Bowie in progress

This is a great thread.

Craig, I am guessing you will be adding MS after your MBA soon.

(Great dog too--boxer+bulldog?)
 
LOL! first off I had better defend Joe's knife and declare that hair was not pubic hair. :) :p

I like to radius the tangs as I feel it does eliminate areas for stress risers. The clay that I use is Satanite.

I thought Danbo might recognize the knife on the far right in the shot of the tempering process. It is a blade that he made that he asked me to heat treat for him. He is suppossed to have it doen for Blade. The pressure is on now Dan! :D

Becoming a MS is a goal of mine but I have alot of work to do get to that stage.

The dog in the pic is an American Bulldog. It is a veryold breed that supposedly cam e to our shores as early as the pilgrimes. This one is a very playful and obediant dog .. He goes about 125lbs and is just starting to fill out and get wide.
 
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This is what the knife looks like after being finished ground and freshly etched.

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Here is the blade after being cleaned and polished.

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The guard was roughly sized and fit to the knife. this knife will recieve a concealment style sheath so I slimmed up the profile of the guard so it wouldn't dig in to the body when being carried.

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htis is a pic of the slot drilled in the spacer. I will cut it from the barstock and file the groove smooth to match the tang.

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A test fit to make sure everything was fitting correctly.

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I have just drilled the index pin holes in my spacer. I use the index pins to align the spacer and handle material to the same spot everytime they are assembled.

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The handle material has been temporarly super glued to the spacer so that the holes can be transfered to it and the pins inserted.

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At this point I rough shape the contours of my handles. I like to give the handles a nice palm swell and also contours that match the shape of the hand.

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Here I am using a triangle file to establish a groove for the spacer. I will then use a round chainsaw file to round out the groove and then come back with sand paper wrapped around the file to smooth all of the filling marks.

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In this pic the guard has been worked to the finished shape and has been coin edged. The handle has been sanded and the knife is given a final test fitting before the fittings are blued. At this stage everyting must be fitting correctly because once it is blued there is no adjusting.
 
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The Guard and the spacer are about to be lowered into the salts. Care must be taken so that there is no moisture on the parts being lowered into the salts.



Below are the finished pics of the bowie. I had some pic of the mosiac pin being installed and the final hand sanding of the pin area but I accidentally deleted them from my camera.
I took a couple of pics of the blade at some odd angle to try to get some the hamon to show beter in the pics.

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I hope everyone enjoyed this it has been fun for me to document the process. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
 
I always like these "How I do it" pictorial essays, and I must say, CCamerer makes it damned easy.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Craig, that bowie turned out AWESOME! I give it a table lifespan of about a nanosecond at Blade(if it makes it to Atlanta). Great tutorial too.

Hopefully, I can finish that little knife for the show. ;) :)
 
Thanks guys.

I have one more pic. I realized I had forgot to add the thonghole so here is the pic of the handle with the thonghole installed:

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The colors in the ironwood have a real depth to them when you wee them in the sunlight.
 
Craig,

Thanks again!

Are the salts NitreBlue with a turkey fryer? How deep is the pot, and do you quench into it sometimes also?

Thanks,

John Frankl
 
Danbo said:
Craig, that bowie turned out AWESOME! I give it a table lifespan of about a nanosecond at Blade(if it makes it to Atlanta). Great tutorial too. :)
Click to expand...

ROTF!!!! :D
hey Danbo... maybe instead of looking at all the pretty pics, you oughta read the captions, too!!! LOL!!!

IT'S MINE!!!!! MUWAHAHAAHA!!! :cool: It's coming this way Babeeee!!!
ya see, after I saw the one he did for you, I HAD to have one! :eek:

And now that he's done... I'm simply speechless... :confused: I don't know what to say.. Craig, you did absolutely everything I asked for! And the result is simply one beautiful package!!! :D

And on top of that, to have had the whole process not only documented, but shared, too...

I have to tell anyone that may be interested - Craig is another great knifemaker to deal with... and when I see the knife firsthand, I bet I know I'll have dealt with a maker worth his salt! (Heck, we've already seen it abused! Whacking on wood in the dirt? It doesn't get any more real than that! :eek: )

Thanks Craig, it's been an honor and a pleasure doing business with you!!! :D
 
Great knife and great thread. Thanks for the read.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you grind the palm swell in the handle? Thanks,

Matt
 
joeshredd said:
ROTF!!!! :D
hey Danbo... maybe instead of looking at all the pretty pics, you oughta read the captions, too!!! LOL!!!
Click to expand...

Too much reading makes my head hurt! :p :D
 
Fantastict job on the write up and an even better one on knife.It was alot of fun to read.Thanks for taking the time.
 
Wow, Craig. That really came out great. nice snappy temper line on a classic blade shape, great figured wood embellished with a mosaic pin and a coin edge guard... sweet!
 
Thanks, everyone. I am glad that you enjoyed the posts.

The nitre blue salts are on the turkey fryer in the pan. It is about 8" deep. I normally quench in Brownells tought quench.

As for the palm swells I flat grind on the sides of the handle to create a sharp peak, I use then use my 8" contact wheel on the back of the handle to make a concave surface which I gradually keep contouring until everything has a nice smooth feel to it. I then start hand sanding.

Craig
 
Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic !! Thanks for showing those pics. Just a perfect tutorial for those who are curious and interested. I might link this to a couple of guys I know who would benefit from knowing what a bladesmith does. Jason.
 
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