First Bowie, Last Khukri...

[69_knives]

Basically finished my first bowie, maybe I'll put another coat or two of finish on the handle but otherwise it's done.

I didn't really have a plan when I started hammering it out but now I know where I have to plan ahead. This is forged from a rectangular piece of steel and it is difficult to get the ricasso area just right so my plan will be to leave more material in the area to grind the shape in; I see the norm is for a rectangular ricasso that is recessed from the edge. The other thing I have a hard time with is the top edge of the tang and getting it recessed a bit from the spine; I think that it will be easier to leave more material here as well and grind a bit away.

One other area is there are some pits in the blade, maybe 4 or 5. I assume that forgetting to wire brush once or twice is the cause. The blade is thin, only 0.135 along most of the length so I think maybe I should use a bigger hunk of steel and leave it thicker to grind down a bit more.

The stacked leather handle was also a first, I think it worked OK, but I would do it differently if I did it again.

Specs are:
9" from tip to Guard
13.5" OAL
5160 spring steel
1/2" brass bolster and pommel
full tang, peined over pommel
stacked leather handle.

Thought this would be a cute quote for the pics of the knife on the K/B... and no, I'm not a disgruntled tech support worker.

"Tech support, how can I help you?"
"you can't find your doctorate papers you've been working on for the last 18 months?... You see the little garbage can icon on your desktop labelled 'Recycle Bin'?"
"Double click on the garbage can icon... Do you see your file?"
"OK, right click on the file and select 'Restore'; you can access your file normally now."