A Destruction Test Knife WIP

I didn't have a lot of time today as I had errands in town and a lawn in need of mowing. I also didn't take a lot of photos today. But, the knife is pretty much done. The handle has been buffed and the blade sharpened and this evening I'll peen on the copper tag which is all prepped and ready to go.

This is my buffer. I have several different wheels, but for this I'll a sewn and a loose cotton wheel.


I won't need the Tripoli for this. I'll just give a light buffing with White Diamond and then carnauba wax:


I beveled the edges of the copper tag:


Then polished to 1500 grit:


Time for sharpening.
I'll create an edge with a warn 320 grit belt then refine it with a 20 micron belt. Then its on to wet stones If needed, I can later polish the edge with a leather belt.


I hate putting in all the work to achieve a nice hand rubbed finish on the blade only to have it ruined with a halo of teeny scratches from sharpening on a belt sander. The blade is taped completely then trimmed carefully. I'll sharpen right through the tape to prevent those scratches:


This is my pre-sharpening edge:




More in a little while. When I come back maybe I'll explain this:
 
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That is a great idea about taping the entire blade and just sharpening through the tape. I can't believe I never thought of that. It's incredibly simple, yet perfect for those of us who sharpen with a belt sander/grinder.

Thanks for the idea
-Adam
 
This is gonna sound like a really smart a$$ question, but is cutting the free hanging rope that difficult? Its just one 1" rope, or is it more than one now? I know it used to be just one rope.
 
The final steps......

I'll begin by backtracking and show my sharpening process.

This is directly off the grinder with the edge established using a warn 320 grit belt.


The 1" wide contact surface of my belt grinder is poor for maintaining a perfectly straight edge. So, I'll refine the edge on a fine wet stone( I can't remember what grit).


Working the edge:


Then its on to an 8000 grit wet stone to work up a consistent wire edge:


Finally I hone the edge on a strop filled with green compound. I'll do this for 100 or so strokes - slice into the wood table to remove the wire, then another 50 or so more strokes.


I'll continue checking the edge by shaving hair. My eyes are getting a bit worse these days so I have trouble see a REALLY fine wire edge. So I'm constantly scraping the edge over my fingernail feeling for that edge to "catch". When the entire length of the blade shaves hair and freely cuts paper....... I call it "good enough".


Good enough!
I removed the tape andgave the blade a thorough cleaning with acetone. Then I gave it a coat of Conservator's wax and buffed with an old tee-shirt:


Ready to peen on the copper tag. I gave the pins and tag a good cleaning with acetone. I also gave the underside of the tag a coating of Conservator's wax: (sorry for the crappy photo)


First pin cut and ready to peen:


Second pin ready to peen:


Done!:


One is a bit sloppy, but that's only consistent with the rough-finish look of the whole knife:


And finally - The knife is done, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer to find out what this is:




 
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I know what the leather rig is.
I know what the leather rig is.
I know what the leather rig is.
I know what the leather rig is.
I know what the leather rig is.
I know what the leather rig is.
 
It's for his falcon... DUH :rolleyes:

:D

Really cool thread! I really appreciate that you're making one of YOUR knives to test... rather than making a test knife to pass a test. Totally, completely, absolutely different things. :)

I like your fancy center-line jig, I might have to copy that. ;)

Thanks for sharing all of this :)
 
So, without further a due, I offer up for your scrutiny......

.... a knife I have named:

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION w/ custom MMS

Blade: Aldo's 1084FG, 8 1/2" of sharp edge, 1 7/8" at its widest, 3/16" at the ricasso with forged distal taper and bevels and semi-brute de forge finish. Hand rubbed to 1000 grit finish with a peened copper maker's mark tag. Sharp as hell!

Handle: 5 1/4" American Wild Black Cherry, stainless steel pins and buffed Watco Danish Oil finish. Forged and etched 1/4" mild steel S-guard w/ gun blued faces and high-polished edges

MMS: (Motivational Management System)
This is made using wet formed and custom fitted Wickett and Craig veg tanned leather with hand-cut lacing and hand-made copper beads(turned on my drill press). The handle "cuff" is heavily contoured on the inner face then wet-formed to create a true custom fit with taught, smooth edges. All leather has a lightly buffed Bear Grease finish.
NOTE:
This, one of a kind and yet to be tested, knife retention device is something I was drawing up in my brain from day-one of the build. Lately I've watched countless videos of chopping contests and I've seen several versions of both fore and aft mounted lanyards. This is my version.... to me it makes sense. I wanted something that was functional, adjustable, removable, and not cumbersome, but I also wanted something that looked purposeful and as if it belonged. I went through three versions of the handle piece and settled on this one, but I also made a more versatile version that could fitted to other knife designs.

The photos:


































 
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ummm... my word is WOW.
a stunner of a knifel, sure to preform like a champ.

the retention system is brilliant. sensible clean and removable. i cant wait to see it work!
 
Ha!.... Yes... I knew it. Though I missed the little loop around the top guard.

A Gorgeous Knife, brother. Rustic, refined, organic, aggressive... what is not to like?

Okay, you can break it, now.




Rick
 
Smash it!

The knife looks great man! Build was excellent as well. Thanks for sharing with us.


I really like the retention strap and can't wait to hear how it works out. How does it feel on the knife?
 
I'm really surprised how much I am liking the cherry handle too. I use so much cherry in my cabinet shop that I've just gotten bored with it, but it really does look great on that knife. Perfect match IMHO.
 
Thanks guys.

I've added some finished knife shots to the above post.

Some of you may have detected why I'm using THIS blade and THIS knife for a destruction test.......

I forged and shaped this blade as an intended gift for my neighbor who has become a great friend. He's a hunting guide. It was to be a start-of-hunting-season present. I drew up a design I thought he'd be happy with and actually use. The blade forged out just fine and the shaping and grinding went well. I was starting to like the blade. I began to clean it up a bit an play with the layout. That's when I drilled the holes for the peened copper plate. One hole was off.... wayyyy off, making the copper tag oddly askew and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

That's when this became a destructive test knife.

It was to have a much thicker wrought iron guard, much like I made for "Thorn"(http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/881063-Thorn?highlight=Thorn), and a Figured Oak handle with copper accents.

If I had to pick one defining feature/sequence of this build, it would be the S-guard. By choosing to use it, I limited the dimensions I could make the handle. As it is, The bottom line of the handle does not line up with the bottom of the ricasso. Its a fraction to short because That's all the flat space I had to work with on the guard. I probably could have spent more time modifying the guard to that end, but its a somewhat fruitless process. The guard was made several weeks ago as a practice piece for another knife I did. The shape fit the original design I drew for this knife. So, its not meant for this knife, but I went with it. That decision dictated everything that followed... to a degree.

The blade is hard, straight and sharp. The knife is well balanced, solid in the hand and lighter than I thought it would be. I think its fairly well built. We'll see.

Now I just need to make another one of these knives - hopefully my neighbor will have it in time. But first, I'm off to find some rope and 2x4's. I'll revisit this thread when I'm ready for the testing.

Thank you all for following along with this thread. I've enjoyed the conversation and I will benefit from the tips and constructive criticism. Please continue to offer up any advice that I can use to make my knives better.

Thank You,

Peter
 
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Blah-blah-blah.... yeah-ya-ya.... hole out of line..... yada-yada....

SMASH IT.
 
Awesome thread! Great job on the knife. I wish more makers would post the start to finish process as you have here as it is a very interesting and insightful read. I wish you the best of luck passing the test.
 
That's just plain cool. I salute your creativity and desire to do the very best you can :thumbup:
 
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