New Knife

peter nap

peter nap

Joined
Nov 27, 1999
Messages
3,745
I built this on Christmas eve. Things were slow that day so I decided to try a small neck style knife although it's a little heavy for a neck knife.

LOA 6"

Walnut scales (from a 1917 Enfield I sporterized Years ago)

Triple quenched and double tempered with a freeze cycle in between.

Damascus has a little of everything from the junk box.

6 hidden pins in each scale and bedded in JB Weld.

The blade is 1/4" thick with a sharp distal taper and flat ground. Width is 1"

The finish on the wood is "The recipe"
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Now that is sweet!

I like seeing walnut on knives.....neat that it came from an Enfield too!

What is the Damascus mix??

Greg Covington
 
Thanks Greg. I like something unusual on each knife. The recycled wood just gives a little story to tell. The mix is basic scrap box. There's 5160, a piece of a hacksaw blade, a part of a tie rod and several pieces that I have no idea what they are. This was the first piece I have made that didn't come apart at some point. I was just trying to make a good weld so I was using small pieces...(oh.. there is a piece of threaded rod in there too). Anyway I found my biggest problem in making it so maybe I can make some larger pieces now.
 
I like it Peter!I'm really looking forward to doing some heat and beat some day, and where the heck is Dunkle Hollow?
Mark
 
Dunkle Hollow is between Flagpole knob and Skidmore creek. I don't live there, just spend most of my life there.:D I live a little closer to you, I'm in Hanover county. We should get together sometime. I enjoy meeting my fellow knifemakers.:)
 
hey pete, thats a slick looking knife!:cool: isn't damascus a blast:D
can't wait to see the next, great job!
 
Nice looking knife Pete. I like the walnut and damascus combo a lot. I grew up just outside Harrisonburg over on the western side of the state. Not quite sure where you are.
 
I'm in Central Virginia now Peter but I grew up right next door to you. I was born in Shenandoah and grew up in Bridgewater. Where did you go to high school?
 
I grew up on a large dairy farm in McGaheysville, right near Elkton and about 1/4 mile from the Shenandoah River. I went to high school at Montevideo. In 1987, when I was 21, I lived in Bridgewater while apprenticing with a blacksmith in Mt. Solon doing ornamental ironwork. Gorgeous country around those parts! That was a great year and I learned an incredible amount. It really kindled in me a lifelong love of metal working and the fire arts. The major project that we did that summer was for Holy Cross Catholic church in Lynchburg. I'll see if I can find the pics and post a couple of them.
 
It is a small world. I'm starting to feel homesick...I really hate flat ground. I'm a little older than you (about 18 years) but it I see why you are interested in knifemaking now. I worked a lot with the Mennonites when I was younger and learned a lot about metal working and carpentry. I expect you ran across my family in Bridgewater during your stay. The whole areas changed now. I doubt you could find a blacksmith in 50 miles.
 
Peter, I throught you said you couldn't make damascus, that looks like damascus to me :eek: , nice pattern and nice altogether package. Hopefully some day I can learn how to make damascus that good, I think you've been spoofing all along.:D

Bill
 
Nice looking pattern,isn't cool when things work out right! I have yet to produce a piece of damascus good enough for a blade,just guards and such.Keep it up.
 
Very nice Peter, with the handle from an Enfield, the blade from scrap, it makes for a environmently sound knife!:D

I like forging scrap, you never realy know what kind of pattern you will get, and it's a whole lot of fun.
 
Way to go Peter.....:D .....I take it that by going one piece at a time you was able to figure out what was causing your troubles before..
Isn't it fun when you get to tell people that you made the knife from all those different types of steel and they can relate to the pieces better than just saying this number steel and that number steel.
Great job,and keep up the great work..
Will and Me are Scrap Damascus Monsters are you the next?:D :p :D
Looks Cool,
Bruce
 
Nope, haven't been spoofing. The Damascus gremlins just took Christmas off. There are some problems with it as far as patterns go but I ground the worst of it off.

Yes Bruce I am a junk box junkie now. I'm going to try again this weekend. The problem I had was I was trying to complete the weld in one heat. I guess nobody thought I could be that stupid. That's why they were coming apart. They would stick and I would do a fold and it would look OK but would have voids inside. When I shaped it and tried to HT, it would start coming apart. I tried just doing some welding of small pieces to larger ones and they took, I realized I had to do the stack a section at a time.

There is still a lot to figure out as far as pattern goes and I have to try a larger stack (this one was real small) but by golly I licked the worst part. I need to be a little more selictive about what goes into it too. I'm having a problem getting and holding a good edge on this knife. I think I have too much low carbon stuff.

I do thank everybody though. I might have dropped the idea if I hadn't had so much help from the board members.
 
Peter,Now take those old blades that had come apart in the heat treat and cut them into pieces,so the cut goes through the parts that opened up on you.Cut with a cut off wheel or something llike that so the voids stay open.Now weld them one or two pieces at a time on another piece as a handle,and just keep adding them in until you have a bigger billet.Then try stretching it out and folding it a couple of times. Then shape it and see what you come up with.This should give you a good cutter and a real high layer count.
I use all my mistakes as seed for other billets.Nothing gets wasted in my shop anymore.
Don't worry that the first one isn't holding its edge as well as you would have liked.Just keep it for your self and that way you will remember years from now what it took to get it together and you can be proud of your accomplishments.
Don't rush the patterns at first concintrate on getting the welds together and making a few bars of random,The patterns will come in time.
Heck it took me about 5 years to finally figure out what I was doing wrong and get a billet together that was void free and able o be used as a good blade,so you are not the first to have the gremlins stay around..
Have fun,and lets see some more Damascus.
Bruce;)
 
great knife peter, but sgt, york would sin you alive for hacking up his rifle. tee hee:D
 
375 H&H, now there's a brute. Congats on a nifty little knife, Peter.
I'm getting ready to start my first knife and an old ugly No.4MK1 Enfield in the corner is starting to shake. If they had an ugly rifle contest this puppy would win hands down, but it is pleasant to shoot.
Regards, Greg
 
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