bowie

A

ahouse55

Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
8
hey guys
i am Alec and i am 15 and i am planing on making a knife like that of a bowie for a project at school and was wondering if i should use spring steel (12"x2"x1/4") and shape and harden it or draw out a square bar which i then harden? i have had some experience and have made a few smaller knives before but this is the first big one. i am also not in the position to make a Damascus blade
 
Hi Alec. Welcome to BF. Spring steel would be good for a bowie knife. 5160 would probably be my choice. Will you be doing stock removal or forging? It's pretty much up to you whether you want to buy bar stock and grind the blade out or heat it and beat it. I suggest you read through the newbie sticky up top. It has a lot of good information that you might be able to use. Good luck with your project!
 
Hi Alec, The answer will depend a lot on what tools you have available to you.
There is a Sticky top of the page titled Newbies good information here.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=452465. There is so much information their that it will keep you busy for a while. Good stuff.
If you fill out your profile, there mite be a knife maker Near you who would be willing to let you come by his shop.
 
hey thanks for the response.
do you guys know any where in adelaide i can buy an anvil after i stop using the guys forge who is teaching me
 
ahouse55 said:
hey guys
i am Alec and i am 15 and i am planing on making a knife like that of a bowie for a project at school and was wondering if i should use spring steel (12"x2"x1/4") and shape and harden it or draw out a square bar which i then harden? i have had some experience and have made a few smaller knives before but this is the first big one. i am also not in the position to make a Damascus blade
Click to expand...
I would seriously advise against this! you'd probably get suspended for bringing the knife to school in the country of sheeple.
 
It's odd how times change. I was introduced to knife making about 30 years ago with a shop project to build a 6" bowie knife in Jr. High. I carried a slip joint in my pocket every day. One of the "master" projects for the second year wood shop students was to make a laminated recurve hunting bow.

Now a swedish army knife will get you expelled and labeled a criminal.

Walter
 
I have to wonder what it is like in my home town now. I grew up in a small eastern Montana city. You could walk though the parking lot and see all kinds of rifles in pickup gun racks and many had pistols in them also. I remember picking up a 25-35 Winchester from my grandfathers and walking all the way across town with it once when I was about 12 and nobody thought anything about it. I was there last year and still lots of gun racks with rifles in the middle of the summer. Seeing a man wearing a pistol wasn't that too uncommon. If you went into a bar armed gave your pistol to the bartender and would return it when you left. Shootings were extremely uncommon and if there was one it wasn't the innocent bystanders that got shot. I would almost bet there are still loaded guns in pickup racks, if not in the school parking lot, on the public streets nearby. I was once looking at some city ordinances and noticed that there was one against having a loaded gun in public. I belonged to the south eastern Montana police protective association, as membership got you keys to their pistol range. I asked the police chief at a shoot why they never arrested anyone for a loaded gun in town? He laughed and said there was no way they could ever get a jury to even consider convicting.
 
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Welcome:thumbup:

Bowies are my favorite to forge. They have a lot of personality. If you are thinking of making one, take your time in doing so. You don't want to rush a big knife; let it develop.
Any of the good basic carbon steels that have been mentioned will work fine for your blade.

Most important of all; enjoy your work.

Fred
 
thanks for the advice guys, and i have finished my project and i have a selection of knives that i made and i did not get expelled or thrown in jail. yes i live in Australia and there were a few things i had to do to actually bring in the knives for the presentation night. one i had to render them blunt which broke my heart. and have them cable tied to a big piece of that mdf shit that you hang your tools on in your shed.

here is a link to my final knife hope it works.
file:///D:/Alec/PICS/abcd.JPG
or try this one
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...dID=458464874&albumID=309369&imageID=11498826

Thanks again.
 
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