My next knife takes shape

Keith Montgomery

Keith Montgomery

Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
29,205
A little while ago I ordered a knife from Bailey Bradshaw. I requested that he take some photos of the knife as it was being made. Here we have the beginnings of what I think will be an outstanding bowie.

The first photo is of the CPM3V blade before heat treating. It has been forged, annealed (sub critical anneal), and the profile ground.

bbb1-web.jpg


Photo number two is of the blade after rough grinding, just before Bailey wrapped it in foil and heat treated it.

bbb2-web.jpg


The last photo is as the blade is cooling from heat treating. Just a hint of red in the photo. The blade rockwelled 61 after heat treating, and 58-59 after tempering. CPM3V is an air hardening steel, and Bailey uses compressed air to speed the quench a little.

bbb3-web.jpg


As I receive more photos I will post them.
 
Bailey, I thought my forging had really improved, after seeing your forging I don't feel so smart ;). Damn good grinding too.
 
RogerP said:
How big is that blade anyway? Looks to be 10" plus.

Roger
Click to expand...

Bailey told me the knife was going to have a 10" blade. He didn't confirm that, but I would say it's pretty close.
 
There is a lot of 'Southwest' going into that bowie. I'm pulling up a chair. :)

Coop
 
Matt,

I did grind the profile a bit on this one before I took the picture. Nothing wrong with your forgings judging from your knives as of late.

You married yet???????????????? :p

This will be a fun project. It will feature a wrought iron elongated S guard, burl wood handle and various other little touches.

The blade is 10" long, and a shade over 1/4" thick. Keith wanted the forged 3v, and trust me when I say it is nothing short of a mother to forge. My hydraulic press screams at me every time I work 3v. It has to be kept in the lower temp range or it will begin to harden and crack apart. It is inherently red hard anyway due to the alloy, so keeping below 1500 or so makes for a pretty solid block to try and shape. Low temp forging makes for a clean blade after I am done with the hammer.

This blade started from a 1"x2 1/2" bar.
 
No......I'm not married yet. You sound almost as bad as Valerie. Valerie's younger sister and her boyfriend are planning on getting married soon. Valerie was PISSED when she found out; "if she gets married before me...". Man, I haven't heard the end of that ;). I have been living with her for four years, I suppose it's time I get off my ass. Next thing you know she's going to be bugging me about kids. I'll let you know when the wedding is, you're welcome, of course.
 
Just so you guys know, I asked Bailey to base this knife on the design of the one pictured below. Of course there will be differences, but I wanted it used as the rough outline for my knife. It will have a wrought iron guard and wrought iron fittings and I think it will be a desert ironwood burl handle, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

MS-Bowiehufr1.jpg
 
The blade shape and geometry are outstanding on your Bowie.
Now for the handle material.... :)
 
Here are some photos of the forging of the wrought iron guard.

bbb4-web.jpg


bbb5-web.jpg


bbb6-web.jpg


Here is how Bailey described what is being done in the above three photos.

The first is a picture of the billet of wrought iron after tapering the section the guard was forged from. Second picture is the guard after forging, and finally the guard after rough grinding. I leave the guard arms straight until the guard has been fitted on the blade, and the handle has been seated to the guard. This guard will have scrolled ends. The ends are widest, so when the scrolls are formed, the center of the scroll will be widest, with a narrowing spiral. It looks similar to a violin peghead.
Click to expand...
 
More pictures on the way today. I have the joyous task of hand rubbing a 10" cpm blade today :p I will stop whinning now.......
 
Thanks for all the work you are putting into this knife Bailey.

Here is the next installment of photos.

First up is the blade after final grinding. Bailey cleaned up the flats and the straight swedges with a disk sander. A typical blade uses two sheets of paper on the sander, this one needed six, so I guess 3V is fairly tough to work.

bbb7-web.jpg


In the second photo we see the after being tested for toughness and proper geometry. Bailey uses an elk antler tip and chops into it with enough force to chop a 1/2" dowel rod ( just to offer a comparison on the amount of force used). If the edge is too thin, it will roll or chip. 3V is not prone to chipping, but will roll if it is too thin. The heat treating and tempering are checked on a hardness tester, and the blade is just right at 58-59. These two tests combined tell Bailey the knife is heat treated correctly, ground correctly and has the proper edge thickness to perform as expected.

bbb8-web.jpg


Last photo is the blade after satin finishing with the scales of amboyna burl... not ironwood burl as I had first thought. Amboyna burl will work just fine; it is a beautiful wood.

bbb9-web.jpg
 
The amboyna looks beautiful - this will be a special piece when its finished.

Stephen
 
My God Keith you must have one hell of a collection of Bowies!!!

This one looks like it will be an incredible addition to your collection.

Have you ever displayed your collection anywhere?

Sean
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top