Damascus Take-Down

Step 5: cut out the rough shape.
Step 6: Use grinder to put curves where straight lines once were.
Step 7: Put project on hold while finishing previous project.

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Step 8: Admit I'm not ready to put this on hold yet
Step 9: Finish profiling by grinding the rounded back of the edge and the curve in the spine
Step 10: Taper the tip

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I spent about an hour today at the grinder (gasp!) roughing in the bevels and swedges. I say roughing in because, well, I still lack skill with the grinder and will definitely be doing the cleanup work with files. Anyway, I also spent some time yesterday working on the threaded hole that will accept the threaded rod. Here's where we stand as of this moment.

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Greg, your bevels look great.

No one goes pro with a grinder over night, slow and steady like I'm sure you are doing will get you the best results. Looking forward to this one developing!
 
Thanks, Jonathan. I amused myself by taking video of the first 15 minutes of the grinding. It's pointless video, of course, but I wanted to try out my new (cheap) video camera and the tripod mount I made for it with the gooseneck extension. It worked great! Of course, nobody gets to see this video... you only get to see the flattering videos where I look like Johnny Depp and I'm doing something amazing. ;)
 
A suggestion for those doing welded on tangs.

Make your tang stub and shoulders after the bevels are shaped. There is no need to cut them out ahead of time. Draw them in with a Sharpie if you want, but they should be almost the last thing ground away. That will lessen the sharp corners and often too narrow tang. Weld the tang extension on, and then grind the metal back to form the tang. This gives you an even weld line, without burnouts.

The tang is best shaped with the first 3/8" to 1/2" being just about 1/4" narrower than the blade width at the ricasso.This makes for a good wide guard seat. Then drop back with a curved step, and for the next 1" the tang should be 1/2 the ricasso width. After that the tang can be just threaded rod, or mild steel bar. You really need 1.50" of tang in the blade stock before the stub ends and the rod starts.

While the weld can be made anytime, it is often easier to weld the tang extension on before any shaping of the blade. The best way to add a threaded rod is to cut a 1/2" long slot the width of the rod, set the rod in the slot, and weld up both sides. Then you just grind down the rod thickness to match the tang thickness. This gives a flat tang rod with threaded edges. 1/4" threaded rod works best. If it is a bit sloppy in the slot, just hammer it to spread it to a flush fit before welding it up.
 
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Today I decided to spend another hour at the grinder. I know, I know... but I figured I wanted to give it a chance to earn it's keep.

I'm not thrilled with the results, but it does look better. Well, it does to me anyway.

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After some time away (my way of getting over the frustration of things not going the way I expected), I revived this project today. I spent a couple of hours at the grinder GENTLY addressing some of the grossest flaws I'd introduced to the metal. I'm not done yet, but I'm working towards getting this one off to heat treatment by early next week at the latest. I've abandoned the notion of making this one to scale with the Musso spec. I'm certainly not married to the Musso style guard and I won't even attempt the "sweating on" of the brass on the spine... and I'm still considering the blue jean micarta for the handle. I'm still aiming to make this a take down. More than that I really can't say at this point.

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The task of getting this blade HT ready is taking longer than anticipated, but I'm muscling through. Still at the 120 grit level, but just about time to move to 180. I'm MUCH happier with the way this is going now than I was a few weeks ago.

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The blade is now sanded to 240 grit, which I think is about as much as I want to do before HT. I also drilled the through hold in the micarta block, and fitted the shorty tang. I'll do some shaping and carving of the handle while the blade is out, but probably won't start on the guard until the blade is back (so I can get a good tight fit on it).

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I'm still trying to figure out where the ricasso is? Will the guard be just attached to the blade as shown?
 
I started thinking about handle solutions in more detail today and it occurred to me that one advantage of a take down is the opportunity to create multiple handles and guards for use on a single blade. I think I'll create three handles for this one, each with its own guard. One of micarta, maybe another of stacked ivory, and another of stacked wood or leather (or both).
 
Here are the latest pics showing what I'm doing to Butch's blue jean burl micarta block.

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