Ring Guard Bowie Progression

[peterinct]

GREAT work Kyle. That is going to be an awesome bowie. Can't wait to see it when you finish.

Peter

 

[stephanfowler]

Now I've sanded the guard to 220 grit with a slack belt and have rounded the edges off with the needle files in this picture.

And now I've made the initial triangular cuts on the clam shell.

I'm just about ready to finish the hard part of this project and then all I'll have to do is a little hand sanding on the handle, the file work on the liners, hand sanding on the blade, etching all the damascus and salt blackening everything to make the damascus stand out better.

Thanks for looking.

to be entirely honest I watched the design thread for this idea and really had a hard time seeing it come together without being aesthetically "heavy"

but seeing where your at has really changed my mind, that guard is coming along beautifully

I can't wait to see it all finished out.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Kyle, are quite handy with a dremel and file.
Great work on a tough project. :thumbup:

 

[psycho78]

Kyle.....you are the MAN!

Just....wow.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Hi everyone!

I'm just about ready to wrap this knife up.

Here I've used a Dremel tool to make the little cuts that the black arrows are pointing to where I could not use a file because of how the ring is in the way. I used a needle file wherever I could.

In this picture I have rounded out the initial cuts.

Here I've made the initial cuts for the top clam shell.

I rounded the cuts out in this picture.

Here I've made the cup on the underside of the top clam shell with the Dremel tool and have sanded it to 1200 grit.

Now I have hand sanded the guard to 320 grit.

I have hand sanded the guard to 600 grit in this picture. Next I'll sand it one more grit to 1200 and it will be ready for etching.

Here are a couple pictures of how the guard looks after etching.

I think it came out great!

Today I am going to try to finish the handle, tomorrow I'll do the file-work on the liners and possibly finish the blade.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

 

[ryan9977]

kyle....when u etch the damascus do u always sand up tot he same grit.....is there a big difference insay 600 and 1200 grit......i am just wondering how different the finished product will be.....thanks....ryan

 

[csc]

another awsome wip thread thank you Kyle

chad

 

[peterinct]

Awesome looking guard Kyle.

 

[JParanee]

love the pattern

had questions at first about a ring guard but I am starting tro see the light

 

[Semtex]

Great Kyle,what a amazing Knife!!

 

[Big Rick]

Kyle, thats absolutely AWESOME!!!!

 

[Kevin Jones]

Quite an amazing transformation Kyle.
From:

To:

 

[Bruce Bump]

Very impressive work Kyle. I'm liking this wip.

 

[65535]

Amazing work. I really like it it's amazing to see it go from sanded steel to etched pattern Damascus.

 

[harrington]

Great stuff Kyle You are very gifted.
Could you please include some Info on how you go about the file work on the liners. I'm going to try some file worked liners and am after some pionters.

 

[Kyle Royer]

kyle....when u etch the damascus do u always sand up tot he same grit.....is there a big difference insay 600 and 1200 grit......i am just wondering how different the finished product will be.....thanks....ryan

Yes I have been sanding ALL my damascus to 1200 grit for the past 6 months or so and would not go back to just 600 grit. It really isn't that much more work ether, you just go from 600 to 1200 without any in between. I just sanded the blade from 600 to 1200 grit last night and it only took about 30 minutes.

Thanks for the question.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Great stuff Kyle You are very gifted.
Could you please include some Info on how you go about the file work on the liners. I'm going to try some file worked liners and am after some pionters.

I'll have a few pictures of the file-work progress today.

Thanks for all the complements everyone!

 

[Kyle Royer]

Hi everyone!!!

Here I have cut the initial cuts in for the clam shell theme on the rear bolster.

Now I've rounded the cuts to look like a clam shell.

And now the other side.

I sanded both bolsters to 1200 grit and lightly ran it over the buffer.

I said I would get a better picture of the top part of the pommel nut and here it is.

Here I have hand sanded the rest of the handle, the fittings to 1200 grit and the ivory to 2000 grit.

Now I've etched the damascus fittings.

More etched damascus. I think it looks great.

I'll post another 11 pictures after I have lunch.

 

[Kyle Royer]

OK I'm back. I just finished eating some GREAT pizza, mmmmmm.

Here I've made the three little cuts that start and finish out the file-work. I used the triangular needle file that is in the picture.

Here I started by making the two needle cuts that are in the middle with the triangular file. I made the cuts going out so the file-work will go outwards from the center of the liners. The round cuts are made with a 1/8" round file.

Here I have rounded the thorn cuts and the round cuts together so it flows like a "Vine with Thorns". I have never done file-work on liners this thin and I have never made this pattern file-work so tight together. I like how it came out very much.

This is the same shot with different lighting.

I sanded the blade from 320 grit to 600 grit and 1200 grit. It is at 1200 grit in this picture.

Here's a close up of the blade ready for etching in Ferric Chloride.

I have etched the blade and assembled the handle. I still have to slat blue all the damascus to give it more contrast.

Here you can see how I forged the bars so they will follow the blade edge.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Here's a close up of the blade.

I guess I better get out a salt blue the damascus.

Thanks for looking.