Hunter adventure

[galadduin]

Hello guys,
I decided to share my work for the latest knife, my neighbor ordered. He gave a drawing of his dream knife, he will trade it with a vise .

My widest D2 stock is unfortunately 3.1 cm (1.22") and 7 mm (0.28"). I had to forge:

Yesterday night I went to my forging shop, it is located at the farthest corner of our garden, around 200 mt (219 yards) away from any house nearby so I don't have to worry about disturbing people...

Here is my ugly, little propane forge. I was built with 2 large refractory bricks and some firebricks, covered with ceramic fiber. It is small enough to heat up fast...

My ugly forging place....

Lighting up...

Reduction fire...

I heated the stock slowly, 1 hour later it is at right temp....

Put it back to equalize, moving stock back and forth...

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

Are you heating that in a uranium fired forge?

 

[R.C.Reichert]

That's a neat set up. Sure beats my fire brick and tiger torch. Purple flame is cool!

 

[galadduin]

It was late so I decided to continue morning,
I left the stock at the forge, covering with hot firebricks, I don't want it to harden... But what I didn't notice at night was I cold shut the steel, I saw it morning, I was pretty frustrated.

To forge D2 is quite exhausting, it doesn't move under hammer even you are at the proper forging heat. I cut the stock and finished the forging...

Here is the sketch.

Outlined

Cut with an angle grinder;

And flattened on the flat platen:

A little tapering:

 

[galadduin]

Then I decided to test the ergonomics. As mom is a potter we have tons of clay. Covered the blade and shaped the handle:

Testing various grips:

Modified the clay to the most comfortable shape, then played with the look :

Final decision of the components. They will dry and I'll base the handle on these:

Thats all for today. Tomorrow or after we will continue... I hope you enjoy these step by step pictures...

Emre

 

[galadduin]

Are you heating that in a uranium fired forge?

I struggle with taking pictures at night, I think the setup of the camera is not right. The color has to be blue and yellow but everything came up purple, I dont know why.....

 

[ddavelarsen]

This is great Emre, keep it coming! Thanks for sharing, I know getting pics on here can be as time consuming as your work in the shop! Or back yard as the case may be.

I enjoyed the "nuclear" look of the night forge photos too, you needn't apologize for that. I'm betting it's some kind of infrared effect in the camera.

 

[galadduin]

I finished my job at IT early today, now I'm going to shop. I'll grind bevels, wish me luck, I dont want to ruin this blade...

 

[Phydeaux]

I like your idea of using the modeling clay to test ergonomics. I'll have to try it as soon as I can steal some play dough from the kids.

ric

 

[galadduin]

Ok here we go:

I was pretty nervous this time as my grind were not so good on my previous knives.

I worked on tapers a bit, making them symmetrical:

Here I am, full safety maker

Just like wild animals I grow some fur in winter time at the head area (I shave them in spring).

I spent too much time trying to sit there and grab the blade before the camera timer ends:

 

[galadduin]

Once I'm happy with the tapers I decided to flatten the tapers before marking the center...
Here is the tool : I use both sides of L shape. The abrasive is an old 40 grit Al. Oxide belt piece:

Marked with permanent marker:

after a couple of minutes sanding:

After 5 mins:

The blade marked:

After 15 mins : (there were deep hamer marks I guess)

It is flat enough:

Done that for the other side also:

Now its the time to decide the grind lines:

 

[galadduin]

The center marker: Just a couple of stanley blades. 2 blades under the marker blade is ok for this knife:

Just making a cutting action with the knife for both sides:

After a couple of passes the lines are visible:

Placing my plunge fixture (not as fancy as Adam's fixtures but I dont make Dovetails!)

After fist pass:

A really important shop tip guys: Don't grind when a mosquito is chasing you. I dropped the blade a couple of times in the bucket


Here the grind is nice:

Thats all today, I feel not good, I got cold yesterday night I guess at the forge.
Another shop tip: dont forge without a sweater in a cold night....

To be continued ....

 

[galadduin]

That's a neat set up. Sure beats my fire brick and tiger torch. Purple flame is cool!

Here is what I gathered from the building the forge shots. http://picasaweb.google.com.tr/emrekipmen/PropaneForgeBuilding#. It is not complete but will give you some idea may be...

 

[jll346]

Great job so far. Thanks for sharing.:thumbup:

 

[Barkes Knife Shop]

Great posting on your knife work. Will love to see what it will look like at the end of the job. ------:thumbup:

 

[galadduin]

Today I played with grinding techniques, therefore there was a little to share, also I finished my HT container which I will post here:

First I tried to grind flat whole edge on the other side, I used to grind first the plunge then to the tip. Lets see:

After some time:

And finished:

Plunge and the symmetry is nice:

Measuring the drill holes:

Just before drilling, I changed my mind and will drill after full anneal, the blade as it is forged is not no soft...

 

[galadduin]

I will try my new HT container, I designed it to minimize the foil usage. But as it is not tested I'll wrap this blade... But I placed a piece of steel unprotected with this knife to test if that container works...

This is the container

Wrapped blade:

The container stand is moving between two SS tubes, it slides smoothly and cannot move sideways...

Container closed with 2 iron wires,,,

Here is the container fork:

I can easily carry it with the fork from a safe distance:

Goes in the kiln:

Waiting for the heat:

Firing up:

Thats all for today. Annealing will take about 10 hours or so. I'll continue tomorrow....