- Joined
- Dec 24, 2015
- Messages
- 3
I wasn't sure where I should introduce myself, so figured I'd do it while I posted some pictures of my first knives. I'm in Traverse City, MI and just took up this hobby a couple of months ago. Growing up, I was never a "knife" guy, but I was always fascinated with the damascus/pattern welded knives, and when I was just a kid, my father took me to a demonstration where we watched a Japanese swordsmith folding steel. When we were looking at his finished swords that were on display, those layer were the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.
Fast forward 30+ years, and I was researching what to do with a pile of old Jeep parts I have lying around from working on my two Jeeps, and I came across plans for a brake drum forge. One thing led to another, and soon I had my forge up and running, an old anvil off of craigslist, and I was making tongs and other tools. Then my wife says I should make her a bunch of wrought iron stuff for the house, so on to youtube to see how to make some basic candle holders, and I come across a couple of videos of people banging out pattern welded blades by hand. My love of that folded steel is reborn and I have to try it... well, after I got my wife's projects done.
So spent some time just teaching myself how to forge weld, then produced a knife like object out of some old Jeep leaf springs and some other scrap I had lying around, and decided my early efforts were good enough to try an actual knife. The first one was okay, and now sits on a shelf in my mother's house... figured she put up with a son who likes to try crazy things for 45 years, so she deserved the merits of my first effort. As far as looks, I was not real happy with it... the pattern came out nice, but the over all fit and finish of the knife made it look like a cheap old letter opener.
Played around some more, then did my second and third knives as xmas gifts. These came out a little nicer, but I was rushing at the end to get them done, so still not real happy with the over all completed knives. At this point, I have decided I am hooked, and have ordered some known steel 1080 and 15n20 so I can quit using the scrap pile and start testing my HT process and maybe start turning out some finished knives that I am actually really proud of. I've got the wheels and some other parts being shipped for a proper 2x72 grinder, and the steel should arrive today or tomorrow.
I know I started this kind of backwards, with getting in to the damascus blades first, but that is really where my interest lies, so I guess it is what it is at this point. I've got about a dozen more to make as promised gifts to friends and family, and hopefully by then, I'll feel good enough about what I'm turning out to sell a knife or two to help pay for this new addiction.
For the pics, the smaller one is my second knife. 72 layers of just a random pattern and the larger one is only 12 layers with a simple twist... I was hoping for just a lazy spiral running down the blade, but since I'm doing it all by hand, I think the spiral got a little mangled. Still, it came out pretty cool and was very appreciated by my step son who received it for xmas.
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Fast forward 30+ years, and I was researching what to do with a pile of old Jeep parts I have lying around from working on my two Jeeps, and I came across plans for a brake drum forge. One thing led to another, and soon I had my forge up and running, an old anvil off of craigslist, and I was making tongs and other tools. Then my wife says I should make her a bunch of wrought iron stuff for the house, so on to youtube to see how to make some basic candle holders, and I come across a couple of videos of people banging out pattern welded blades by hand. My love of that folded steel is reborn and I have to try it... well, after I got my wife's projects done.
So spent some time just teaching myself how to forge weld, then produced a knife like object out of some old Jeep leaf springs and some other scrap I had lying around, and decided my early efforts were good enough to try an actual knife. The first one was okay, and now sits on a shelf in my mother's house... figured she put up with a son who likes to try crazy things for 45 years, so she deserved the merits of my first effort. As far as looks, I was not real happy with it... the pattern came out nice, but the over all fit and finish of the knife made it look like a cheap old letter opener.
Played around some more, then did my second and third knives as xmas gifts. These came out a little nicer, but I was rushing at the end to get them done, so still not real happy with the over all completed knives. At this point, I have decided I am hooked, and have ordered some known steel 1080 and 15n20 so I can quit using the scrap pile and start testing my HT process and maybe start turning out some finished knives that I am actually really proud of. I've got the wheels and some other parts being shipped for a proper 2x72 grinder, and the steel should arrive today or tomorrow.
I know I started this kind of backwards, with getting in to the damascus blades first, but that is really where my interest lies, so I guess it is what it is at this point. I've got about a dozen more to make as promised gifts to friends and family, and hopefully by then, I'll feel good enough about what I'm turning out to sell a knife or two to help pay for this new addiction.
For the pics, the smaller one is my second knife. 72 layers of just a random pattern and the larger one is only 12 layers with a simple twist... I was hoping for just a lazy spiral running down the blade, but since I'm doing it all by hand, I think the spiral got a little mangled. Still, it came out pretty cool and was very appreciated by my step son who received it for xmas.
