- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
- Messages
- 10,040
Hello fellas n' ladies,
I finally got somewhere with the numbered run of "Mecha-style" machetes made from that really nice Russian titanium alloy called BT23.
This was an attempt to make a big batch of summertime blades all at once, and offer them at a good price. I made a serious mental miscalculation on that. For some reason, I thought that the stock being closer to the final thickness would make the job quicker and easier, but what I failed to consider is that after forging, there's really no difference in the surface area that needs to be ground and shaped.
Told ya I'm bad at math. All it did was reduce the forging time which unfortunately is the best part of the job, and leave the same amount of grinding, on some particularly tough ti.
I will not attempt to make a large batch like this again and will limit any future batches to 3, because the techniques used are simply not conducive to making big batches of big blades. It was pretty brutal. Every billet is forged, they are all different, and the grind is a single continuously curved piece that has to be shaped by hand.
Either way, lesson learned, and mission accomplished. This is the first time in a while that I've been able to offer up some blades to the general public! Pictured are the bare blades, ready for handle wraps of any type, or big ugly scales, I guess that depends on what the machete wielder likes.
These are 24" oal with 18" blades, convex, distally-tapered, 1/8" thick at the handle, and weigh around 9 ounces, bare. That's just a bit over a half-pound of sharpened ti. They are a good middle ground between being razor-like and beefy.
Thanks for looking.
I finally got somewhere with the numbered run of "Mecha-style" machetes made from that really nice Russian titanium alloy called BT23.
This was an attempt to make a big batch of summertime blades all at once, and offer them at a good price. I made a serious mental miscalculation on that. For some reason, I thought that the stock being closer to the final thickness would make the job quicker and easier, but what I failed to consider is that after forging, there's really no difference in the surface area that needs to be ground and shaped.
Told ya I'm bad at math. All it did was reduce the forging time which unfortunately is the best part of the job, and leave the same amount of grinding, on some particularly tough ti.I will not attempt to make a large batch like this again and will limit any future batches to 3, because the techniques used are simply not conducive to making big batches of big blades. It was pretty brutal. Every billet is forged, they are all different, and the grind is a single continuously curved piece that has to be shaped by hand.
Either way, lesson learned, and mission accomplished. This is the first time in a while that I've been able to offer up some blades to the general public! Pictured are the bare blades, ready for handle wraps of any type, or big ugly scales, I guess that depends on what the machete wielder likes.
These are 24" oal with 18" blades, convex, distally-tapered, 1/8" thick at the handle, and weigh around 9 ounces, bare. That's just a bit over a half-pound of sharpened ti. They are a good middle ground between being razor-like and beefy.
Thanks for looking.
