3 tools

Alright, I have the blade, bolster and tang done but still have to do the handle.I have some picture if someone wants to post them for me.
 
The first pictures show the bar of 5160 that I started with, the square end and the "pre forged" end after I ground it to start. Also my converted ceramic kiln forge and fifty pound little giant hammer.

The second set of pictures show the dies that I used in the hammer, The blade about half way forged with a closeup and a shot showing the distal taper. The last shot of this set is the finished forging with the step down in front of the bolster to the blade.

The last two shows the as forged edge and the tang ready to be ground away from the parent bar. Unfortunately I filled up my memory card and I wanted to finish so I didn't get pictures of the hardening and tempering the blade prior to grinding it away from the bar. I held the spine in front of the forge opening and ran the color to the edge for tempering. The spine blue the edge brown.
 
looks good.
i didnt start mine yet got caought up in other projects. would love to see final piece!!
 
Looks good so far Bill. I look forward to seeing it done. What are you going to use for handle material?

I started on mine but I am super busy at the moment so its hard to say when it will be done. I plan on doing a few versions of the "three tool knife" . If I get the job I am working on done this week, I will whip some stuff out this weekend.
The one I started is an integral, with a stick tang, and elk tine for the handle. I have to say I hate the smell of burning antler.

I was wondering, I usually keep the cutoff in the hardy hole of my anvil, does this count as a seperate tool? What if I weld the cutoff to the anvil?:) Oh well I dont have to use the cutoff.

Wait till you guys see how I sharpen the knife:)
 
William, I plan on grinding down a couple of peices of wood into slabs to fit the handle shape and then wrapping it with cording punching a hole and tying it off in japanese fassion.

Some one said no glue but glue is more of a material than a tool so I think we should reconsider glue. What do you all think?
 
I dont need ANY tools to create the absolutely PERFECT knife....
I will simply imagine it...
Engoy...
 
thanks for posting the pictures Chuck.The First shows the pretty much finished blade with the steps up to the bolster area and the step down to the tapered tang. second just the under side again showing the steps and bolster. I am using a burr king with a type of knifmaker attachment that I dreamed up and burr king made and now sells. It has a flat platten area large and small contact wheels and can be reconfigured as an integral grinder. It also has interchangeable small wheels from 3/8 to 1 1/2 inches.
 
Maybe I missed it, but hasn't anyone suggested using a milling/drilling combination machine. Just mill it out of a through hardened and still hard file. Really slowly! Carefully! Might use up some end mills. I have special drill bits from Rodman Drills that are made for drilling hardened material. I've used them to drill holes through hardened files. They really hold up well.

Use this one machine to profile, integral bolster even!, all bevels, drill holes for pins, completely shape the handle material, even get the edge bevels close to sharp.

If you still want to consider glue a tool, no biggie, it's a tool. The only left to do is use a stone for sharpening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top