Back in 1993 I was relegated to an apartment. My night job at the time was welding for a smithy and when things were slow I had 2 options... Look busy and get paid, or go home without pay!
One night I decided to look busy and I cut out a knife blank from some stainless that was laying in the scrap pile. I took the blade home and tried to make it into something with my files with the blade clamped to the balcony rail. I got frustrated and tossed it into a box. That was in 1993.
Forward through 2 marriages and a couple of boxes of stuff that have been moved several times and you have what I found a few nights ago while looking for some files I thought I had hidden away! I was digging in the boxes and found the knife blank on the bottom.
I pulled it out and just sat and stared for a few minutes. Emotions were high as I thought not only about the time I made this blank, but everything else that has occurred since... My oldest son was not born when I etched my initials into this knife blade 17 years ago. I had seriously forgotten about this bit of stainless, but it remained to remind me of my past.
Now, I have NO CLUE as to what type of stainless this is, but I found it and I now have everything I need to finish it!
I now have grinders, sanders, Nicholson files, diamond hones, and everything I need to make a blade! But I didn't have all that when I started...
I have decided that this blade will be finished with what I had at the time, files, vise, and desire! This knife will be made in the fashion I had in mind at the time; slight bevel at the bottom to handle an edge, and be happy.
So, this afternoon I set up the vise with a small piece of hard foam in the bottom that I cut into a wedge at 12 degrees. I then pulled out a double cut file and held it as flat as I could to make my first cut.
6 hours later I have the basic shape formed with a LOT more work to do.
My arms are tired and more than once I was tempted to hit the grinder with the 80 grit belt! But I held out! She'll be finished with 100% armstrong effort.
Tomorrow I'll work some more on the blade and I plan to scale it with some wood pieces I have from a mistake order (ugly, but it DOES look like something I would have used back then) and the bolsters will come from the drop pieces off the copper bar a friend brought over for me to wrought a copper blade from.
These pics are the first, and I hope that others come soon, but ALL work will be done with files, since that is how I started this critter.
With the mental images I have of the final product you can count on an unbalanced, out of sort, strange thing, but she will cut, and she WILL take over place #1 in the case... I plan for her to be mirror polished with copper highlights. No plans for a scabbard at this time...
Here are the first few pics from today... Bad shot since they are from the iPhone, but I was in the zone and didn't want to get the other camera... Better shots coming soon from the photo box....
The "scar" you see on the blade is from where I slipped when cutting the blade out with an abrasive cut off wheel about 14-16 inches in diameter. Since the scar is deep I plan to make that area into a fuller groove. I haven't made the tool yet, but plan to use a fuller tool like the ones that have been seen on here and other forums. I will NOT take ALL of the scar out since it is a reminder of what I was working with at the time.
Charlie
One night I decided to look busy and I cut out a knife blank from some stainless that was laying in the scrap pile. I took the blade home and tried to make it into something with my files with the blade clamped to the balcony rail. I got frustrated and tossed it into a box. That was in 1993.
Forward through 2 marriages and a couple of boxes of stuff that have been moved several times and you have what I found a few nights ago while looking for some files I thought I had hidden away! I was digging in the boxes and found the knife blank on the bottom.
I pulled it out and just sat and stared for a few minutes. Emotions were high as I thought not only about the time I made this blank, but everything else that has occurred since... My oldest son was not born when I etched my initials into this knife blade 17 years ago. I had seriously forgotten about this bit of stainless, but it remained to remind me of my past.
Now, I have NO CLUE as to what type of stainless this is, but I found it and I now have everything I need to finish it!
I now have grinders, sanders, Nicholson files, diamond hones, and everything I need to make a blade! But I didn't have all that when I started...
I have decided that this blade will be finished with what I had at the time, files, vise, and desire! This knife will be made in the fashion I had in mind at the time; slight bevel at the bottom to handle an edge, and be happy.
So, this afternoon I set up the vise with a small piece of hard foam in the bottom that I cut into a wedge at 12 degrees. I then pulled out a double cut file and held it as flat as I could to make my first cut.
6 hours later I have the basic shape formed with a LOT more work to do.
My arms are tired and more than once I was tempted to hit the grinder with the 80 grit belt! But I held out! She'll be finished with 100% armstrong effort.
Tomorrow I'll work some more on the blade and I plan to scale it with some wood pieces I have from a mistake order (ugly, but it DOES look like something I would have used back then) and the bolsters will come from the drop pieces off the copper bar a friend brought over for me to wrought a copper blade from.
These pics are the first, and I hope that others come soon, but ALL work will be done with files, since that is how I started this critter.
With the mental images I have of the final product you can count on an unbalanced, out of sort, strange thing, but she will cut, and she WILL take over place #1 in the case... I plan for her to be mirror polished with copper highlights. No plans for a scabbard at this time...
Here are the first few pics from today... Bad shot since they are from the iPhone, but I was in the zone and didn't want to get the other camera... Better shots coming soon from the photo box....
The "scar" you see on the blade is from where I slipped when cutting the blade out with an abrasive cut off wheel about 14-16 inches in diameter. Since the scar is deep I plan to make that area into a fuller groove. I haven't made the tool yet, but plan to use a fuller tool like the ones that have been seen on here and other forums. I will NOT take ALL of the scar out since it is a reminder of what I was working with at the time.
Charlie