Looking for some guidance on custom makers..

Odog27 said:
I see a lot of guys telling jac why his design won't work based on his specs. That's cool, but he came here to find a maker who could make him a large, even giant, Bowie. He wants a Bowie that's 20-23 inches OAL. Certainly, one of our fine makers could scale off smaller bowies they've made and give him some more accurate specs to work with in his quest. What if Andre the giant (I know he's dead) wanted a Bowie? I think this is more along the lines jac is looking for. I could be wrong.
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He is asking for guidance
 
SENGVIN said:
:)
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Check this out :-)

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...BAK-(Blue-Angel-Knife)-handmade-by-Gil-Hibben

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I'm 6'4 205p
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Awesome. Aren't you the guy with the design I asked if I could borrow? That's the knife at least. :P
 
Lorien said:
how much $ are you willing to spend on something like this?
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I've not set any particular budget, because I don't know what ranges of price to quality there are, so I was hoping someone could give me some tips on that as well.
 
I think when you say you want a knife that is "useable", most makers here take that to mean "practical". After reading your posts, I think you just want one that is more or less a large scale version of a "functional" knife - the difference between a full tang Carbon steel sword with proper heat treat and tempering, and a chinese sword with a thin welded tang and none of that stuff. The problem is that a disproportionately large blade design also makes a knife dysfunctional, for a lack of a better term.

Nick Wheeler had a very good point about the handling of such a blade - but even Sengvin's blade has a more suitable handle than your illustration, at least from the angle it is photographed. Joe also brought up some good points about a good distal taper and the balance. Remember, an unwieldy blade is every bit as dysfunctional as a blade that doesn't have proper heat treat. I think the best you could do is to commission a maker that has some large bowies in their portfolio to make the largest functional knife they can. A totally functional knife will retain its value better, and I think in the long run you'll be more satisfied. A heat treat and proper construction will not make an unwieldy blade any more functional. As you can see though, a competent knifemaker can make you a very large Bowie that approaches your specifications that will be a functional knife.

Of course, I also understand DeRosier's post; you might actually just want a huge block of steel to hang on the wall. If that is what you want, more power to you, and I hope you find someone to make it for you. The drawing you made reminded me of one of those Final Fantasy swords from the Big Sword video. There are probably more people out there that would purchase a 8lb block of steel attached to a broomhandle than most members here could comprehend, but there is a lot to be said for a knife that is both large AND functional. Just reconcile in your thoughts that heat treat and proper construction won't make it any more functional in reality. There is a nice compromise that is very close to what you're wanting though, and a competent maker with experience on the larger side of the Bowie design could guide you into finding it. If 3" and a slightly different handle design on a properly ground bowie is the difference between having a dysfunctional blade that isn't any good for anything except hanging on a wall and a knife that is in fact functional (you're paying for the heat treat and such anyway), why not make that compromise?
 
A Justice said:
I think when you say you want a knife that is "useable", most makers here take that to mean "practical". After reading your posts, I think you just want one that is more or less a large scale version of a "functional" knife - the difference between a full tang Carbon steel sword with proper heat treat and tempering, and a chinese sword with a thin welded tang and none of that stuff. The problem is that a disproportionately large blade design also makes a knife dysfunctional, for a lack of a better term.

Nick Wheeler had a very good point about the handling of such a blade - but even Sengvin's blade has a more suitable handle than your illustration, at least from the angle it is photographed. Joe also brought up some good points about a good distal taper and the balance. Remember, an unwieldy blade is every bit as dysfunctional as a blade that doesn't have proper heat treat. I think the best you could do is to commission a maker that has some large bowies in their portfolio to make the largest functional knife they can. A totally functional knife will retain its value better, and I think in the long run you'll be more satisfied. A heat treat and proper construction will not make an unwieldy blade any more functional. As you can see though, a competent knifemaker can make you a very large Bowie that approaches your specifications that will be a functional knife.

Of course, I also understand DeRosier's post; you might actually just want a huge block of steel to hang on the wall. If that is what you want, more power to you, and I hope you find someone to make it for you. The drawing you made reminded me of one of those Final Fantasy swords from the Big Sword video. There are probably more people out there that would purchase a 8lb block of steel attached to a broomhandle than most members here could comprehend, but there is a lot to be said for a knife that is both large AND functional. Just reconcile in your thoughts that heat treat and proper construction won't make it any more functional in reality. There is a nice compromise that is very close to what you're wanting though, and a competent maker with experience on the larger side of the Bowie design could guide you into finding it. If 3" and a slightly different handle design on a properly ground bowie is the difference between having a dysfunctional blade that isn't any good for anything except hanging on a wall and a knife that is in fact functional (you're paying for the heat treat and such anyway), why not make that compromise?
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Yeah, this is the main reason why I posted here -- in search of some tips on a maker who could make such a large blade. If it was possible to make such a large blade practical and functional, that'd be great, but I would assume that would require someone extremely skilled. In any case, I meant useable as in it wouldn't break or bend - it'd be as strong as a regular heavy duty knife. As long as the lack of functionality doesn't give way to a weakened knife, then great. I would like a knife as close to the specs as possible, but I'd of course be up for letting the maker widen the parameters.

The drawing was just meant to illustrate some of the basics I wanted; the proportions of the handle are way off, for example. While they are the specs I would prefer, they could be considered as the extremes of what I would like. While this would just be a (functional.) display piece, if a maker suggested that slightly reducing the length, width and/or thickness would improve the balance and handling, and make it a lot more practical, I wouldn't have anything against that - so long as the specs aren't that far off the original marks.

If, as you say, there's a 3" difference, then that'd be great, and I'd let the maker reduce the length. As I said, I'm looking for someone who could make a large bowie, and has experience with making larger knives. I would give the specs to them, and listen to what they have to say. I wouldn't mind reducing any specifics. But what are the price ranges? Ie, at the most basic - how much would it cost to get someone to heat treat a 20", 0.4 inch bar of knife/sword steel, and make it resemble a bowie?

However, now that I've seen the knife by SENGVIN at a different angle, I think it's perfect, though. I didn't realize that it was that large (I only had a top down picture of it.). Since this would just be a display piece, I wouldn't mind an even thicker blade, but that's pretty much exactly what I want. (Without the text and the cutout, though.)

Hope you don't mind me posting this, SENGVIN?

These are the specs:
SENGVIN said:
spec:
-blade 12 7/8
-overall 18 3/4
-thickness 5/16
-steel D2
-RC 58-59
-Full Tang
-maker Gil Hibben
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Maybe I can help add a little perspective here. First lets remove all of the uncertainty and ambiguity, and call this a “part that you want made”, and not a knife, and that you have all of the specifications, and the tolerances are generous. This is the best case scenario for the fabricator, and least costly to build.

The quote sheet at the fabricator looks something like this:

Raw Material 1x3x24 A2 $ 150.00
Inbound Freight $ 35.00
Material Mark-up 10% $ 15.00

Engineering 3 hours at $125.00 per hour $ 475.00
Engineering is taking your specifications and converting them to a solid model. They will send you a PDF for your approval. You may go back and forth a couple of times before you sign off on the finished design.

Milling Center 8 hours at $100.00 per hour $ 800.00
The amount of stock that needs to be removed and the design elements require this. There is at least 3 different setups required, and 8 hours is a conservative estimate. It could easily be double that.

Heat Treat $ 100.00
S&H both ways $ 80.00

Bench work 40 hours at $ 60.00 per hour $2400.00

We are at $4000.00 and this is just for the blade, we haven’t put a handle on it yet. Can you see where we are headed with this?

Now lets go back to the top and add in the uncertainty aspect. The cost goes up. I have almost $1600.00 in this before I send it to heat treat, what if it cracks?

You might say that knife makers don’t charge the kind of rates I’ve listed, and you may have been expecting someone to make this with simple hand tools. No, knife maker don’t charge these rates, but you took a big part of the job out of their hands by the initial specifications. If a knife maker could and would do this, he would just be replacing 8 hours at $100/hour, with 100 hours at $8/hour ( or what ever a knife maker values his/her time at).

My effort here is to help you understand what goes into a job like this and the hesitation of knife makers to accept it. My suggestion would be to drop the 1” wide specification, which would take this out of the machine shop and put it back in the hands and capabilities of more knife makers.

Good luck with your project and I hope this helped.
 
Jak-solar, if no one else wants to do it, PM me and we'll discuss your project. I make knives as a hobby, so it wouldn't take away from my source of income, and if you aren't in a rush, I can do this alongside other projects which will help keep the cost down. The thickest steel I see listed on Aldo's site is .375". That would be doable. Thicker would require some searching. I am limited to stock removal at this time.
 
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Willie71 said:
Jak-solar, if no one else wants to do it, PM me and we'll discuss your project. I make knives as a hobby, so it wouldn't take away from my source of income, and if you aren't in a rush, I can do this alongside other projects which will help keep the cost down. The thickest steel I see listed on Aldo's site is .375". That would be doable. Thicker would require some searching. I am limited to stock removal at this time.
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I can't PM you for some reason.

Anyhow, how long do you think it would take? What do you charge? And thank you for the feedback!
 
send me an e-mail to wjkrywko at gmail dot com. I'll give you some ideas and a rough timeline. There are a few ways to proceed. I have done a few 12" blade knives, and am working on a 13.5" blade dagger now, so I have done a few big knives. I don't have the skills the full time guys here have, but I do make a nice knife with a good heat treat.

Warren
 
I'm building a Mini Musso with a 11.5" blade right now that measures .307 at the ricasso and .064 at the tip. This is a 2" wide blade with a balance point (without handle and guard ) 2 7/8" in front on guard. The blade weight (roughly 95% completed) is currently 1lb and .8oz. Not sure if any of this helps, just giving my perspective. If you would like my quote, my email is in my sig line.
 
R.Rock said:
I'm building a Mini Musso with a 11.5" blade right now that measures .307 at the ricasso and .064 at the tip. This is a 2" wide blade with a balance point (without handle and guard ) 2 7/8" in front on guard. The blade weight (roughly 95% completed) is currently 1lb and .8oz. Not sure if any of this helps, just giving my perspective. If you would like my quote, my email is in my sig line.
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Sounds like a neat project

Send me pics or post them please
 
Yes sir, I most certainly will, won't be till Thursday though, I am currently away from the shop for a little R&R.
 
Hey I found the knife You are looking for lol and it is for sale what a luck eh? I just can't tell u where. That would be against the rules . 1/2 thick :cool:
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