A Sweet Wyoming Hunter- Made by Me

WyoNonSmith

WyoNonSmith

Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Messages
392
Here is my first attempt at making a knife. I made it under the direction of Jim Rodebaugh, MS and had to browbeat him to let me use his equipment (he likes to hunt and I have good places to do so, so I had leverage).

anyway, I designed it. I made the steel, I forged it, heat treated it, ground it, hand sanded it (what a bitch that is!!), formed the handle, made the ferrule, and fitted it together (with the aforementioned supervision and help). I'm pretty darn proud of it and it works well in the field. I don't think it's too bad for a first effort.

1084 and 15n20
Stabilized koa
bronze

Lt me know what you think, in spite of the bad pics. Yes, I see the patina starting and will be working on that.
 

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Great job!!! You can see Jim's influence, and I think that's a great thing. Jim is not spoken of around here nearly as much as he should be.

Thanks for taking the time to make it, and to share it. I'm sure you've got an even bigger appreciation for these things now! :)

Forgot to say it's interesting you went guardless. I know some folks swear by having one, but some of my dad's hunting buddies prefer without.
 
Speaking of leverage, I'll announce you as the Bob Loveless of Wyoming, if you will show me a bull like Blade Snowden's.

Seriously, I like the knife. For many knives I prefer no guards. Pretty cocky starting out with damascus.

ken
 
Ken, Where I usually shoot elk, the guy shut out hunters. He's leasing out the hunting to an outfitter, which sucks for we who planned on going there. So sorry, no big bulls like Blakes.

I decided to go guardless just cause I hate to hang up a knife when working. Also, I don't like banging a guard into a table when working. That, and I'm not good enough, yet to make the blade in such a way that I can have a guard and not have it get in my way...if that make sense. Anyway, I just thought it looked good without it.

The handle was tricky getting it so it was comfortable...tougher that I thought to shape one. But, it is exactly perfect in my hand and works with how I use a knife

Jim told me that both he and I were going to be chastised for me making my first knife out of damascus. Cocky wasn't the word I thought I would hear describing it. Wade Coulter gave Jim some shit for even having me try...he thought I should go straight carbon, no power tools anywhere, and just use files.

My biggest problem now, aside from having to change my name...although I have seriously considered just putting a "NS" stamp on the side of my knife just so people will ask me what NS is... non-smith. Anyway, the problem is going to be aquiring all the equipment that I have suddenly realized I'm gonna need without breaking my bank in this troubled economy. Then I'll have to cost justify the expense and make some knives to sell, which might make my real estate carreer suffer. That, and I was reading the ABS guidelines... from what I see there, it looks like I will have to make 12 knives in about 7 years to get my master smith stamp (one for bending and whittling a 2x4, five to submit for judging, another one for whittling and bending, and another five for judging)... so I have THAT to worry about. And all this time, I know that I'm gonna have to be fending off people who want to buy my knives, and the pressure to compromise my exacting standards so that I can make more knives. Next thing you know, Tim Hancock, Tom Ferry, Josh Smith, et al are going to be pestering me to do demos for them and show them my secrets; not to mention wanting to steal my designs. I just don't know how I'm gonna find the time, and it will cut into my hunting time. So I worry, and I haven't even gotten into the knife groupies who are gonna be beating their way to my door. I just don't know if it's worth it.
 
That is a really nice piece and you should be very proud. Damascus for a first knife - yowza! Something special about using a knife you made yourself. Enjoy!

Roger
 
Yes, there is something about holding a knife that you made and actually using it. But, more importantly, I now understand what it really takes to get a good knife. I think every collector ought to spend the time, even if they make a crappy knife, to see what goes into a knife to better appreciate what they are getting. And making damascus...I had NO idea how labor and time intensive that was, nor how one little mistake in the process screws you in the end. Then, having beaten a piece of slag into my blade, I learned to keep the anvil clean... but still had to deal with it in grinding. I will never forget Rodebaugh laughing, chuckling, and smirking as I labored away at hand sanding, only to have him examine my work under magnification to point out my flaws.
A completely new appreciation for what knifemakers go through.

Now, I can't stop myself from imagining my next knife to make, I have sketches upon sketches... I just don't know how to prevail upon Jim's patience (for which he is not known for) to get another one started. Hell, I already have the remnant of a prefectly, halfway decent damascus billet!! Does this mean that I have aquired the steel virus I have heard so much about??
 
A news flash, WyoNonSmith! Your future is not as Jim's shop pest. Didn't you get Nick's hardly cryptic intent behind his immediate, profuse praise? . . . he's as much as begging you to apprentice in his shop. Classic win, win, win . . . you learn under the master, you boost Nick's output almost 2x (1 knife/year to 1.75), you help Nick take my order before I reach 87.

ken
 
Ken... well, I know that Nick's shop can use some eye candy and I'm sure my tubby, un-buffed form would surely provide contrast in that shop. With all that pretty equipment in his shop, one would wonder why production isn't upped. Heck, give me a week in there and I could probably break at least half of his stuff, then he'd have a good reason not to be making more knives. I'm just worried that he'd steal all my designs and do them better; but, I'd be stealing all his babes so it would probably be a fair trade...maybe if I took off some of the pressure he is getting in the bedchambers, he could get out of bed and go to his shop so your knife would get done.
Seriously, though, I'd welcome that invitation...I like the knives that nick makes and I think there is a similarity of integrity and style with his knives and jim's. When he can actually get on making a knife... I have always liked the result, particularly his hunters.

I forgot to thank everyone for their praise...as you might guess, I am fairly proud of myself (as well as full of myself)
 
I just had a call from a friend of mine who intimated that I had not forged this knife to shape, that most of what I did was shaped by stock removal...I beg to differ, but that just ain't true. I don't know if he is just blowing smoke, by here are some pics that may dispell such ugly rumors. I later discovered that it might well have been easier, and clunkier, to just stock remove, but I really wanted to take pride in beating this knife out of hot metal.
Anyway, here are the pics from shortly after forging and such
 

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