Kiridashis! (and tantos and more) Started up!

Daniel Fairly Knives

Daniel Fairly Knives

Full Time Knifemaker
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I worked on these today, lots of kiridashis!

I have finished the 5160 to only 40 grit on the profile so the lines will change a little especially at the butt area.

I also cut out 3 in W2 and a group in 15n20 with the saw but was too worn out after the 5160 to get to grinding them today. More updates soon! :cool:

5160!

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This material is a bit thicker that .25...

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.
 
3 in W2 water hardening tool steel - this stuff is tougher to work with... brine/water quench but the grain is so fine they are well worth the extra effort! These are just cut by my chop saw and that is it so far.

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Lots of 15n20! .058" thick and most of these are 4" long. I just completed one today with this steel/pattern and it only weighed 22 grams with the sheath! They will look a lot different once profiled, these are also just chopped up. I'm keeping one I know that, these are easy to stash everywhere.

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Not kiridashis but 2 big tantos, a reverse tanto for an order and a wild wharncliffe fighter with jimping in 6 places! It is very ergonomic.

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Can't wait to see that wharncliffe fighter finished. Looks like a handy piece. A folder like that would be pretty sweet.
 
Looks like a start. i would love one of the thicker 5160 ones. Any chance these will be done in other than cord wrap? perhaps thin g10 or micarta? just a thought.
 
thewoodpecker said:
Can't wait to see that wharncliffe fighter finished. Looks like a handy piece. A folder like that would be pretty sweet.
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Thanks! It is going to be like a stake or wedge when I'm done, thick! It's great in reverse draw, I'm going to probably keep it integral construction for the slimmest profile carry-wise.

shigawire4sure said:
Looks like a start. i would love one of the thicker 5160 ones. Any chance these will be done in other than cord wrap? perhaps thin g10 or micarta? just a thought.
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I can do that, just let me know if you want one. I could do most G10 or Micarta... one in 5160 would run about $140 with kydex.

IMWILSON said:
Hey Daniel, is the 15n20 .580 thick or .058 thick?
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Oops! I fixed that, it is .058" thick or just under 1/16." Super slim...



That reminds me of the movie Spinal Tap when they order the Stonehenge prop in inches instead of feet.

[video=youtube_share;qAXzzHM8zLw]http://youtu.be/qAXzzHM8zLw[/video]
 
15n20 rough profiled

2 basic styles - rounded butt and angled like the 5160 ones

Most are the same size but there are 3 smaller rounded ones and one larger one that will probably wind up a tanto.

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15n20 & W2 rough profiled

2 basic styles - rounded butt and angled like the 5160 ones

Most of the 15n20 ones are the same size but there are 2 shorter rounded ones and one longer one that will probably wind up a tanto.

The top three that are silver colored are W2 and the rest are 15n20.

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I was dreaming about kiridashis last night, lol! I worked on these until late and have them all drilled and chamfered. Next I'll go back to profiling, I have a few more stages of that to go before anything else.

I was looking at the above photo, lol that table was clean two days ago!
 
I just brine quenched the W2! It was clay coated for hamon and everything went well. I just got them in the temper oven!

D2 keychain tools are also being heat treated, they came out perfect from the plate quench and I have them cooling after a snap temper.
 
Thanks guys!

I re-heat treated the three W2 steel kiridashis today...

with hamons you need low temps and you have to play around with everything to get them right. I don't think they were fully hardened after a quick etch, I was really wondering too because they came out a little "too clean." I went for a more aggressive quench (full vs interrupted) and a few more minutes soak time this time. I even did one a third time because I could tell the steam envelope slowed the brine quench. You can tell because the steel looks a bit different when hardened and the clay will usually pop off from the size change during hardening.

It is always rough spending another day on heat treat but the knives will be around forever!

Long story short, they came out crazy hard and the hamon potential looks good, even better than the first try.

The three W2 kiridashis came out fine but I lost a tanto to the aggressive quench, it's just how it is when you do hamons... the riskier the better the hamon. The tanto curved upwards about 1/4" it was cool until I noticed the huge cracks.
 
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...just in from the shop!

I have spent the last two days on the three W2 kiridashis polishing them to reveal the hamon. Each one has been sanded to 2000 grit then etched and resanded back to 2000 about 20 times!

8 hours of hand sanding today and they look good!
 
Pics man, where's da pics mang???!!! Wanna see that hamon.

Daniel Fairly Knives said:
...just in from the shop!

I have spent the last two days on the three W2 kiridashis polishing them to reveal the hamon. Each one has been sanded to 2000 grit then etched and resanded back to 2000 about 20 times!

8 hours of hand sanding today and they look good!
Click to expand...
 
mr_badexample said:
Pics man, where's da pics mang???!!! Wanna see that hamon.
Click to expand...

I just took some quick photos and will have them up soon! :D

I just took a flash photo, the hamon won't show up too well that way but my photo area is taken apart at the moment. They are very subtle anyways but I am very happy with them.
 
3 in W2 - The smaller black one and the black rayskin/green cord ones are available. I still need to soak the wraps and make the sheaths but they are close.

Quick photos... they look way better in person with a nice polished finish. I'll get better pics when they are finished.

modded pic, I enhanced the color a bit to make up for the bad flash I have
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