Laminated Bowie WIP - Photo Heavy!

[irbailey]

Ok, here's a few updates...

The three bars, two stainelss and one 52100 are ground clean, ready to weld.

The steels need to be sealed to be protected from oxygen which will attack the stainless at forging temperatures. The billet can be sealed in a can, wrapped in layers or heat treating foil, or the seams can be welded shut. I've done it all of those ways and they all work. This billet has been welded shut at the seams.

The billet is heated to what I call muy hot. 2500 F.

The billet is welded first on the press...

...then on the hammer.

The welded billet.

Excuse me for being a bit dim here (I'm from sleepy old England), but when you say 'seams can be welded shut', do you mean they can be stick welded like when you weld a box up to dry forge damascus?
Am I right in saying that so long as there is no oxygen present between the layers, it will weld ok?
Very interesting thread by the way.

Ian

 

[Burt Foster]

Ian, yep that's exactly right.

 

[Burt Foster]

Ok, now for some grinding...

Doing the finish grinding. I didn't use the disc sander much on this knife at all (which is pretty much all I use for finishing) because of the strong recurved blade.

The finish ground blade. Finished to 400 grit.

Hand sanding with the big steel bar. Saw Don Fogg do this a couple years ago, and felt like an idiot for using a push stick or a little block all this time. Not that you should beel bad for using a push stick or a small block...

You can see the hand finish clearly compared to the shot above.

 

[Burt Foster]

...and guard fitting...

Squaring up the little chunk of damascus that I'll use for the guard.

The guard is held on the grinding magnet and the top curve is roughed in.

The curved guard is laid out on the blade, right where it will need to sit, and the angle of the curve is scribed onto the ricasso.

In the filing guide, the blade is canted to the left first, then to the right until the guide just lays tangential to the curve of the guard.

 

[Burt Foster]

I drill several holes in line because it's easier on my poor little drill press than milling through the solid steel.

I'll usually "mill" the slot to within about .005" then file by hand to fit.

The guard slot filed to fit the blade.

And if I don't mess anything up, it'll fit like this.

 

[Mike Quesenberry]

Beautiful fit, absolutely perfect!

 

[John Frankl]

Great tutorial! I always wondered how you filed those curves into the ricasso-tang junction.

 

[xaman]

Thanks for doing this Burt, very educational!

May I ask about the Fogg sanding trick ---- is the paper glued onto the bar, or just stretched and held in place? Also, is that some leather or something soft between the paper and steel bar? It almost appears so in the pic...

 

[Burt Foster]

Eli, Don used a steel bar, bare I think, and he used self-adhesive sandpaper. I have a piece of very hard rubber glued to the bar, and I use spray adhesive to attach the paper. I use the rubber because it helps blend curved surfaces like convex edges and leaves a smoother finish than a bare bar (for me at least...).

 

[irbailey]

Thank you Mr Foster. I've toyed with the idea of trying this for a while now, and having you share how you do it is very much appreciated.
Think I might put my little push-stick into retirement now as well.
Cheers,

Ian

 

[Jetzler1]

Burt
I also wanted to thank you for sharing this. :thumbup: I can't wait to see the finished knife.

 

[Mace]

Cant seem to get my glue to work!
Mace

 

[Burt Foster]

...And a little handle to guard indexing...

Sawing out the handle on the band saw. The handle will be black canvas micarta.

Slotting out the stainless spacer.

The spacer is drilled against the guard to make sure they will always re-index the same way after disassembly.

Then the spacer is placed on the handle (temporarily glued, actually) and drilled to match the same holes, so that all three - guard, spacer and handle will always line up.

Then I insert some 1/16" roll pins that will hold the pieces together. My fat fingers necessitate the little doctor tools...

 

[Buffalohump]

Absolutely riveting stuff......

I'm beyond impressed with the amount of work involved.

 

[Shawn Ellis]

Great WIP Burt alot of info that I can apply to my craft.
www.shawnelliscustomknives.com

 

[Don Hanson III]

Good stuff Burt!!! Thanks for posting.

 

[lwrhea]

Beautiful job Burt. Thank you for showin us your method. Lin

 

[Fisher]

funny, glad i was out of loctite

 

[Burt Foster]

Since this knife is a take-down, here's the few steps involved in this knife...

I've taken the piece of damascus that I'll use for the nut, welded it to a round bar, and roughed it down on the grinder.

It's chucked up in my new lathe.

I turn it down to size. By the way, in case you're a machinist (and I am not) you'll notice I'm using the wrong turning tool. See, you don't have to be smart to do this!

Drill a hole in one end, which I will tap with 1/4 x 20 threads.

Drill a 1/4" hole in the handle, then follow that with a 1/2" hole with a flat bottom. The nut will actually put pressure on that flat shelf on the inside of the hole.

I use a thin stainless tube as a liner for the hole and thread the nut into the hole to test fit. The nut will be flush with the butt when all's said and done.

 

[Lorien]

I turn it down to size. By the way, in case you're a machinist (and I am not) you'll notice I'm using the wrong turning tool. See, you don't have to be smart to do this!

your self deprecation is obviously misplaced