New Monster...in progress

[J. Neilson]

I've had the urge to make another big damascus monster piece. I thought I'd run through the paces with everyone...

...here she is forged and rough profiled. The blade is forged from 360 layers of 1095 & 15N20 high carbon steel with a "random cut" pattern. She's about 10 1/2" long and about 2" wide...

... this is the blade after an interrupted quench/anneal...

...rough ground at 60 grit and ready for heat treating...

After being quenched at 1491 degrees and tempered twice. Now she's going to sit in vinegar for a few days to get all the rough scale junk off so I can have a nice forged finish and still see the steel pattern beneath.

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Here's the blade after the vinegar took off 98% of the scale & junk, ground, hand-rubbed and given a quick etch to pull the pattern out...

...different angle with a piece of wrought iron for the guard...

...here's a face view of the guard slotted, shaped and etched...

... here's the side view showing the fuller (groove) filed along the edge...

 

[OldPhysics]

Fascinating.

I love these "in progress" Threads. They're some of the best 'stuff' on BladeForums.:thumbup:

And, of course, I'll be just as fascinated with the final knife. I haven't got enough Nielsens yet.

That's going to be quite the monster, and I believe I saw a nice piece of stag peeking out from behind the blade just upstream.

 

[TekSec]

Very nice work...like the guard a lot! Can't wait to see the rest.

 

[69_knives]

Monster indeed! I like it a lot.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Going to be fun watching this one come together.

 

[mohd]

I always fascinated by monster blades :thumbup:
Lots of thanks for telling and showing your monster WIP

Curiosity .. are you going to let the monster having a forge finish?

Mohd.

 

[J. Neilson]

I always fascinated by monster blades :thumbup:
Lots of thanks for telling and showing your monster WIP

Curiosity .. are you going to let the monster having a forge finish?

Mohd.

Yes, especially on big damascus blades, after I soak the blade in vinegar (to remove all the scale) you can see the damascus pattern even in the forge-finished areas. I think it's a very cool look.

 

[J. Neilson]

Here is the wrought iron spacer that will go between the guard and stag. I'm using wrought iron from a different batch to get some contrast to the overall look. Here it is slotted to accept the tang...

I attach the roughed out spacer (after slotting the wrought iron and stag solid with the tang) with a few drops of crazy glue and then shape it to match the handle and ricasso so there is a smooth transition between the three pieces. The crazy glue holds up well to the grinding temps in the shaping and a sharp knock on the bench will release it for finishing...

A quick pre-fit to make sure things are flowing nicely...

Now I use chainsaw files to fuller the spacer using cratex wheels on my rotary tool to smooth everything out...

Spacer done and test fit again. Now I can bevel in the joint between the stag and the spacer to give it a nice smooth look. I'm also adding a black spacer on either end of the stag for some division...

...close up...

Now I'm working on the pommel that will be file worked to match the contours of the stag. Here's the opening, nice and wide to fit all the support that will be added for the heavy wrought iron pommel...

More to come...

 

[Ken Hurst]

The purposefull roughness of the blade and finished state of the furniture & stag offer a unique transition to the eye. Well done, we hope to see more of this knife in the future as it progresses, thanks.

 

[Sam Salvati]

J, when you say "support" what do you mean? Will you be filling the hollowed out antler with resin or epoxy?

 

[J. Neilson]

J, when you say "support" what do you mean? Will you be filling the hollowed out antler with resin or epoxy?

I'll be connecting the pommel to the tang of the knife as well as a few hidden pins sticking into the handle from the underside fo the pommel. It will be filled with epoxy as well. Only destruction will remove this handle.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Cool thanks. Great construction method, this thing is going to be TOUGH.

 

[J. Neilson]

Wrought iron pommel forged from the same piece as the spacer behind the guard...

...pommel thickness, she needs to be on the thicker side to balance this sucker out...

...rough shaped...

...I was planning on doing something a little different so here is the pommel face half way tooled...

I've finished the tooling and etched the pommel. I'm planning on doing the finished assembly today and should have her buffed and finished by tomorrow or the next day.

 

[J. Neilson]

OK, she's all done now. Here is a face shot of the completed pommel. I tooled the face with my flexi-shaft and dental cutters...

...and a side view...

Here are some finished pix, they're bad shop pix but, I'll be sending her out for some pro-photos by the end of the week. I'll probably still snap a couple nicer ones in the photo box before sending her out and paste them up here. She's about 16 1/2" long overall and is a real handful.

 

[Sam Salvati]

WOW, what a beast! Interesting laddering effect you have there.

 

[J. Neilson]

Thanks Sam. As opposed to cutting a standard ladder into the blade I like to sometimes do a "random cut" style. In the light, this blade shimmers in all different directions.

 

[P. McKinley]

Fine lookin' knife there sir! And, a very fine thread highlighting the build.

Can you please tell me what the black material is that you molded to the butt end of the stag to which the pommel is affixed? And why?

Did you use pins or other means of attaching the pommel to the handle in addition to the epoxy?

Thanks.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Almost looks similar to the gibeon meteorite blade in the other thread. Deker said this thing is HUGE.

 

[hmullica72]

J.

Once again, I bow before your mad-ass skills.:thumbup: Great thread and beautiful piece bud.
Ditto on the meteorite piece comparison, Sam.

Harry

 

[J. Neilson]

Fine lookin' knife there sir! And, a very fine thread highlighting the build.

Can you please tell me what the black material is that you molded to the butt end of the stag to which the pommel is affixed? And why?

Did you use pins or other means of attaching the pommel to the handle in addition to the epoxy?

Thanks.

The black materials is a "high tech" plastic spacing material from Texas Knifemaker supply. It won't fade, fray or shift. I like using it on the ends of stag and certain other materials as a divider between materials. It also works well as a division point if your etching parts of a completed knife (and masking off others). Not the case on this knife but, it's helpful on others. I normally countersink a 1" anchor (nut) into the pommel and hard solder it into place and then thread it right to the tang. It's tricky to match up on something like this but, you just have to be extra attentive.