Fun at the forge/anvil...

Good to see you're still among the living. You'll have to talk to Salem about how to get your name in the local paper so folks can see you're alive without resorting to the forums.
 
Hey guys :)

This thread was just meant to be a way for me to sort of raise my hand and say that even though I haven't been able to stay on top of communication.... I'm still alive and working hard. I didn't mean for it to be a WIP, but I can add a few updates here and there.

While 2 of these knives are orders and of course very important to me, there are a couple other knives that are ahead of them in the book... so those will have to be finished first. (so please don't expect these big knives to be done tomorrow ;) ).

This W2 integral is one of them.
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But here are the others. The profiles have all been cleaned up on the grinder. One of them will be completely hand sanded, so it has had all the scale buzzed off before it goes into the salt bath. The other will be finished with forged flats, so it has only had the scale buzzed off the bevels.

Thanks for looking guys. :)

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This shot gives a much better look at the profile... all 3 are very similar.
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Looking great Nick! Seems you were a busy boy while I was in Vegas with Ryan.:thumbup:

Sometimes I think I love your paper templates as much as your blades, they are so clean!!
 
I'm subscribing to this one, even if it's not as extensive as the Stuck in the metal with you thread, I'll never pass up an opportunity to watch a Wheeler blade get made. Looking fantastic!
 
Lorien said:
man, your shop is looking great! Must be nice to be able to have more room eh.
It's not too greedy of me to want more than one WheelermadeTM knife, is it?
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Yes Lorien!

JParanee said:
Nick great stuff

I'm in Vegas call me :)
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I wish I had known you were in Vegas, I would have liked to have met you Joe!

Thanks Nick it is always nice to see your posts here! Bentley and Oliver are looking at you like "Why the hell you in that Hot Shop?"
 
HaHa, you got that right Ryan! :D

I just realized that last photo does not show the profile very well! :foot: The sun was right in my eyes when I snapped the pic, but it wasn't when I posted the pic, so don't ask me how I didn't notice until now.

These are big, wide camp knives with some belly and just a slight raise to the clip. In that pic, the blade looks like a jacked up Paranee fighter. Which is of course on my mind... but NOT what these knives are.


And while I'm correcting myself... The ashi lines I'm claying up in the first pic look really wide, but that's just the water leaching out. The clay itself is very light/narrow.


Thanks guys :)
 
RyanW said:
Yes Lorien!



I wish I had known you were in Vegas, I would have liked to have met you Joe!

Thanks Nick it is always nice to see your posts here! Bentley and Oliver are looking at you like "Why the hell you in that Hot Shop?"
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The feeling is mutual.

Maybe next time :)
 
NickWheeler said:
HaHa, you got that right Ryan! :D

I just realized that last photo does not show the profile very well! :foot: The sun was right in my eyes when I snapped the pic, but it wasn't when I posted the pic, so don't ask me how I didn't notice until now.

These are big, wide camp knives with some belly and just a slight raise to the clip. In that pic, the blade looks like a jacked up Paranee fighter. Which is of course on my mind... but NOT what these knives are.


And while I'm correcting myself... The ashi lines I'm claying up in the first pic look really wide, but that's just the water leaching out. The clay itself is very light/narrow.


Thanks guys :)
Click to expand...

Ya scared me in a real good way :)
 
Hi fellas, just a little update to this. Been very busy in the shop. I sort of stopped what I was doing to do a WHOLE LOT of testing to narrow down some variables with heat-treating W2 that I've always been curious about. I even ended up building a new digitally controlled forge because of that.

So anyway, the previous orders are still in the top, shop time slot, but I've been working on these as I can fit them in to the schedule. :)

Just some random-ish new photos.

Here's the integral, post h-t, ready for finish grinding.
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Scale knocked off and profile cleaned up, ready to go into the salt bath for all thermal cycles.
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Into the salt bath they go...
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This one has been heat-treated and "roughly" finish ground so it could be tested on the antler chop.
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Bentley thought he needed the antler more than I did. (you can see part of the water heater tank I recycled into the new forge as well).
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Lots of blade and a big block of 5460 year old Bog Oak from the Ukraine, thanks to Mark Farley at BurlSource. :)
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A better profile shot on that one. The hamon was scribbled over with a marker, just to show where it's placed, and its general profile.
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Lots more W2 ;) with the Amboyna block that will be the handle.
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Thanks bud, those two boys are definitely my shop helpers (even though they mostly just get in my way... which is easy for two dogs that make up #320 to do! lol) and I am thankful every day for having them. :)

The car? Eeeesh... just a little Mitsubishi. I'd like to say it is something super cool... but I am just a poor boy knife smasher. :o ;)

Roger--- it doesn't show very well in the pic, but it truly is a killer block. I'm very excited to see it paired up with a B-I-G satin finished blade! :)
 
Just for fun--- since I got on the subject of "my boyz" and they are a part of this thread... I wanted to share these. ;) FWIW- Yea, I know, I'm a big sap. And I'm glad. :)


This was the night we brought them home. They were about 18 or 20 pounds. Chasing our girl Erin around the house.
[video=youtube;msPE64mUxNI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msPE64mUxNI&feature=plcp[/video]

And here was Bentley on his and his brother's first birthday... around 135#. He's gained about 25# since then, and that was only 6 months ago! :eek: :D
[video=youtube;pz5lzFPqJIQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz5lzFPqJIQ&feature=plcp[/video]
 
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I'm happy for ya buddy :)

They are beautiful dogs and look very well taken care of indeed

My boys have popped a lot of balls so I know what ya mean
 
Nick, the knives are coming along great. You have precision in everything you do, brother.

BUT... I have to say that the first few pictures of you hunched over the anvil, made my neck and back hurt, just looking at them.

Edit**
I went back and looked at it again. Perhaps you are just contorted during the final straighten and tweaking.... still... I worry for your back. (I battle against back pain, daily)
 
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Love your dogs and the vid's are great. I/We still chase our 2 black labs around our house like in your video... it's funny since we have all wood floors watching them try and get traction!! Like running on ice... ha.

Can't wait to see updates on these blades, particularly that large chopper and the Bog Oak!! ;)
 
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