New Forum Member Says HI!

[Steel Sprocket]

Hello fellow knife devotee's,

This is the best forum ever. One reason is because it is centered around my favorite area of interest which oddly enough is knives. The other reason that I like this forum so much is the dedication to the blade arts that is so evident by the many member's contributions.
After watching this forum or more years than I care to mention, I finally joined yesterday. It's with a small amount of pride that I am sharing some pictures of my first knife. I purchased a blank about 2o years ago and the darn thing sat around waiting for me to get off the pot and do something with it. I believe that it's made from O1 and is stamped made in Germany. The handle is presentation grade desert iron wood. The nickle-silver bolsters are pinned and silver soldered as is the wrap on the pommel. My inspiration was a James Black Bowie I was researching. There must be 60 hours of work in this knife and all of it was done with files as I don't have a belt grinder. The only power tool I used was a drill press for the pins. I would do a couple of things differently now that it's finished but I have read this type of comment several times on this forum so I must be doing something right. All comments are appreciated.View attachment 263585View attachment 263586View attachment 263587View attachment 263588View attachment 263589

Thanks for looking,
Larry

 

[mykel m]

Welcome Larry.
Thats a heck of a first knife,it's about time you got it done.
Love the wrap on the handle,never seen it done before,but then I've never seen James Black's work either.

 

[Steel Sprocket]

Thanks Mykel,
Thanks for the kind words,
I first saw one photo of the original Bowie knife that was made by James Black in Fladerman's Bowie encylopedia. That's one of the few definitive books about 19th century Bowies. Mr. Black used silver for the pommel wrap, the bolsters and the handle's pins. From what I learned he finished all his knives that way. Since I'm not a purist I used nickle-silver throughout. After all the work I put into this first knife I'm of the opinion that bladesmiths are underpaid.
I also have a Howard Clark L6 katana that I have waited to put in a formal mount. Now I have at last decided on the design and will proceed when I raise the $$. This will be left to the professionals. BTW I've had this katana for 7 years...that's how slow I sometimes can be.
Larry