Down time knife WIP

Tai Goo

Tai Goo

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Had some down time this morning waiting for some steel to get here, with nothing better to do,… so I decided to get started on this WIP. The idea is to use up some materials I already have, do something constructive with my down time and make a knife.

I’m working on an order that requires a stag handle and had to order a box full of crowns to get one that would work. So, I’m starting with one of the left over pieces and a piece of 1/8 inch 1095 just waiting in the shop for me to make a blade out of. I kind of wish I had a spare piece of 3/16 instead of the 1/8, but might as well try using what I have. I have some 3/16 but need it for other things. The drawing is just something to get me started. Not a blue print. I’m thinking like a light weight E-nep or recurve type blade. We’ll see….

Ray Richard has been making some really cool looking sheaths and have been hoping to get him to make one for one of my knives. This might be a good one for that. They are pouch type sheaths, so I'm keeping that in the back of my mind with this one.

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Stag and sketch.
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Stub tang to hold the piece by.
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Hot cut groove.
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Piece broken off in vice.
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Keep em coming.

That is a nice piece of stag btw.
 
Are you holding the tongs with you legs while you hot cut, or having a helper do it? Looks good so far! Those sheaths are really cool too.
 
I have a hold fast anvil tool, but just laid it on the anvil this time… short easy cut.

I probably only have 15 minutes in the knife so far and an hour or two in the WIP. LOL

... just killing time. :)
 
I got the steel I was waiting for today, but as soon as I have some more down time I'll get back on this one.
 
Tai,
Can you post an introductory paragraph describing the WIP. I will move it to the BBQ sticky.

It should be in this format:

Your forum name
The WIP name and type
Brief description of project



Example:
Knifemaker1234
Recurve Hunter - Weekend Project
This is a build WIP on making a recurve hunter in L-6 and fitting a stag crown handle. It will cover the HT I use for L-6 as well as how I carve the Stag Crown.
 
Tai Goo
Down time knife WIP- Knife made with spare time and materials
The idea is to use up some materials I already have, do something constructive with my down time and make a knife.
 
...and hopefully work with my buddy Ray and get him to make one of his waaaay coooool pouch sheaths for the knife. Would that be a RayGoo collaboration then?
 
"RichGoo" sound like something Donald Trump would claim to have :)
 
I had a few minutes this morning, waiting for another piece of steel to cool, so I decided to goo ahead and counter bend this one. I over compensated for the recurve because it will straighten out a bit when I get to the beveling.

One of the reasons I left the tang wide for now, is so it won’t bend and/or flip flop around during parts of the forging like this step.

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Changed it a lot, huh?
 
O.K. well,… My arm got tired whaling on the other piece,… big, so I decided to give my arm a rest and do some light duty forging on this one.

I used a cross peen on the front part of the blade to accomplish three things at once, starting the bevel, gaining width in that area, and starting to curve the point upwards.

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What amazes me is you are using 1/8" stock. I would have burned it up on the first heat . If it miraculously survived that, it would disappear at the grinder. What's your secret?
 
I put aromatic (cedar, juniper, or pine) wood splints in the gas forge to create a carburizing atmosphere. It actually coats the blade with soot. Of course, as soon as you take it out it goes into an oxidizing atmosphere, but really helps cut down on scale and decarb, virtually eliminates it while it’s in the forge. The aroma of the wood doesn’t do anything for the steel, that I know of?, but it does smell good to me… so why not? The other thing is just to get through the forging as quickly and efficiently as you can, with as few heats as possible.

The wood splints can go in through the top vent or side inlet, or both... or front or back for that matter. Through the top vent is more self feed though.

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Coffee can, weed burner rig:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...rner-rig?highlight=Coffee+can+weed+burner+rig

I cut the stag down, just to have a look see on my smoke break. Looking at it now, I think it might be cooler with a bit more recurve than the original sketch. I might need to counter bend it some more, before I bevel that section. I guess I’ll think about it while I’m working on the other one. LOL

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It was a cold morning and my propane tank was getting low and started freezing up on me. I wasn’t getting enough heat for the heavy hogging I was doing on the big piece so I decided to take a few more heats on this one.

I counter bent it a bit more and finished the beveling. It’s pretty much rough forged now. All I need to do is some fine tuning, planishing and straightening. I’ll probably do minimal stock reduction on it, leaving some of the forged finish, especially along the back since it’s from 1/8 stock, fairly thin. So far, I really haven't touched the back to keep as much thickness there as I can.

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