Beckerhead Knife Making and Modification Thread

GeofS said:
daizee daizee , you’re on fire!
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I'm working faster than I ever have for this show!
Actually, I counted today: I have 17 pieces already IF you count the one for my friend who will probably pick it up at the show, and one Nautilus Rudder Bearing mini-dashi which I "can" only sell to shipmates. 16 was my target minimum. Looks like 18-20 is plausible now. The question is whether or not there will be any Magnacut pieces on the table...

Last night and this afternoon I worked on the American Leuku. It really is too big to heat-treat in my little forge for reasons, but it got good and hard and I managed to straighten the inevitable bend. Once tempering is finished, including drawing the spine a bit with a torch (edge in water), I'll whack it on a log or something to make sure I got it right before proceding:

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Got the American Leuku sorted out and belt-finished. It's not what I'd call a "precise" job, but it looks good in this photo. :)

Deciding on bolster material, and will likely use that axe handle where marked. Tho I might go looking for a slightly straighter one.

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Not a sole maker thing - helping a buddy with a semi-group project.
this is where we stopped at 5 hours of manual hammering, about half of which was done with a 14# sledge.
After I left, another guy showed up and they did some stretching. I figure by the time it's done, the blade will be around 29"
started with 25" long piece of leaf spring 2 1/4" wide x 3/8" thick
at time of pic, the blade was 26 1/2" with a 5" or so tang, 1 3/4" wide by a little over 5/16" thick
the cutoff is just shy of 1/2" thick, 1 3/4" wide and 7" long - it'll be fun seeing what I can make out of it.

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Safety first :D
The material combo works beautifully.
I can imagine a micarta pin to secure the handle to finish it.
 
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The webserver process on my image host is down. If my admin buddy doesn't repair it today I'll let him know.
 
daizee said:
Done! Last one for the show, I think:

American Leuku

0.175" 1084, differentially tempered, stuffed though burlap micarta and a copper spacer into a genuine American hickory axe handle:
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

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If it were possible to claim there was a whole goldknifeworks bushcraft "line", this would probably be it:


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Nice Work, all very complimentary to each other!
 
How difficult was it burying that tang into the existing handle?
Marking, drilling, clean up, etc with the existing curves of the handle I imagine is tricky
 
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