America's Knife

kuraki said:
Not a dumb question at all. It was an autogenous weld (no filler) at low amperage to both hold it in place for the forge weld, and to seal out oxygen so I could weld it dry. I have 100% success with dry forge welds, but less than 100% with fluxed (I think my forge runs a bit lean), and because the guard was already near finished size and I didn't have enough of that billet left to make a new one should it fail, I wanted to make sure the forge weld took. Also, I tend to get decarb lines when I don't do a dry weld, and wanted the joint to be as seamless as possible. After the forge weld and milling the slot for the tang, when I did the final shaping of the guard, I ground away the TIG welds to expose the damascus pattern beneath them. You can't see it in any of the pictures in this thread, but there is a spot on the back of the guard where I was unable to grind it away completely and some of that remaining weld is visible as what looks like a blob of a203e. The shape was at a point where I felt any further grinding would be more detrimental to the flow of the guard than the interrupted pattern was. But you can see especially on the sides of the knife, even though it was welded all the way around, I was able to remove the vast majority and the only way you can tell there's a seam is where the patterns don't line up.



Mr. Betzner, I don't know you, but I know people who do, and please let me say thank you, very much for the kind words. I have not had many opportunities to really get my hands on very many custom knives, and sometimes feel like I'm shooting in the dark because of it. I can't tell you how much it means to me to receive that kind of feedback from someone who has likely owned or handled knives of a level I'll likely never achieve.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your informative response. I understand it completely now.
 
Neat! I'm not going to lie, I like the pattern on the steel a lot. Final finished pics, it really turned out special!!!
 
Impressive piece of work even if @mgregoryknives told you there should only be 27 stars. :p
 
Matthew Gregory said:
24, i4Marc i4Marc

I’ve got a list of all the ones I’m going to cut out when I become Benevolent Dictator. :D



Sweet work, John. I’m holding out for the snek blade, though.
Click to expand...

Hah I forgot to post those test pieces. I meant to.

When America's Knife looked like it was going to turn out as planned, I made these to see how small and detailed I could get, for instance, bolster sized or the like. In America's Knife the flag is a nickel alloy steel. In these, the designs are 420 stainless.

Jkf7peO.jpg

YjwDPoV.jpg


The next knife I make with this process will likely use both 420 stainless and nickel alloy in carbon steel for a 3 color effect.
 
The more I look at this knife... The more I think it's the greatest bowie I've ever seen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top