tell me how bad they were and that I should quit entering KITHs. I'm glad I was wrong.
Still not sure that I want to send out the second knife for the KITH. I don't like the damascus pattern nearly as much as the first one, and I'm not sure that the Koa pops enough on that small of a piece.
I'm having an absolute blast forging these minis. I'll make another one and see if I can do better.
UPDATE: Tried forging another piece, even worse delamination than before. Trying a different piece from a different supplier now.
Still not sure that I want to send out the second knife for the KITH. I don't like the damascus pattern nearly as much as the first one, and I'm not sure that the Koa pops enough on that small of a piece.
I'm having an absolute blast forging these minis. I'll make another one and see if I can do better.
UPDATE: Tried forging another piece, even worse delamination than before. Trying a different piece from a different supplier now.
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That's a good attitude
I have only been back at this since november last year. I think you are doing a great job! Keep it up!
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Well with working two jobs, the house, wife and kid, a truck that knows when to flash a check engine light because I have a day off, and jus life getting in the way I haven't hd near the amount of time I want to work on my mini. So today I decided that the truck can wait, send the wife shopping with my mother (they get along great), and take the boy to day care so I can work on my mini. Fitting the guard today. Still have a little finish sanding to do on the blade, shouldn't take long. Went to a couple places within walking distance to try and find some CA glue and neither had acceptable types. Anyways, maybe later ill go hit the craft store. Feels good to sit down, put on a good record, got my rum n' coke and a nice pile of files and sandpaper! Its coming along pretty good. And because I know it didn't happen without pictures, here you go...
And a shot for scale
Hope everyone is making progress. I did start a finished and post photos thread a while back, maybe you guys who are done can dig it up and put a couple pics in it so I can keep better track for the name draw.
-Xander
And a shot for scale
Hope everyone is making progress. I did start a finished and post photos thread a while back, maybe you guys who are done can dig it up and put a couple pics in it so I can keep better track for the name draw.
-Xander
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Can we just put the final photos here since this is a sticky until the KITH is over? Knife looks good, BTW.
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You know I guess that will be fine, but if you are done and are ready to ship please send me an email to let me know you're ready so I can keep it seprate without digging through all the posts in this thread. I will send out an email tonight with this request to alll who entered this KITH.
Thanks! I got some leather to do the stacked washer handle cut up. I think I am going to punch holes in the centers and do a CA "stabilization" then put the whole thing onto the tang for final fitting and shaping. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I can get the grooves in the handle to come out right, I may have to make a broach type tool to do it properly. I got enough leather to make about a dozen handles or more for this size knife!
-Xander
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No it wasn't a WIP thread, but an "official mini KITH photo" thread for final photos of finished knives so I know who is done and ready to ship. It is outlined in the rules at the start of tis thread, but as I told Zaph1 posting final photos here will work as long as I get an email stating you are finished and ready to ship. I will email everyone tonight or by morning at the latest requesting an email.
-Xander
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Hey guys, I'm having trouble with my email/computer and trying to do it on my phone isn't working how I would like. So ill make the annoucement here and get an email out as soon as I can.
When you have completed your mini KITH knife please post a photo here and state "2011 mini KITH knife done and ready to ship." Also send me an email stating it is ready to ship. Fast14riot@gmail.com I will draw names no later than the 10th of JULY and send an email to each participant with a name and address to send their knife to.
Thanx
-Xander
When you have completed your mini KITH knife please post a photo here and state "2011 mini KITH knife done and ready to ship." Also send me an email stating it is ready to ship. Fast14riot@gmail.com I will draw names no later than the 10th of JULY and send an email to each participant with a name and address to send their knife to.
Thanx
-Xander
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Oh, boy, I'm enjoying making these. Learning new things each step of the process. Then again, I'm still fairly new at making knives. My knowledge still outweighs my skill, but not my desire to learn more. I've never tried a katana. Then again, there are lots of styles that I haven't tried. I've yet to make a large damascus hunter, anything with curly maple, and for that matter I haven't forged the titanium camping utensils that I've been thinking about, either. So, I made a katana. Well, a katana blade, anyway.
I had a piece of 400 layer damascus that someone gave me last year. I cut off a 1/4" piece from the end and welded it to a rod and started forging. Absolute gut wrenching, watching the first hammer strike split the layers into five different pieces, each about 80 layers thick. One piece of the damascus was still flat, the rest were ruined and had to be cut off. Obviously I don't get to draw this out to the length I had predicted. Fortunately, the piece was about 1/16" thick still, plenty to draw out to a 1/32" thick blade. Using a smallish hammer, I forged it out to a nice hunter shaped blade, 2.5" long. There seemed to be a small imperfection in the steel, lengthwise down the blade near the edge. I annealed the piece and cut down the middle, leaving a long, skinny piece. "Hmmm, looks like an itty bitty katana like Stacy makes," I thought. I take it to the grinder and sure enough, I'm able to save a sweet little katana a little over 2" long. HT at non-magnetic for 60 seconds and quench. Straight as an arrow.
Now, how do I make a guard. Normally, I grab a piece of titanium and drill a hole. I grab a piece of titanium and drill the smallest hole I can. I slip the tang into it and quickly realize I need a much smaller drill bit. This isn't working, I realize, and it will never work. I see a picture of the screwdriver made into a punch and give it a try. Way too small and bits of steel go flying when I tap with a hammer. I look at Stacy's katana WIP and realize that it's not steel, it looks more like copper. I grab a pre-1982 penny and hammer it flat. Using another screwdriver, I punch a nice tang shaped hole in it. Nearly perfect. Just a little fine tuning, and I have a guard.
Where the metal flares out even looks like the part of a katana that covers the ricasso. Tsuba, suki, tsu-chi, whatever it's called, I hope that someday when I make a full scale katana it looks as good as this one does. Yes, I know it's called a habaki and should be a separate part from the tsuba and seppas. I don't have the needed tools to do this at this scale. Now, I just need to build a tsuka. (sarcasm)That should be easy, right?(/sarcasm)
I finished sanding the blade at 13 micron and can't see any damascus layers. I haven't etched yet, and don't want to until I'm ready to glue the handle on. But, remember the piece that I cut off the original blade that had the imperfection? Well, I decided to sand it and see what kind of pattern I have. 5 minutes sanding and 5 minutes in the acid and. . . .NOTHING! Well, I know you have to HT damascus to get a good etch, so I HT the piece with a torch and quench in water. 2 minutes sanding the scale off and 5 minutes in the acid. Still nothing. Hmmm, this is weird. I know it's layered, it split into layers when I forged it. I get out my USB microscope and become very happy.
If I get this finished in time, this will be my entry for the KITH. If not, the koa handled hunter will be entered. Attached is the current pic of the blade and the piece of damascus that I test etched.
I had a piece of 400 layer damascus that someone gave me last year. I cut off a 1/4" piece from the end and welded it to a rod and started forging. Absolute gut wrenching, watching the first hammer strike split the layers into five different pieces, each about 80 layers thick. One piece of the damascus was still flat, the rest were ruined and had to be cut off. Obviously I don't get to draw this out to the length I had predicted. Fortunately, the piece was about 1/16" thick still, plenty to draw out to a 1/32" thick blade. Using a smallish hammer, I forged it out to a nice hunter shaped blade, 2.5" long. There seemed to be a small imperfection in the steel, lengthwise down the blade near the edge. I annealed the piece and cut down the middle, leaving a long, skinny piece. "Hmmm, looks like an itty bitty katana like Stacy makes," I thought. I take it to the grinder and sure enough, I'm able to save a sweet little katana a little over 2" long. HT at non-magnetic for 60 seconds and quench. Straight as an arrow.
Now, how do I make a guard. Normally, I grab a piece of titanium and drill a hole. I grab a piece of titanium and drill the smallest hole I can. I slip the tang into it and quickly realize I need a much smaller drill bit. This isn't working, I realize, and it will never work. I see a picture of the screwdriver made into a punch and give it a try. Way too small and bits of steel go flying when I tap with a hammer. I look at Stacy's katana WIP and realize that it's not steel, it looks more like copper. I grab a pre-1982 penny and hammer it flat. Using another screwdriver, I punch a nice tang shaped hole in it. Nearly perfect. Just a little fine tuning, and I have a guard.
Where the metal flares out even looks like the part of a katana that covers the ricasso. Tsuba, suki, tsu-chi, whatever it's called, I hope that someday when I make a full scale katana it looks as good as this one does. Yes, I know it's called a habaki and should be a separate part from the tsuba and seppas. I don't have the needed tools to do this at this scale. Now, I just need to build a tsuka. (sarcasm)That should be easy, right?(/sarcasm)
I finished sanding the blade at 13 micron and can't see any damascus layers. I haven't etched yet, and don't want to until I'm ready to glue the handle on. But, remember the piece that I cut off the original blade that had the imperfection? Well, I decided to sand it and see what kind of pattern I have. 5 minutes sanding and 5 minutes in the acid and. . . .NOTHING! Well, I know you have to HT damascus to get a good etch, so I HT the piece with a torch and quench in water. 2 minutes sanding the scale off and 5 minutes in the acid. Still nothing. Hmmm, this is weird. I know it's layered, it split into layers when I forged it. I get out my USB microscope and become very happy.
If I get this finished in time, this will be my entry for the KITH. If not, the koa handled hunter will be entered. Attached is the current pic of the blade and the piece of damascus that I test etched.
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Very nice work everyone!
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Here is a picture of mine...finally got one to the point i like. Should have it all buttoned up this weekend.
It is a Cutlass, cable damascus, 4 13/16 total length. D guard will be damascus also and i will use honey locust burl for the handle....as i have a metric poop ton of it.
It is a Cutlass, cable damascus, 4 13/16 total length. D guard will be damascus also and i will use honey locust burl for the handle....as i have a metric poop ton of it.
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Charles, good work man! Glad I was able to help in our email exchanges. I would love to get any of the minis you have posted so far!
Mike, that is wicked cool! The cable damascus looks awesome! Can't wait to see that one all finished up!
Good work everyone! Looks like there will be some happy exchanges at the end of this!
-Xander
Mike, that is wicked cool! The cable damascus looks awesome! Can't wait to see that one all finished up!
Good work everyone! Looks like there will be some happy exchanges at the end of this!
-Xander
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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I finished the togi on the one I am entering about an hour ago. I will take photos of the blade tonight, and do the saya over the next few days. It is a 1/4 scale tanto. This is the largest mini I have done.
Togi on a full size blade is scary enough....gripping a super sharp blade with both hands and running it rapidly back and forth over the stones and papers. Doing it on a blade with a 3.5" ha is really tricky. There is so litte to hold on to. One slip and the cut could be bad. Luckily there was no blood anointing this blade....yet.
One of my maker friends saw it Saturday and commented that it would make a great pocket EDC. I never thought about it, but it is of a suitable length . I might make one with a non-scale thickness and blade dimensions as my new EDC, since I lost the one I have carried for years a couple weeks ago.
Togi on a full size blade is scary enough....gripping a super sharp blade with both hands and running it rapidly back and forth over the stones and papers. Doing it on a blade with a 3.5" ha is really tricky. There is so litte to hold on to. One slip and the cut could be bad. Luckily there was no blood anointing this blade....yet.
One of my maker friends saw it Saturday and commented that it would make a great pocket EDC. I never thought about it, but it is of a suitable length . I might make one with a non-scale thickness and blade dimensions as my new EDC, since I lost the one I have carried for years a couple weeks ago.