Once Upon A Time In WoodChuck Forge

[mohd]

Lots of thanks for the progress report Chuck :thumbup:

The bottom blade is the new one while the top one is the old blade. The new one is a bit larger and thicker than the first one. This is why I had to make a new one.

Now I need to Heat Treat these on Wednesday. I will update when I get them ready to put together.

Can I say that they are siblings A male and a female A fraternal twin
Now I'm in a dilemma Should they stay together in a pair or should they be separated from each other

The above picture is borrowed from Raising Twins.

.. I am glad I could help a friend out and honored to be a very small part of the project.

It's just like an old saying Mike, a friend in need is a friend indeed

mohd

 

[Mike Turner]

Can I say that they are siblings A male and a female A fraternal twin
Now I'm in a dilemma Should they stay together in a pair or should they be separated from each other :


mohd

Mohd,

Since I did get to handle the smaller one, I would say keep the kids together .

 

[RogerP]

How big is the "little" blade?

Roger

 

[A C Richards]

The "Little" Blade is 13.25" long, 2" wide and right at .25 thick at the ricasso.

 

[A C Richards]

The "BIG" blade is a hair over 13.5" long, 2.25 wide and .314 thick at the ricasso.

 

[RogerP]

The "Little" Blade is 13.25" long, 2" wide and right at .25 thick at the ricasso.

A mere pup. Just kidding, that's a big honkin' blade in my books. Funny how an extra 1/4" in width makes a big visual difference.

Looking forward to seeing them completed. What do you guys have in mind for the handles? If that isn't getting ahead of the WIP, that is - I'm content to wait and see.

Roger

 

[A C Richards]

Mohd has requested Kauri. I have a piece I got that has a bit of whitebait in it. I will confirm it with him but that is the plan right now, at least for the "Big" one. I have not decided on the "Little" one yet.

 

[mohd]

.. I would say keep the kids together ..

Thanks Mike! I've the same thought in my head as well

The "Little" Blade is 13.25" long, 2" wide and right at .25 thick at the ricasso.

The "Little" Blade is the "Big Brother"

The "BIG" blade is a hair over 13.5" long, 2.25 wide and .314 thick at the ricasso.

And the "Big" Blade is the "Little Sister"

.. that's a big honkin' blade in my books ..

Hoping my hand could manipulate it while using it! And the picture below shows the size of my hand

What say you Roger?

Mohd has requested Kauri. I have a piece I got that has a bit of whitebait in it. I will confirm it with him but that is the plan right now, at least for the "Big" one.

Yes yes yes! The "Little Sister" who is the "Big" one is to have a Kauri as the handle

Picture borrowed from Ancientwood, LTD. Website

I have not decided on the "Little" one yet.

I think it's just fair for each of the fraternal twin to have Kauri as the handle

BTW Chuck, hope the next pictures will show both blades! It will surely help me much to decide whether to keep the kids together or to separate them far far away from each other

mohd

 

[RogerP]

Oh I expect you'll manage just fine mohd - you're quite accustomed to big honkin' knives.

That ancient Kauri is beautiful stuff with a fascinating background (thanks for the link). I do have a question, though. One of the more significant factors in the future stability of wood used for knife handles is moisture content. Wood that is not very dry when put on a knife is more likely to shrink as it gives up moisture - particularly if its destination is a drier climate than the maker's shop. So how do you get wood that has spent a bazillion years buried in a swamp / bog sufficiently dry?

Roger

 

[A C Richards]

First let me answer Rogers question. Kauri though it has been buried in a bog for 30,000-50,000 years and very wet comes thoroughly dry from the mill. They Kiln dry it to 6% so no problems as far as wet wood is concerned.

Now for an update. Did the heat treat yesterday here are the 2 blades ready for normalizing.

First normalizing I do at 1500F then drop it to 1450F then drop to 1400F cooling to room temp between cycles.

Cooling on the rack. The one on the right, little sister, still has a little color in the blade. This was the final cycle before hardening.

Here is my quench tank. I got tired of it taking up floor space so I hung it on the wall to get it out of the way. This is extended for use.

And here it is stowed. Keeps things a little less cluttered (like I keep a clean shop) :-0

Here are the blades after HT. Been in the oven 2x at 450 and this is the next AM.

And a close up of little sister. You can see the pattern coming through.

Now here is little sister polished out before etching. Big brother is still as tempered. I spent most of the day polishing her out and will do him tomorrow. Hopefully I can etch them both and have another update.

 

[mohd]

The little sister: Da ya think I'm sexy?

Yabba dabba doo

Now here is little sister polished out before etching. Big brother is still as tempered. I spent most of the day polishing her out and will do him tomorrow. Hopefully I can etch them both and have another update.

Yes, please

mohd

 

[A C Richards]

Well here is another update. The 2 blades after the etch. I did not document the whole process as it was so well done by Nick on Loriens thread. So here they are,

Here is Little Sister, which is actually bigger than big brother

And her Big Brother

And a shot of them together

Close-up of Big Brother

And CU of Little sister

Next step is giving them a bath in the parkerizing tank. That will have to be on Monday.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

 

[mohd]

Lots of thanks for the progress report Chuck! I like both of them very much! Sweet and beautiful twin :thumbup:

.. I would say keep the kids together ..

They were born from the same pregnancy I want the sister but suddenly there's a big brother as well! Deep in my heart I want to keep the kids together! Anyhow let them have a bath first and I think I'll wait further till both are dressed and then only I'll firmly decide whether to keep them together or not! Hopefully I can afford to have both of them stick together with me

Lots of thanks again and wish you've a great weekend, Chuck

mohd

 

[RogerP]

They both look great - but now I am massively confused as to size and sex - so break it down for me: the one with the curved ricasso is the larger of the two, right?

Roger

 

[A C Richards]

Roger,

Yes the Little Sister has the curved ricasso. It is the Larger of the 2. The Big Brother is SLIGHTLY smaller and significantly thinner. Had me confused at first too.

 

[RogerP]

Roger,

Yes the Little Sister has the curved ricasso. It is the Larger of the 2. The Big Brother is SLIGHTLY smaller and significantly thinner. Had me confused at first too.

Got it. :thumbup: Looking forward to guards and handles.

Roger

 

[mohd]

.. Next step is giving them a bath in the parkerizing tank ..

Well, it's quite some times since I started this thread. Anyhow couples of happenings in my life made me sort of abandoning this thread. Things suddenly cropped up once I reached the mandatory retirement age last March, 2011. Sometimes I'm not really understand why I wasn't really aware that time flew like bullet and left me a surprise old man

Anyhow here is the update of this project.

.. I had to take a little break from the Golok ..

.. parkerized the blade. It turned out really nice. I plan on working on the fixtures tomorrow ..

And then ..

.. I will take some pictures of the hardware. i did get it forged. I tried to pattern the pommel a little. We will see how it turns out. I really hope to have this done by the end of the week. My full time job has been getting in the way lately ..

I think it's real hard for Chuck to do the part time bladesmithing which can only be done on the weekends! Furthermore family and friends also needs some times out of our life

.. Also a picture of Little Sister with collar in place..

Below is the picture of two sets of forged damascus for the collar bolster and the pommel. I think the second set is either a spare or it might be meant for the other knife (i.e. the big bro). Chuck knows better and I forgot to ask him about it.

And here is the picture of the knife with collar in place.

mohd

 

[mohd]

.. I am not happy with the Kauri. It is just too soft for a big knife. Even after the stabilizing I did it can still be dented easily with my fingernail. I have a couple other really nice pieces of wood I can use if you want. I have spalted alder and a very nice piece of walnut ..

It was the original plan to have an Ancient Kauri as the handle material for this large cutter/chopper. Anyhow with the unexpected situation with the piece of Kauri then I asked Chuck to use walnut as the handle material instead.

.. Have you ever had a project that just fights you the whole way? Well for some reason this one is. I went out to finish the knife today. I had rough ground the handle and all I needed to do was finish it out and do the final etch on the fittings. Well a darn CRACK showed up in the Walnut handle. I tried to fill it but it sticks out like a sore thumb and I do not trust its ability to hold up under heavy use. So I need to step back and punt. I am including a couple more pictures of wood that I have. They are large enough to get the handle out of. The top one is Desert Iron wood and the bottom is Black Acacia (very similar to KOA) and very tight fiddleback. The spalted maple is also available I sent pics of before ..

I really felt sorry for Chuck for all the problems occurred along the way in this very project. I'd three successful projects with Chuck before and everything just went fine with no problem at all

Then as for the handle I told Chuck to use the Black Acacia. Why? I think I just like the name Black Acacia and that's it

And finally Chuck successfully finished the large cutter/chopper :thumbup:

mohd

 

[JayGoliath]

Speechless.....Pak....

 

[mohd]

Thanks Jay! I haven't post the pictures of this cutter/chopper in MKF because it's still in US now!

.. I will ship it off to Kenny on Monday ..

And the latest status of the sheath making by Kenny Rowe is IP.

.. I just called Kenny and the golok is in the next batch. Hopefully within the next week or so ..

mohd