Arctic Fire - Making Tamahagane in Alaska Bill Burke and David Mirabile show knives

[Mark Knapp]

Here's Joe with his second deer.

Me with my second buck, a 3 X 4.

Bessie playing with one of the locals.

A pretty cool rock formation, we dubbed ourselves the "Hole In The Wall Gang"

Bessie helping with the skinning.

We hunted ducks while we were there.

These walleye pollock are really good eating.

I caught one of these things while fishing for rockfish, it's a sea anemone.

One of the 70 or so whales we saw on the trip, this ones a humpback. We also saw fin whales and orcas.

The sun sets on another excellent adventure. We had a lot of fun, saw things many people don't get to see and learned a few things.

In summery I have to say that for untested steel made from local ore the knives performed really well. For the next time I will try chilling the water before I quench to see if I can get a little better edge retention. I will also make a couple more styles of knives, an opener, a caper and a fillet knife.

I will see if I can get pictures of Bill's and Joe's knives made from the same steel to post in this thread. Thanks for following, I am happy to answer any question.

 

[Bill Burke]

Very Nice Mark, I didn't take many pictures of the blade I forged but do have a couple somewhere. I still haven't finished it so will try and get that done in the next week and take wip pictures as I do so.

thank you for the great time and the opportunity to come and enjoy your great hospitality.

 

[Mark Knapp]

Very Nice Mark, I didn't take many pictures of the blade I forged but do have a couple somewhere. I still haven't finished it so will try and get that done in the next week and take wip pictures as I do so.

thank you for the great time and the opportunity to come and enjoy your great hospitality.

That would be great Bill, can't wait to see them.

 

[Mark Knapp]

This just keeps getting better and better, Bill is working on his knife made from our tamahagane cook and he's sending me pictures.

He's making a Pronghorn in the very popular style developed by Ed Fowler with some of the steel from our cook. Here's the blade in it's "as forged" shape.

And here it is rough ground.

Stay tuned.

 

[Mark Knapp]

All right, here's a bonus treat from David Mirabile. He sent me some pictures of his knife, a kwaiken (somebody correct me if I'm wrong) made with our tamahagane. Some would say we don't have the right to call it tamahagane because it wasn't made in Japan with Japanese ore. For them we can call our steel Alaskahagane.

David's knife

You can see the texture of the steel.

It's a take down.

Here's the "off" side. This is pretty cool. Thanks David

So we have four knives, using maybe 15 percent of the steel we made.

 

[Lorien]

what an epic, awesome thread.

 

[Mark Knapp]

what an epic, awesome thread.

Thanks Lorien, and everybody.

 

[Matthew Gregory]

How did I miss this thread?!?!?!?!

Excellent stuff, for certain!

Funny how dogs all react differently to wild game, Mark... my current boy is just amazed by dead deer. doesn't attack them, or try to eat them while they're hanging - just stares at them. The last one would latch onto the throat and thrash like a crocodile.

All the knives look great, and obviously performed, but I can't wait to see that kitchen knife finished. David's kwaiken/kozuka/whatever the heck you call it is trick!

 

[Mark Knapp]

How did I miss this thread?!?!?!?!

Excellent stuff, for certain!

Funny how dogs all react differently to wild game, Mark... my current boy is just amazed by dead deer. doesn't attack them, or try to eat them while they're hanging - just stares at them. The last one would latch onto the throat and thrash like a crocodile.

All the knives look great, and obviously performed, but I can't wait to see that kitchen knife finished. David's kwaiken/kozuka/whatever the heck you call it is trick!

Thanks Matthew, we're having a ball with this stuff. Gunna do more.

 

[Bob Leedy]

A very satisfying ending to a good story. The photos make me miss the many years of deer hunting I've done on neighboring Raspberry Island. Gotta take my kids back there sooner rather than later. Thanks.

 

[Mark Knapp]

A very satisfying ending to a good story. The photos make me miss the many years of deer hunting I've done on neighboring Raspberry Island. Gotta take my kids back there sooner rather than later. Thanks.

Thanks Bob, Hunting the Kodiak archipelago is truly like no where else.

 

[shane justice]

Your adventure in knife making and life make me cry with happiness and joy for you and those with you. Thank you for sharing.

Shane