Wasn't sure where to make my splash, but here goes.
What better way to introduce myself than to tell you a story about a knife?
I made knives back in the 1970s, mostly out of O1, but some out of industrial power hacksaw blades. But now I need to digress....
My first gun was a Browning Sweet Sixteen. Really loved that gun... Somewhere around the late-middle 1970s I learned that Browning had discontinued the Sweet Sixteen, so I ran out to the gun shops to see if any were still on the shelves, and I found one. I didn't make much money back then and the $400 price tag was a bit more than I could afford so I put it on layaway. A friend, his name is George, told me that he would help me get the gun out of layaway but I had to make him a knife.
Not just any knife. He wanted a full sized Bowie. And it had to have brass on the spine. That's all the specifics I can remember.
Well, not long after that, I went back to school, had my knifemaking equipment stolen, and stopped making knives. For forty years. So I never got around to making George's Bowie.
I have always had in the back of my mind that I was going to start making knives again. A few years ago I retired, and recently I finally decided it was TIME.
I didn't want to use O1 because I wanted something more corrosion resistant. I started looking around at what people used for fancy custom knives and D2 caught my fancy.
So, I found some D2, and made George's Bowie. Yes, we are still friends and stay in touch! When I first started working on it, I took a picture of the work in progress and texted it to George and said "Better late than never"
I had a block of golden ebony I wanted to use for something, so I made a coffin handle with the ebony.
For a sheath, I got some REALLY thick leather and stained it to match the handle. I laced the sheath with leather lace and made a tie down strap with the ends of the lace.
Here is what it looked like before I sent it off to be heat treated (I temporarily assembled it)
When I got it back from heat treating, the oxidation looked a lot like color case hardening, so I sent George a picture and asked if he wanted me to leave it like that. He did.
Here it is without the brass on the spine (I forgot to put it on there for the picture)
And yes it has a true false edge
I read that you can't get a good edge on D2. Well, I did it. 15 degree bevel with a 20 degree microbevel, and stopped and stropped and stropped with crocus cloth. George said he needs to hide it somewhere because he's afraid it will cut him.
What better way to introduce myself than to tell you a story about a knife?
I made knives back in the 1970s, mostly out of O1, but some out of industrial power hacksaw blades. But now I need to digress....
My first gun was a Browning Sweet Sixteen. Really loved that gun... Somewhere around the late-middle 1970s I learned that Browning had discontinued the Sweet Sixteen, so I ran out to the gun shops to see if any were still on the shelves, and I found one. I didn't make much money back then and the $400 price tag was a bit more than I could afford so I put it on layaway. A friend, his name is George, told me that he would help me get the gun out of layaway but I had to make him a knife.
Not just any knife. He wanted a full sized Bowie. And it had to have brass on the spine. That's all the specifics I can remember.
Well, not long after that, I went back to school, had my knifemaking equipment stolen, and stopped making knives. For forty years. So I never got around to making George's Bowie.
I have always had in the back of my mind that I was going to start making knives again. A few years ago I retired, and recently I finally decided it was TIME.
I didn't want to use O1 because I wanted something more corrosion resistant. I started looking around at what people used for fancy custom knives and D2 caught my fancy.
So, I found some D2, and made George's Bowie. Yes, we are still friends and stay in touch! When I first started working on it, I took a picture of the work in progress and texted it to George and said "Better late than never"
I had a block of golden ebony I wanted to use for something, so I made a coffin handle with the ebony.
For a sheath, I got some REALLY thick leather and stained it to match the handle. I laced the sheath with leather lace and made a tie down strap with the ends of the lace.
Here is what it looked like before I sent it off to be heat treated (I temporarily assembled it)
When I got it back from heat treating, the oxidation looked a lot like color case hardening, so I sent George a picture and asked if he wanted me to leave it like that. He did.
Here it is without the brass on the spine (I forgot to put it on there for the picture)
And yes it has a true false edge
I read that you can't get a good edge on D2. Well, I did it. 15 degree bevel with a 20 degree microbevel, and stopped and stropped and stropped with crocus cloth. George said he needs to hide it somewhere because he's afraid it will cut him.
Last edited:
