Custom Knife Shop Efficiency...

nice.... yeah. that would work for me as I also file my shoulders in like that.. rather than mill a pressure fit slot... (although I still pressure fit up to the shoulders).

So does your habaki start from copper pipe then?

Nice chisel work on your guard. I just spent two days with Patrick Hastings to begin learning katakiri engraving/carving to do bamboo and other embellishments on my Japanese stuff.. and engrave 'passau art' on my swords. Your chisel seems similar to the ones I learned to make....
 
Scott, I am not "learned" on any of this stuff... I'm a trial and error maker who tries to mimic what he sees the real guys doing. I use copper pipe on some and shape drilled thick stock(3/4 to 1" over a tapered round punch. It starts off as a cube with a 1/2" hole and goes through a kind of a stretch, flatten, stretch, flatten approach that allows me to have thicker walled habaki. I grind away whatever I don't need. It sounds like more work but I find it easier.
 
I have been toying with the idea of making a set of dies for handles on my press. I will forge the blades to about 95% complete and then use the press and dies to ensure they are all fairly consistent in thickness and shape. It should in theory save me a lot of time profiling and slotting guards if there all the same size. It should allow me to do batches of guards and then just finish up with files. The dies should be completed soon.

I think I can do the same for the blades but want to wait and see how the handle dies work. And since my press from uncle al's is only so big, I will be limited to small blades. In theory if I can get each blade exactly the same off the forge with as little hammer marks as possible it should in turn save me a lot of time at the grinder. It should work out to be like water jetting for forging. It should give me a very consistent forged piece that will need very little grinding to profile.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top