Matt Gregory/John Doyle collaboration project...

J. Doyle

J. Doyle

Joined
Feb 17, 2008
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Matt Gregory and I have been talking about getting together and doing something for a while now. I think it came up after Blade Show this past year. So after a few phone calls and texts, we hashed out some plans and Matt was able to get some time this past week to drive over for a visit to my shop.

Matt mentioned that he would be interested to see how I make and assemble a hunting knife so we thought that might be a fun project. So, I designed something that was typical of my hunters and we built it together.

First let me say a few things about Matt. Matt is a lot of fun to work with. He's got a great attitude about work and life and has a great sense of humor. He's pretty willing to go with the flow and roll with any changes or obstacles that come along. Matt is an outstanding craftsman and his work ethic is stellar. Coming to anyone's shop, that's different from your own, and working to produce your normal level of fit and finish can be very difficult. Add to that, that Matt is left handed and I am right handed and everything is set up backwards for him and it throws another variable in the mix. Matt overcame all of these things with apparent ease. Matt's grinds, both rough and finished, are among the best I've personally seen. They are flat and even and as symmetrical as I would think the human hand and eye can make them.

We worked VERY well together and although our styles, in finished knives, can be quite different, our ideas of what is and isn't acceptable in a finished knife meshed perfectly together. Matt was more than anyone could ask for of a house guest and was kind and respectful and definitely pulled his weight with the knife and also helping out with meals, clean up and all of that. He cleaned my shop....top to bottom during some downtime (Thanks a TON buddy!!) and interacted perfectly with my wife and kids.

In addition to building the knife, we went for some walks in the oak woods checking out deer and deer sign, had some fantastic food. Matt brought a couple of smoked meatloaves that were outstanding. My good buddy Jeff Marsh dropped by with some fresh venison steak and tenderloin from a recent trip to Wyoming and kept us company for a day, helping out with pictures and such as we needed. Then we all sat down on Friday night to some smoked pork shoulder that Matt brought that to this minute I'm still craving more of. It was THE BEST thing I've eaten going back as far as I can remember.

Also, strictly in the interest of science, we diligently studied the effects of some seriously potent firecrackers on pumpkins, sugar beets and various members of the squash family. We may have a picture or video or two to add to the mix of our findings.

As far as the knife goes, I feel like I got the super easy end of the workload. Here's how the knife work shook out basically:

I used one of my designs for the build and I forged and rough profiled the blade. Matt rough ground the blade and shaped the tang where it needed to be and set up all the finished dimensions of the blade, ricasso and tang and finished them accordingly for heat treating. I cut the threads for the finial bolt on the end of the tang. We thermal cycled and quenched the blade together. Matt finish ground and hand sanded the blade while I flattened and paralleled the materials for the guard, spacers and wood for the handle. Matt hand sanded the blade and I did the etching/polishing cycles. Matt fit the guard and spacers and I fit the wood handle block. Matt rough shaped the fittings and I rough shaped the wood handle. Then Matt sanded and cleaned up the handle and went through all the polishing steps and I did the filework on the fittings, the spine of the knife, and the fuller on the butt end of the handle. Matt machined the steel finial bolt while I made the bolt cover button that matched the fittings. After all that, it was ready to assemble.

So....without too much more nonsense, here's a few pics and videos of what went on here over the last week:





Here's the blade, pretty much ready to start heat treating:


The blade coming out of one of the pre-quench thermal cycles:


Here's a video of the quench:
[video=youtube;e_Fjgw0S404]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Fjgw0S404[/video]
 
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After the quench, there was a bit of down time while the blade was in the tempering oven. This is where we found the time to experiment with the explosives.

Looks like it might do something interesting:


And the result:
[video=youtube;pLqE5s2lqo8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLqE5s2lqo8[/video]

There was a little more similar nonsense before we got back to the knife.

Here Matt is diligently sanding the blade. He's a hand sanding machine and very meticulous.


Look at this excellent finish:
[video=youtube;-OBrGorTKec]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBrGorTKec[/video]

Here's Matt filing the guard to fit:


Me polishing the sides of the fittings:


Prepping the block to fit the tang:


The fittings and handle rough shaped and assembled:


Cleaning up the fuller on the end of the handle:
 
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Here is the finished knife. Matt was a HUGE help with all the photos and videos. I'm a knickle-dragging caveman with this tech stuff and he made it a breeze.

We didn't have any specific plans for this knife so it is available for purchase if anyone is interested. Shoot me an email jdoyleknives AT gmail DOT com













And here's a shop video of the finished knife:
[video=youtube;RNLnjdlAxZ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNLnjdlAxZ0[/video]
 
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looks like a fun time ! hey what does the split in the handle of the forging hammer do ?
 
Nice project.

Good times
 
Great collaboration Gentlemen.....I'm pretty sure it's kinda hard to get any work done without a number of 'side-trips'.....very much enjoyed the Sweet Beet demo(lition). :D
 
Thanks guys.

Dawkind said:
Great collaboration Gentlemen.....I'm pretty sure it's kinda hard to get any work done without a number of 'side-trips'.....very much enjoyed the Sweet Beet demo(lition). :D
Click to expand...

This is very true. There were plenty of side trips and distractions. :) Turns out 6 days is BARELY enought time to finish a simple hunter. :D

Matt and I determined that we must be the two slowest makers on the planet anyway, but than add the distractions of pulverizing some plant matter with explosives to a couple personalities like ours and it took some serious buckling down to stay on track.

I think Matt has some more pics and vids and hope he posts them up here.
 
So cool. Looks like you guys had a ton of fun and turned out an exceptional knife.
Makes me want to start a knifemaker summer camp. Nothing like shenanigans with like minded children. :D
 
Both of you guys set a fine example of craftsmanship. And I will also gladly concur that Matt is an absolute pleasure to have in the shop. Always entertaining, an excellent cook, an engaging and stimulating conversationalist, and a consummate professional in the shop.

And the knife you made together is just this side of perfect. Great job, on all counts
 
Two great makers, one fine knife!

Enjoyed meeting you both @ the Blade Show!

Steve
----------
Member, W.F. Moran Jr. Foundation
ABS Apprentice
 
There's so much to say, and yet I find myself tongue-tied. Go figure.

I really can't remember how the idea for a collaboration started. I remember asking John a handful of questions about his guard fitment processes (easily my favorite parts of John's knives), and it all just rolled from there, I think. There's no doubt that our styles are VERY different, yet after working beside him in the shop I found that our approaches were decidedly similar. In fact, we found ourselves making the exact same observations about the exact same details - all the time. There wasn't a single conflict of ideas (weird), a single 'oh shit!' moment (uncanny), and our work habits and workflows complemented one another effortlessly (IMPOSSIBLE). Six days went unbelievably quickly. Too quickly.

This knife is unquestionably John's design. Every element, every detail, every material - all John. Yet, somehow, while working on it, it really felt me, too. I don't really know how to explain it, except to say that it all just felt familiar.

We debated only about who got the shit end of the stick with each part we worked on, and the funny thing is we BOTH thought the other guy had the hard part! HA!

John's got a great family, and it really felt home-y, and that I was welcome (despite being there so darn long!), we ate a lot of good food, shared a lot of laughs (John does a disturbingly good impression of The Donald, which kept cracking me up), and he even tolerated my quest for real coffee every single morning, as well as my forced marches to get the blood flowing in the dark of pre-dawn.

There's no doubt that there were some interesting tidbits to overcome for me (the entire damn world is set up for right-handed people :grumpy:), and I wrestled a bit with his grinder (I usually grind with the platen a full foot higher than John does :eek:), but none of these were really impediments, and I think the final outcome of this knife proves as much.


This won't come as a surprise to anyone that's seen even just a photo John's knives, but he's an amazingly thoughtful maker, and takes great pains to consider every detail on his work, doesn't know what a shortcut is and wouldn't take one even if he did, and desires nothing more than to turn out the best work he can, every single time. I'm really happy to call him friend.


I hate to say it, but I don't have any more photos to share than John has already provided, with the exception of a sunrise through the oaks I captured with my phone on one of our morning hikes:


30845758205_1900ace4c9_c.jpg
 
Another great knife and great friendship are forged :cool:
Good for the world. :thumbup:
 
That is a wonderful collab. The knife came out beautifully.
I LOVE the destruction of that beet!! (best use for one, in my opinion.)
 
love you guys :) Nice work
 
Hey now, there's some poor Englishman out there sipping bitter tea as we speak, who would kill for that sweet beet! :grumpy:
 
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