Fighter construction thread

C-Camerer

C-Camerer

Joined
Nov 1, 2000
Messages
806
I was asked to take progression pics as I built this fighter so I thought that I would share them with you.
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It was requested that the blade have a bold damascus pattern. So I made the damascus billet a low layer modified W pattern. The pic shows the damascus being welded.

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Here is pic that shows the billet being reheated to continue drawing the billet out.

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I have just finished forging the point in and precurving the billet prior to forging in the bevels.

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At this point I have forged the bevels in and set the ricasso.
 
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I have now drawn the tang out on the blade, I will then hot cut it from the billet.

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I forgot to take pictures of the rough grinding and actual quenching of the blade but here it is after the final temper. It is the balde in the front.

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When I am finish grinding the blade I take it to a 120 grit finish then I clamp it in my shoulder filing jig that got from Uncle Al. I file the shoulders in leaving a nice rounded edge at the juncture of the tang and blade.

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Now I have finsh ground the blade up to 400 grit. I have clamped it in my vice with leather pads to protect the blade and have began adding a touch of file work to the unharden portion of back of the blade.
 
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Here is a pic showing the blade after I have hand sanded it, applied my name and etched the blade to reveal the pattern. I was real pleased with the way the bold pattern came out. I had already chosen the piece of desert ironwood that would go on the knife and the pattern flows very well to the handle material.

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Here I have the rough guard clamped into a filing jig I made that helps to keep the slot nice and true.

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The guard is now fit to the blade and the spacer is ready to be fit onto the blade.

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This pic shows the final fit up of all the parts before I filework the guard and spacer. I forgot to get photos of the handle fitting process. what I basically do is scribe around the tang on the block, then drill small holes coresponind with the angle of the tang. I then use a small hole saw to connect the holes and form the slot for the tang.
 
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Here is the finished knife. The handle material is not as dark as it looks in the picture, it is just my bad photography skills. The ironwood has a lot of depth in it. I hope you enjoyed the progression pics.
 
That is a gorgeous fighter! And so cool to see progression pics as well. You no doubt have yet another happy customer.

Roger
 
Awesome. One word describes it all. Thanks so much for taking the time to document the progress. If I was the owner I would want a set of the pictures to go with the knife.

Love the bold damascus. Really makes the knife pop.

Thanks for sharing,

Charles
 
Thanks for the comments. The steel used were 1084 and 15N20.
The blade on this one is 7" and the overall is 12".

Craig
 
Nice looking knife, Craig. I just ordered one of your basic Micarta handled fighters from Bob Neal:thumbup: I would like to find out more about the hole saw that you use for the tang slot. That is one area where I still experience a lot of frustration. I was also wondering if you draw out the tang using your press or a power hammer?
 
Hi Joe,

I remeber making that knife for Bob. The saw that I use is a drywall saw that I have ground the back down on. The back is ground almost tot eh teeth. I also have a tool that I got from Uncle all that scrapes material out of the slot. I like this very much but currently I broke the replacable scraper. I will be picking up a new on at the little rock show.
I draw the tang out on the press.
Craig
 
C-Camerer said:
Hi Joe,

I remeber making that knife for Bob. The saw that I use is a drywall saw that I have ground the back down on. The back is ground almost tot eh teeth. I also have a tool that I got from Uncle all that scrapes material out of the slot. I like this very much but currently I broke the replacable scraper. I will be picking up a new on at the little rock show.
I draw the tang out on the press.
Craig
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I have one of Uncle Al's broaches too. It cost about half of what one of John Perry's does,but it is a bit wider. You can't get it into a 1/4 round hole, so I have to use the "Moran' rasp to open it up a bit. I also tend to make the slot too big on hunters with the rasp and broach. John makes a 1/8 inch broach. I think that make be the ticket because the shaft is smaller and square. Bad news is that i would probably have to send it back to him for a tune up when it gets dull:D Where do you get your press dies, Craig?
 
Nice fighter Craig and I like seeing how others do things. That pattern really jumps out and says howdy. I use Johns broaches for opening up slots and so far have not had to sharpen them. Guess I will have to ask him about that. And John the 1/8" broach does do a great job. See you all in Little Rock.
Brion

Brion Tomberlin
 
I made all of my dies. Yeah I have been eyeing Johns broaches for awhile and I think they are the way to go. I just need to make myself pull the trigger and get a set of them.

Craig
 
A great combination of high definition Damascus, beautiful handle material and of course extreme talent. We really appreciate you guys, taking the extra time demonstrating the entire knife making process for us here on the forum. Taking the photos adds time and complexity to a already difficult process. :thumbup:
 
Hopefully, you haven't mailed that one out yet, Craig. I'd sure like to see it up close and personal this weekend. :)
 
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