Quillon Dagger WIP

[sculver]

I'm happy to hear that there are some folks enjoying this WIP. I like posting them and plan to do more. Thanks for the appreciation!!

Cool. I've never seen hand-sanding done that way before.

Sanding on paper glued to a flat surface is a good way to get the blade bevels flat. I seldom use this method on anything other than daggers. But, it works on any blade type. After the bevels are flat, I'll then put the blade in a vice and use a sanding stick.

You experts make it look so-so easy in these WIPs.
The rest of us would have the blade ruined in about 10 seconds.

All of us knifemakers are illusionists. That's how we make this work look easy.

Ten seconds is a lifetime when it comes to making mistakes. I can wreck a blade in about one tenth of a second of inattention.

I love these WIPs too! What is amazing to me is how fast these guys like Steve, Kyle, Bruce actually make a knife start-to-finish.

You can't really go on the WIP to tell how long it takes me to make the knife. I started the damascus for the dagger blade several weeks ago; working on it a few hours at a time. I didn't want to start the thread until I was certain that the damascus was good and the pattern was as I wanted it to be. I have already done some work on the fittings and the handle for this knife. But now, this WIP has pretty much caught up with the work on the knife.

What it comes down to is that they are (I believe) all full time makers

Working full time does help with speed. Mostly because it helps to keep your skills honed (pun intended); therefore, you make fewer time consuming mistakes. I feel that I am a slow worker, especially when grinding blades. It takes me hours to grind a dagger blade.

Everybody asks me, "How long did it take you to make this knife?" Well, these guys probably know. Me? I haven't got a clue.

I try to keep track of the time that I spend on a knife, but with large projects like this dagger, I often lose track of the hours. It usually takes me about 160 hours to build a quillon dagger of this type and construction.

Great WIP thread Mr. Culver!

Kyle, you've got to stop calling me Mr. Culver. You're folks did a fine job of raising a proper gentleman. :thumbup: For that they are to be commended. But, you are welcome to call me by my first name.

 

[BRTATCK]

All I have to say Steve is that it is coming along fine. Excellent job on the WIP. We can all learn things from these, I know that I have. I look forward to seeing the upcoming stages.
Brion

 

[Mace]

Very cool Steve! Do you hire a crew to clean that shop? Looks like you could do surgery in there!!!
Mace

 

[sculver]

Hey Mace!!

Very cool Steve! Do you hire a crew to clean that shop? Looks like you could do surgery in there!!!

It's really not as clean as it looks in the photos. I just make sure that the camera isn't focused on the filth. I try to sweep it up about once a week. Once in a while, I'll blow it down with the air broom.

 

[sculver]

Things are going well on the dagger. Still hand sanding the blade. I'll be posting some more photos soon.

I've had some delays due to the weather. We got 9 inches of snow last Monday, followed by 10 inches yesterday. Both storms caused a lot of drifting and took some time to clean up. I've got a couple of neighbors who don't have equipment to clear deep snow, so I also clean their driveways.

I know that the folks in the north deal with this all of the time. I'm not complaining. I actually enjoy clearing snow with the tractor. But, it takes from time in the shop and slows my work.

This picture is of my tractor before I backed it out to clear the driveway. The blade on the back of the tractor is hidden by the 2 1/2 foot deep snow in our driveway. To the right of this photo is a truck that is stuck on our road. Just below the truck is a 4 foot snow drift at the end of my shop.

 

[peterinct]

I can identify with the snow issues Steve. After the storms come through your area, they have been pounding the northeast.

We have had about 3 feet of snow in the last week!

Hope to see that dagger progressing soon,
Peter

 

[Kevin Jones]

That photo gives me chills just looking at it.
Thanks for the WIP Steve. Your's are among the best.

 

[Dawkind]

Don't ya just love it, Steve?!?

 

[sculver]

Don't ya just love it, Steve?!?

Actually, I kinda' have fun pushing snow with my tractor. One of my neighbors came by with his snow plow equipped pick-up and helped me clean the other neighbor's driveways. Much appreciated on such a cold day.



I've been doing a lot of work on the blade over the last several days. The blade is finished and I am back to work on the fittings.

I am very happy with the blade. I got a really good shift on the layers of steel in the damascus. The pattern flows evenly all the way out to the edges and to the point.

The plunge lines are cut using a file guide and a chain saw sharpening file. I cut the plunge lines on all single edged blades on the belt grinder. But, it's difficult (for me) to get them all square on a dagger blade, so I use a file guide.

The same file guide is used to cut the shoulders for the guard.

A micrometer is used to measure the thickness of the tang where the guard will be fitted. I file an equal amount from each side of the tang so everything will be centered.

Hand sanding the blade; hours of sanding using wet-or-dry sandpaper and WD-40. Working with 800 grit in the picture. The blade will be sanded to a 2000 grit finish before etching.

Etching the blade in ferric chloride. The blade is placed in the ferric chloride for 30 seconds, then removed and scrubbed with a stiff bristled nylon brush to remove the oxides. This is repeated 10 times.

After etching, the oxides are removed using 3 micron polishing paper and WD-40.

Mirror polishing the blade. The blade is buffed with white matchless compound and then Brownell's 555 polish.

The finished blade; and another crappy photo. Once again, I have created something that is difficult to photograph. I'll need a pro to shoot a good image of this knife.

 

[John White]

Hey, Steve,

Glad to see more of this one. That's one crisp (and mean-looking) dagger blade.

Anxious for more.

john

 

[RogerP]

The photo may be less than superb, but the blade sure isn't.

Roger

 

[Dawkind]

Superlative work, Steve....

 

[Allen Newberry]

I am betting that blade looks really cool when you hold it at different angles to the light.

 

[Erik Fritz]

Steve, thank you for doing this wip those of us hopeing to test for MS in the future really appreciate your time and effort in putting this together.

 

[peterinct]

Looking VERY good so far! I'm looking forward to seeing it progress.

Peter

 

[timcsaw]

The plunge lines are cut using a file guide and a chain saw sharpening file. I cut the plunge lines on all single edged blades on the belt grinder. But, it's difficult (for me) to get them all square on a dagger blade, so I use a file guide.

GREAT WIP Steve and of MUCH help to "budding" knife makers! (Curses you make it look so easy!)

I hope you won't mind if I ask a question? (if you'd rather not muck up this thread with an answer I understand and a PM would be fine if you are so inclined.).

In the second picture you can clearly see the line on the blade itself that was created while doing the plunge cuts using the CS file. Of course the file creates the plunges, but also leaves a visible mark on the blade surface (unavoidable).

How the heck to do get rid of those marks on the blade caused by that file? The file marks run in one direction(across the blade), but all of the blade sanding runs from plunge to tip.

Do you wrap your CS file in sandpaper and spin it to change the direction of the file marks in the plunge or what?

On my own work, it ALWAYS seems that the plunge cuts are always visible to some extent because I just don't know how to get deep "in there"... into the plunge and create a smooth transition onto the blade surface (especially if the blade has no choil). Essentially, my FINISHED blades still somewhat show the plunge cuts like you can see in your second picture before you fix them!

Whats the secret?

 

[sculver]

Steve, thank you for doing this wip those of us hopeing to test for MS in the future really appreciate your time and effort in putting this together.

Thanks for all of the kind comments. This actually is the basic design of a Master Smith test dagger. So, perhaps I will show a few things that will help the folks who will be faced with creating a dagger in the future.

I am betting that blade looks really cool when you hold it at different angles to the light.

She's 12 inches of polished ladder pattern damascus and it's lovely to watch the reflections sparkle and dance down her length as you spin her in the light. But, the static gray shades of a photo do her no justice.

In the second picture you can clearly see the line on the blade itself that was created while doing the plunge cuts using the CS file.

timcsaw,

What you are seeing in the photo is not marks on the blade from the file; though I understand why you thought so. There is just a reflection of light around the radius of the plunge cut. I was sanding with 800 grit paper in this image and the file marks were long gone by then. In fact, the file marks were gone after I was through sanding with the coarsest paper that I started with (220 grit). File marks must be removed with the coarsest grit of paper, or there is no point in moving on to finer paper.

When cutting plunges with a file, what you ideally want to accomplish is to stop cutting with the file on exactly the same plane as the blade bevel. If you cut below the level of the blade bevel surface, then you will have to lower the surface of the blade bevel to the bottom of the file cut. In fact, it is the deep scratches made by the file teeth that determine the bottom of the file's cut depth. So, it is the depth of the scratches that you are watching when you file. Sometimes it is difficult to determine exactly where you are cutting with a file. I often use a magic marker to color the area where I am filing to be able to tell where I am cutting.

Chain saw files are typically fairly coarse. They leave a lot of deep scratches. After roughing in the plunges with a chain saw file, I change to a 6 inch rat-tail file in a number 4 cut. The rat-tail file leaves a much smoother cut. Once the file cuts are as clean as I can get them with the number 4 cut file, I am ready to begin sanding.

I know that a lot of makers wrap sand paper around their file to clean up the file marks. I find it difficult to see what I am doing using this method. I do not want to accidentally sand across the center line of the dagger blade and damage it. I use a craft stick, often called a popsicle stick, to sand the plunge area. I always start sanding with the coarsest grit paper at about a 45 degree angle to the blade. I'll tip the stick's edge into the plunge area and work the sand paper up and around the radius. I like to use these wood sticks because I can bend the stick into a slight bow so I can work small areas and also avoid sanding across the center line of the dagger blade. The scratches from the file cuts must be removed and the plunge blended into the blade bevel during the sanding with the coarsest paper.

Hope all of this makes sense. Let me know if you have more questions.

 

[sculver]

I've begun the work on the fittings. Here is the first set of photos on the making of the guard.

The guard material is cut from a plate of 5/8 inch thick, 1018 steel.

The guard material is coated with lay-out dye and marked for cutting; based on the design plans in the background.

The guard rough cut for the next operation.

The area where the blade will set is surface ground.

The tang slot is started by drilling a hole.

The tang slot is milled in the guard.

The tang slot ends are squared out using a file that has one side ground "safe".

 

[Allen Newberry]

Very cool! I am looking forward to seeing how you create the curled ends of the quillion.

 

[timcsaw]

Thanks for all of the kind comments. This actually is the basic design of a Master Smith test dagger. So, perhaps I will show a few things that will help the folks who will be faced with creating a dagger in the future.



She's 12 inches of polished ladder pattern damascus and it's lovely to watch the reflections sparkle and dance down her length as you spin her in the light. But, the static gray shades of a photo do her no justice.



timcsaw,

What you are seeing in the photo is not marks on the blade from the file; though I understand why you thought so. There is just a reflection of light around the radius of the plunge cut.

Ah, NOW I see it... makes perfect sense. I figured there had to be a technique (or 3) I was missing! Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me Steve.