Russ Andrews

I might just have to drive on over to K.C. soon, and watch this one unfold in Russ's shop. It's gettin pretty darn interesting, seein these pics.
 
Thanks for sharing the pictures of this project. :thumbup:

Now I am eager to see the rest of the process and the finished blade. That handle is going to be sweet looking!
 
You are going to have an exceptional bowie. It's always great seeing your knife being made step by step. You have a nice piece of ivory to work with. Hopefully you will not lose much of the color in final fit-up.
Thanks Keith
Keep the photos coming......
 
Well, after hitting a bit of a bump in the road, things seem to be getting back on track. This knife is a learning experience for Russ, and because of that he discovered that the original way he had tried to make the blade had not worked out properly. This time around he has forged in the large fuller, but will be grinding in the small fuller after doing the heat treatment.

This latest image shows the new blade with the large fuller. Russ has begun the convex grind. Next the ledge will be filed in for the guard to fit against, and the tang will be narrowed toward the tip and threaded for the cap.
 
Jose, what you are seeing in the last image is a single large fuller before it has been cleaned up. The second smaller fuller will be ground in after the heat treatment.
 
Well, we have some more photos.

The first one is of the blade with Russ's new mark. This mark will be used on knives that do not have a ricasso. On my knife it has been placed on the spine. Russ will also be including his JS stamp.

The second photo is of the knife in a foil package with thinned furnace cement applied to the tang. The foil will protect the blade from decarburization and the cement will protect the tang. The reason the tang is not in the foil pack is because Russ needs to be able to grab it for putting the blade into the quench oil. The blade will be taken to 1250 degrees and left for 20 minutes to equalize and then taken to 1525 and soaked for 20 minutes. Then it will be placed in Parks Thermo Quench oil at 450 degrees and marquenched. It will then be tempered twice. The first time at 350 degrees. The tempersture for the second temper will be determined by the results of the first.

The reason for marquenching is that it creates far fewer stresses in the steel, so you have lesss warpage. You also end up with a tougher blade.

The third photo shows the blade after the heat treatment is completed.

Russ is also going to do the same heat treatment to the rejected blade. It will then be broken so that Russ can see what it takes.
 
Very nice. ya know, I liked harvey Dean's knife too even though I am not a fan of fullers. i do like that blade shape! What steel did Russ use? Did he still go with the L6 on the second blade?
 
A couple of things that make this blade interesting, are that without a
ricasso, the blade bavels have to follow right through onto the tang. The
tang, then, is thicker at the top than it is at the bottom.

Additionally, the fullers, on some of the early pieces, stopped short of the guard. On others, they went all the way to the tang.

I chose to stop the fullers short of the guard, because the fuller depth would
have required carrying them back into the tang, thus posing difficulties in
fitting the guard, or making the tang no thicker than the thinnest part of
the blade. Weak tangs are food for nightmares (!).

Now, On a distally tapered blade the fullers actually become closer together
as they draw closer to the tip ( makes for real fun forging..!).

These considerations, in combination, make this a bit of a challenge,
and a welcome chance to stretch in a direction I might not have otherwise gone.

Thanks, Keith
 
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