Drill Rod Camp Bowie

LongRifle

LongRifle

Joined
Apr 5, 2000
Messages
2,018
This is a piece I've been playing with for a while. Greg Covington forged out the tang for me on his press, it worked like gang busters. I think Greg forged it out in about two heats, my shoulder felt better just watching :).

I forged the blade from 52100 (not a drill rod :) but flat stock), ss guard, and sheep horn handle. I run hot and cold on sheep horn, but I felt this knife would be a perfect candidate for SH. I know it doesn't do much for a great deal of people, but I think it makes a very comfortable and durable handle so I don't mind using it occasionally.

I named this the drill rod bowie because I fully radiused and polished the spine and underside of the ricasso, which looks just like a drill rod (out of the box at least, they look pretty nasty when I'm done with them :)).

I'm finally getting the hang of guards after almost two and a half years of knife making. Originally I had a double guard on this blade, but I wanted to take advantage of the radiused spine; it's something I really like and will be using on future knives.

This finish is also the best I've been able to do, mostly due to new procedures and improved grinding.

The specs are; 8" blade, .23" at the spine, 4.5" handle, 12.5" oal.

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Why I call it the "Drill Rod"
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The fit came out pretty nice too.
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Just a shot showing that I can never clean all the crap off a blade before taking a photo :)
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Matt
 
Very nice work Matt.I like it.I find on some of my hunters I really like a radiused spine it's finger friendly.The blade finish could use a little work though. :p
 
Beautiful work!!! I really like the look of that horn handle! First class! :thumbup:

Jerry
 
I think it is an excellent looking knife. Sheep horn doesn't always look like it was the right material to use, but for this knife it worked just fine.
 
This is a great looking knife Matt! Last I saw it was all scaly and gray. I still have the other end of the bar that we pinch off out in the shop.

Your grinding system and technique really has paid off.

I have to tell everyone who is viewing this that I don't think I have seen finer finishes and grinds than Matt does....and the guard fit is superb....

I want one!
 
Matt, your best yet IMO!

I love the handle and the finish looks superb........ is it spoken for?

Cheers,

Stephen
 
Thanks for the compliments guys!

Greg, throw that bar into the forge and see what comes out, every once in a while I'm lucky enough to forge something that actually looks like a knife :). The 52100 really came out of the forge clean, no pock marks, and not much scale. It's a little slow working but reasonable none the less.

Jerry, come on by the shop, you can swing it around a little :).

Stan, you're right I've really got to stop half assing everything ;).

Stephen, I'm not sure if this one is spoken for yet. Hopefully I'll know later this afternoon. Shoot me a PM and I'll tell you where you can pick it up.

Matt
 
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