(Joe, When I'm speaking of twisting so many "to the inch" I'm counting the way bolts are denominated, as in "threads to the inch." Starting with a square bar, one 360 degree turn will give 4 threads , so 12 to the inch will be three 360 degree twists per inch.)
Well, I'll bring us up to date on this, and start up with the handle probably tomorrow, "as I do it." It's usually prudent to wait til everything is finished to start a Forum WIP, just in case. I like to send pics to a client as I work on a knife though, just as part of the fun, so what you've seen so far, is just what someone who orders a knife from me often gets along the way.
After the billet was forged to profile, one of the most important parts of knife-making takes place. It's not too photogenic, but it makes the blade. That's the normalization, grain reduction, and spheroidizing. Forging and welding operations leave the steel with strong internal residual stresses, and enlarged grain. Both are bad.
A five minute soak at 1600 degrees F, followed by cooling to ambient in still air removes most of the internal stresses, and evens out the grain size, though it's still a bit larger than wanted. Three more soaks for this steel at descending temps of 1500, 1450, and 1425, with cooling to a "black heat" of about 800 degrees between soaks, removes remaining stress, and refines the grain to proper size. In simple carbon steels like 1084 & 15n20, this grain refinement can be taken so far the steel won't harden. Enough's enough.
Finally, the steel needs to be softened to allow grinding. I choose a sub-critical spheroidizing soak for one hour at 1200 F and air cooling to ambient. This is all done in a digitally controlled oven.
Here's a shot of another blade in the oven for a look at 1600 F .
I can then grind the profiled edges of the billet to the exact profile of my steel forging pattern, and use a granite slab, and height gage to mark off parallel lines on the edges to allow me to grind the billet to blade thickness. (If I had a surface grinder this'ld be a lot easier.)
Here's the, let's call it a blade now, ground to .220, and given a quick etch. This is the first time I can get a look at the pattern. Sometimes this is when I get to add to the scrap bucket. I'll have nearly 15 hours into a Bowie billet at this point.
I sent this pic to Will, and asked about fine details such as exact thickness , taper, etc. Will wanted about 3/16ths at the ricasso, with a strong distal taper, and an essentially zero bevel final grind.
Here's the photo you saw at the beginning of this thread. The blade has been ground to .183 at the ricasso, distal tapered, and the edge ground to about .025 for hardening without warping. The stamps are on the ricasso, and I've done a final stress relieve soak at 1150 F for an hour. It's ready to harden and temper.
Here's it is, hardened, tempered at 420 F, the clip draw filed in, and sanded to 1000 grit.
And here we are up to date, the blade etched, and ready for guard, collar, and handle.
At this point, in a 10 inch , multi-bar Bowie, with a fairly complex pattern, I'll have 40 hours in. That don't count the trash bucket offerings!
More as it's done over the next few days.
John
I might have gotten 2 turns per inch before my bad shoulder broke down. It was a bold W billet and I tiled it after twisting and squaring to get an "end grain firestorm" type pattern. It worked out, but I think I will try smaller bars next time. 
