vjb.knife
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- Feb 2, 2002
- Messages
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I was on a trip last week to Albuquerque and Roswell, New Mexico to visit my Sister in Law's Family. My Nephew set up a class for his Brother, Father and me to make a knife. I was not sure what to expect but it turns out that we hand forged a knife out of 5160 high Carbon steel. The Pro Knife Maker / Smith is Austin Hensley of Roswell, New Mexico. So we used a Forge, a hammer and anvil, a power hammer, a small rolling mill, belt grinders, drill presses, heat treat and normalizing ovens and various other machines and tools to make our own knives. It was a really great day to not only make our own knives but hangout with some relatives / great friends. I have to upload some pictures from my phone (which just got a dead battery) tomorrow, but I wanted to get started on some of this cool story about our day. We worked on the knives from about 8am to about 6pm, with about 2 hours off during heat treat and normalizing. Our knives were similar but each of us put our own touch to the design. I tried to get it to fit my hands a much as possible.
Before we got there I thought we would probably do a stock removal process, but we started with a billet about 2 inches square and maybe 3/8" thick and hammer forged it into the general size and shape of a knife and then started using the rolling mill and other processes to get to the shape we wanted. We picked out handle material, shaped it and attached it to our knife steel. We were all able to sharpen our knifes to an edge capable of shaving hair off our arms.
So we had a great day doing this project and then the next day, my Nephew had us set to be trained by a retired New Mexico Police / SWAT Officer who trains several of the Southern New Mexico Police Departments in Pistol and Rifle tactics. We just worked with 9mm pistols. I had previously had similar training but it had been quite a few years and this time was a lot more fun and interesting.
More tomorrow...... OK, here are a few pictures I took of the makers and our knives.
Here are my two Nephews, myself and my Brother in law with our masterpieces.
Here are our knives; mine is the bottom in the picture with the black / gray handle. The square piece below it is a billet like the ones we started with to make our knives.
Forging by hammer and machine.
Our teacher, Austin demonstrating the technique. I highly recommend this experience to anyone out there, I had a blast. My nephews had a great time as well; they already had some interest in knives, but even my Brother in law, who has little interest in knives had an excellent time and was even saying he wanted to go back again. Austin was a fantastic teacher, patient with all of us and helpful when we had problems throughout the course of the day. Thank you Austin! https://hensleyhandmadeknives.com/
Before we got there I thought we would probably do a stock removal process, but we started with a billet about 2 inches square and maybe 3/8" thick and hammer forged it into the general size and shape of a knife and then started using the rolling mill and other processes to get to the shape we wanted. We picked out handle material, shaped it and attached it to our knife steel. We were all able to sharpen our knifes to an edge capable of shaving hair off our arms.
So we had a great day doing this project and then the next day, my Nephew had us set to be trained by a retired New Mexico Police / SWAT Officer who trains several of the Southern New Mexico Police Departments in Pistol and Rifle tactics. We just worked with 9mm pistols. I had previously had similar training but it had been quite a few years and this time was a lot more fun and interesting.
More tomorrow...... OK, here are a few pictures I took of the makers and our knives.
Here are my two Nephews, myself and my Brother in law with our masterpieces.
Here are our knives; mine is the bottom in the picture with the black / gray handle. The square piece below it is a billet like the ones we started with to make our knives.
Forging by hammer and machine.
Our teacher, Austin demonstrating the technique. I highly recommend this experience to anyone out there, I had a blast. My nephews had a great time as well; they already had some interest in knives, but even my Brother in law, who has little interest in knives had an excellent time and was even saying he wanted to go back again. Austin was a fantastic teacher, patient with all of us and helpful when we had problems throughout the course of the day. Thank you Austin! https://hensleyhandmadeknives.com/
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