- Joined
- Nov 28, 1999
- Messages
- 14,985
Several years ago, Corbet Sigman was nice enough to send me a nice big piece of that super high carbon tool steel he used for his Utility Hunters. The analysis of this steel is something like 1.3% Carbon, and simple traces of other stuff, just for grain refinement. Corbet either found, or had smelted for him, a huge roll of this steel. The steel came off the roll as 2" wide and a bit over 1/8" thick. The piece he sent me to try was about 14" long. What I should've done, was make several small knives, but I couldn't resist grinding out some kind of camp knife(even though, the steel was sort of thin for your normal camp knife). Corbet heat treated the blade and sent it back to me, where it's been sitting for a couple of years. Now, with Corbet gone, I have been thinking about this blade a bit more.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when a friend asked me if I would make him a camp knife. Now, given my current rate of production(or, nonproduction, depending on who you talk to), I have no business taking such an order. But, then I remembered this blade hanging on a hook in the shop. I asked him if he was willing to take it with a very basic belt finish, as the steel was machete thin and there wasn't a lot to work with. He said it sounded cool and said he would even wrap paracord or put his own handle on. So I spent some time in the shop yesterday. Here's the finished product. Even convexed the edge on it.
Overall length is about 14", with a cutting edge of around 7". Handle is styled to both chop and choke up for close work. I kinda like this one, and probably will save a template. The next ones, however, will be thicker steel stock. This one flexes a bit, but no more than your typical machete. It cuts pretty well, too.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when a friend asked me if I would make him a camp knife. Now, given my current rate of production(or, nonproduction, depending on who you talk to), I have no business taking such an order. But, then I remembered this blade hanging on a hook in the shop. I asked him if he was willing to take it with a very basic belt finish, as the steel was machete thin and there wasn't a lot to work with. He said it sounded cool and said he would even wrap paracord or put his own handle on. So I spent some time in the shop yesterday. Here's the finished product. Even convexed the edge on it.
Overall length is about 14", with a cutting edge of around 7". Handle is styled to both chop and choke up for close work. I kinda like this one, and probably will save a template. The next ones, however, will be thicker steel stock. This one flexes a bit, but no more than your typical machete. It cuts pretty well, too.
