All business- concealed combat Bowies

Like Will said so well... I second that Nick! Those are right at the size of knives I carry. Stunners filling a niche.....:thumbup:
 
Wow, I'm blown away by the response here--- Thank you guys! :)

James- I ground the bevels with a 60X belt, then 120X paper on the 9" disc, a quick couple passes on a 120X belt, and then a Scotchbrite belt with "belt grease" applied to it. I hit the flats with 500X paper after surface grinding.

Will- I truly appreciate that, thank you! :)

Thanks again folks!
 
Truly my pleasure, Nick.

Just wanted to add-- I don’t know whether you check the Busse forum but in a discussion there last week about the “best of the best” heat treaters in the country, Dan Keffeler included you as follows:

Dan Keffeler said:
I have been impressed with Nick Wheelers' HT of W2 and other steels. Brad Stallsmith at Peters' HT should be mentioned as well.

Dan
Click to expand...

Considering Dan has won almost every BladeSports International competition he’s entered this year, including the 2013 World Championship at Blade, I’d say that’s very high praise. You’re obviously hitting on all cylinders, my friend. Great to see.

Will
 
Thanks guys :)

Will- Yep, Dan has worked really hard to achieve what he has. It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was arguing with me about water quenching O1. :eek: :D Dan's accomplishments are proof that it can be a fine line between doing something that sounds nuts and thinking outside the box in a way that will reap big rewards.

I mean, there's no way someone could chop through a 2X4 in one swing with a knife! Right? ;) ;) ;) That's what I thought until I saw Dan do it. :eek:


Forgot to mention--- I agree this would look neat with damascus and carbon fiber, but it would put the knife in a price range that would be pretty far from the original intent...
 
Nick, looking good. I personally prefer the fancier version you did but I'm the crazy person that carries nice knives. My biggest question is blade length and OAL? Thanks
 
Ha, I guess that would have been nice eh? LOL

The green one is 9-1/4" overall with the blade at 4-1/4" long, ~1-3/16" wide, and 0.220" thick! (I did them beefy just cuz I could ;) ).

The black one is the same except the blade is a tad longer. I got a little wild with the green one and stabbed it all the way through my poly cutting board, into the bench, and deformed a tiny spot on the tip that I simply sharpened out with a DMT stone. :foot: :)
 
Nick, I would be interested in hearing about the way you sharpened the main edges compared to the clip?
 
TheWeatherman said:
Nick, I would be interested in hearing about the way you sharpened the main edges compared to the clip?
Click to expand...

The way I do things, both edges are established during the finish grinding.


The clip grind is essentially a scandi grind. I rough it in with a 60X belt and take it right close to an edge, then a few passes with a 120X to remove the coarse scratches, and then a fine micron belt. I actually raise a burr with the micron belt (a very fine one). I knock that off very lightly with a white ceramic rod, then a couple light strops on a wood backed, leather strop.

The key is in getting the angles right. You can do that same process, but if the bevels are too steep, you'll just have a wedge. But you don't want to take it too thin, because it won't have enough meat to survive a strong back-cut or hard jab.

It's a lot harder with a hand finished blade, for ME, because it's hard to sharpen it without marring up the finish.



The main bevels are flat ground to about 0.005 - 0.007 thick (except for the tip), then I carefully roll the blade (you can do this on the belt or a disc sander) in to create a slight convex geometry. If you can turn your belt or disc speed way down, you can take it right to a burr. I don't think I'd try it with a grinder running ballz out though.

The tip is rolled in as well, but at a steeper angle. My friend and bladesmith extraordinaire, Mike Quesenberry, prodded me into doing the beefier tip grinding. :thumbup: I used to take all my tips down to needle thin, but on a knife like this that leaves the tip pretty vulnerable (even with something like 3V with professional heat treat).

After that is done, I sharpen on a 600X DMT (fine), then a 1200X DMT (extra fine). It should only take a half dozen passes or so per stone. I do one more pass on the e-f stone with the spine raised a few degrees and just the weight of the blade (to remove what's left of the burr), then do a few light passes on the strop.

IME, this results in an edge that is polished enough to easily shave, slice leather, etc., but is toothy enough that it cuts well through nasty stuff like animal hide/hair.




There are about 1,005 ways to get a knife sharp, and what constitutes sharp can be different from one guy to the next... but the process above results in an edge that is appropriate, IMHO, for most of my blades. :)
 
Last edited:
These are cool knives. I have always loved a simple, well-designed and highly functional knife. These check all those boxes and then some.
 
NickWheeler said:
The way I do things, both edges are established during the finish grinding.


The clip grind is essentially a scandi grind. I rough it in with a 60X belt and take it right close to an edge, then a few passes with a 120X to remove the coarse scratches, and then a fine micron belt. I actually raise a burr with the micron belt (a very fine one). I knock that off very lightly with a white ceramic rod, then a couple light strops on a wood backed, leather strop.

The key is in getting the angles right. You can do that same process, but if the bevels are too steep, you'll just have a wedge. But you don't want to take it too thin, because it won't have enough meat to survive a strong back-cut or hard jab.

It's a lot harder with a hand finished blade, for ME, because it's hard to sharpen it without marring up the finish.



The main bevels are flat ground to about 0.005 - 0.007 thick (except for the tip), then I carefully roll the blade (you can do this on the belt or a disc sander) in to create a slight convex geometry. If you can turn your belt or disc speed way down, you can take it right to a burr. I don't think I'd try it with a grinder running ballz out though.

The tip is rolled in as well, but at a steeper angle. My friend and bladesmith extraordinaire, Mike Quesenberry, prodded me into doing the beefier tip grinding. :thumbup: I used to take all my tips down to needle thin, but on a knife like this that leaves the tip pretty vulnerable (even with something like 3V with professional heat treat).

After that is done, I sharpen on a 600X DMT (fine), then a 1200X DMT (extra fine). It should only take a half dozen passes or so per stone. I do one more pass on the e-f stone with the spine raised a few degrees and just the weight of the blade (to remove what's left of the burr), then do a few light passes on the strop.

IME, this results in an edge that is polished enough to easily shave, slice leather, etc., but is toothy enough that it cuts well through nasty stuff like animal hide/hair.




There are about 1,005 ways to get a knife sharp, and what constitutes sharp can be different from one guy to the next... but the process above results in an edge that is appropriate, IMHO, for most of my blades. :)
Click to expand...

Nick, awesome. Thanks for the thoughts. For some reason I like swedges. I don't make mine sharp though because I was unsure about how to get the best geometry and still have them look the way I want them to look.

You and Jason Knight play big influences on my work. If you had time I would love to talk to you about knife geometry and sharpening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top