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Wow, incredible work! I totally agree with The Virginian, and can't wait to see the fruits of your labor. Amazing work, Mark!
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Arctic Fire - Making Tamahagane in Alaska Bill Burke and David Mirabile show knives
- Thread starter Mark Knapp
- Start date
other memory
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Subscribed. Sweet thread, interesting story.
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Thanks everybody, for your nice comments.
The last month has been a flurry of activity from finishing the knives to the trip to Kodiak. I finished the knives the morning we left for Kodiak so I didn't have time to post any progress at that time. I'm back now and will pick up where I left off.
Here are the two blades rough ground to shape, ready for clay. I left the surfaces rough to hold the clay well. The blades were forged pretty close to shape, you can see evidence from the forging in several places.
The clay is applied, I'm trying for some dramatic tiger stripes. It's hard to say what will happen given the un-tried steel.
The drop point hunter ready for the quench. This is water hardening steel, I will try the quench with the water at room temperature first. If I don't get the results I want, I will use chilled water next.
The last month has been a flurry of activity from finishing the knives to the trip to Kodiak. I finished the knives the morning we left for Kodiak so I didn't have time to post any progress at that time. I'm back now and will pick up where I left off.
Here are the two blades rough ground to shape, ready for clay. I left the surfaces rough to hold the clay well. The blades were forged pretty close to shape, you can see evidence from the forging in several places.
The clay is applied, I'm trying for some dramatic tiger stripes. It's hard to say what will happen given the un-tried steel.
The drop point hunter ready for the quench. This is water hardening steel, I will try the quench with the water at room temperature first. If I don't get the results I want, I will use chilled water next.
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The skinner blade is ready for the quench.
The quench.
The blades are cleaned up on the belt sander to 400 grit and are ready for hand sanding.
Starting at 400 grit the tool marks are sanded out.
I hand sand to 800 grit.
After sanding I etched the blades to look for texture and a hamon. We can see the texture from the tamahagane as well as the hamon from the clay differential hardening. In polishing and sharpening I could tell that the edge was successfully hardened, how well it was hardened is yet to be seen.
Time is running short, no time for fancy handle work. I quickly mortised some moose antler handle sections and sculpted them to shape. We left Fairbanks for Homer shortly after the epoxy cured. From Homer we rode the ferry 14 hours to Kodiak.
Stay tuned, next, the hunting trip and performance of the knives. I have to compile the pictures first.
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The metal has come full circle, it started out as iron ore in the bush and it returns to the bush for work. My buddy Mike Bracken and I drove the 565 miles from Fairbanks to Homer to meet the ferry for the 14 hour ferry trip to Kodiak city. We met with our other two hunting partners who flew in from Ohio to join us. We waited for a couple of days in Kodiak for the seas to calm down. I don't like to bring my boat, the "Non-pelagic Squid" out in any thing bigger than 4 foot seas. We did the shopping for groceries, picked up some last minute gear and filled the boat with fuel while we waited.
Finally we made it to tent camp in Terror Bay, we were up at eight the first morning there and had a leisurely breakfast. We glassed from camp while we made plans for the day.....
and this guy walked out of the brush a little over a hundred yards from camp before we could even start washing the dishes. We depend on camp meat quite a bit and this little buck would be perfect for that, my first tag was notched before nine on the first morning we were in camp.
The opening cuts were made as usual. I started with the drop point hunter, the knife did a great job but piercing the hide to start the cut would have been easier with a pointier knife like a clip point or an opening knife. I will make one for the next expedition.
The knife was sharp and cut cleanly from stem to stern in one smooth action.
I continued with removing the skin from one side of the animal before eviscerating, to me, it keeps everything cleaner, no guts and blood on the meat and no hair in the cavity.
While skinning, I found my bullet just under the skin on the "off" side. It performed perfectly, it had retained most of it's original weight and mushroomed to over twice it's original diameter.
I continued with the opening cuts down the legs.
The hind leg on the top side has already been removed. I'm skinning the front end, soon the front leg will come off. The body cavity has not been opened yet.
Finally we made it to tent camp in Terror Bay, we were up at eight the first morning there and had a leisurely breakfast. We glassed from camp while we made plans for the day.....
and this guy walked out of the brush a little over a hundred yards from camp before we could even start washing the dishes. We depend on camp meat quite a bit and this little buck would be perfect for that, my first tag was notched before nine on the first morning we were in camp.
The opening cuts were made as usual. I started with the drop point hunter, the knife did a great job but piercing the hide to start the cut would have been easier with a pointier knife like a clip point or an opening knife. I will make one for the next expedition.
The knife was sharp and cut cleanly from stem to stern in one smooth action.
I continued with removing the skin from one side of the animal before eviscerating, to me, it keeps everything cleaner, no guts and blood on the meat and no hair in the cavity.
While skinning, I found my bullet just under the skin on the "off" side. It performed perfectly, it had retained most of it's original weight and mushroomed to over twice it's original diameter.
I continued with the opening cuts down the legs.
The hind leg on the top side has already been removed. I'm skinning the front end, soon the front leg will come off. The body cavity has not been opened yet.
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The drop point hunter is doing a fine job.
After the front and hind legs and the back straps are removed I split the brisket and removed the viscera using the drop point hunter.
I cut the ribs away using a pack saw and flipped the deer over repeating everything on the second side.
Last, the the neck meat is boned away from the spine.
After butchering and skinning the whole deer, the knife seemed as sharp as when I started.
It easily shaved hair.
I used the same knife on the second deer without sharpening.
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A comfortable camp.
We saw lots of whales, seals, puffins, brown bears and these guys.
My little dingy was handy for packing things around.
We didn't spend all of our time hunting, we did some fishing in the bay. We caught rockfish, walleye pollock, pacific cod, and sole. This is Joe with a small Yelloweye Rockfish....
and a Quillback Rockfish.
A Rock Sole These, along with the cod are not often kept for table fare, maybe because they don't freeze well, but fresh from the ocean, they are delicious.
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Time to get back to deer hunting. I skinned, boned the back straps, tenderloins and neck meats away from the spine and split the brisket on the first three deer with one knife without sharpening it to see how long the edge would last. After three deer it was just starting to get dull. It would still shave facial hair but it just wasn't like it was at first.
Three of us had each taken a deer for meat. With plenty of meat on the pole we decided to hold out for nicer bucks.
Joe's was first, it's a three by three about 14 inches wide. As deer go, Sitka Blacktails are not large. On Kodiak Island a real big buck will go two hundred pounds and have twenty inch wide antlers. A four by four with a spread of 20 inches would surely make the record books.
Joe wanted to have his mounted so I caped it for a shoulder mount. I hadn't made a caping knife with tamahagane but I will have to do it for the next hunt.
The skinner was used on the last three deer, it's shape made it nice for long, sweeping strokes to skin fast with little fatigue.
Three of us had each taken a deer for meat. With plenty of meat on the pole we decided to hold out for nicer bucks.
Joe's was first, it's a three by three about 14 inches wide. As deer go, Sitka Blacktails are not large. On Kodiak Island a real big buck will go two hundred pounds and have twenty inch wide antlers. A four by four with a spread of 20 inches would surely make the record books.
Joe wanted to have his mounted so I caped it for a shoulder mount. I hadn't made a caping knife with tamahagane but I will have to do it for the next hunt.
The skinner was used on the last three deer, it's shape made it nice for long, sweeping strokes to skin fast with little fatigue.
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This is about as cool as it gets... For a long time I've wanted to try making a knife from home made steel. Closest my situation would take me I think would be an Aristotle furnace type. Getting to see it all from the start to field use is just fantastic. Thanks for all the great pics.
Jeremy
Jeremy
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Great pics - congrats on the deer.
I could see one of the beavers debating the length of the blade while the other one was splashing about.
I could see one of the beavers debating the length of the blade while the other one was splashing about.
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Look like Otters to me. John
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Yes, sorry, those are sea otters.