S-Guard Damascus Fighter

Burchtree

Burchtree

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About a month ago, Mr. Bill Buxton allowed me to visit him and work on some damascus. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot and had a blast. One of these days, I'll post those pics and explain more in detail. In short, we made a twist billet and a random pattern (okay, I did a lot of watching ).

After that, we forged a couple of blades out, a small hunter, and a large bowie. Bill showed me how to hammer, and did quite a bit of work on the damascus, but still sent me home with the billets and the forged blades.

Anyway, I was finally able to start work on the bowie last weekend, and it is my first V ground blade. The guard and endcap are both of the same damascus with Tamboti and paper micarta spacers filling in the rest. This is the second handle I put on this, the first just didn't look right.

The blade distal-tapered from ricasso to tip and is a little under 10-inches long and the overall length comes in a little under 16 inches.

It's still a month away, but I'm going to call this blade my anniversary blade, to mark my one year of making blades.

Let me know what you think -- sorry for the poor pics, I shot them early this morning.
:D

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Lookin good! Can't wait to check that baby out in person, and look for the 2" mark. ;) :)

Seriously, how did you like grinding a blade that long for the first time? Every time I try something like that, I screw it up badly.
 
It really wasn't bad at all. Better than doing a hollow grind that long!! :D
 
Wonderful. I am starting to really like fighters that have a bowie like look and I am really starting to like S-guards. I also think you picked a perfect blade length.
 
That is a very nice knife and worthy of an "anniversary" designation. The grind looks awesome, the damascus is gorgeous and you really nailed the handle design. One thing that catches my though is that it appears the guard is soldered? Or is it JB Weld or something? I just don't think I have ever seen a damascus solder joint on the guard.

I had a similar experience this weekend and was fortunate enough to visit the shop of an ABS J.S. Forged, ground, and soldered guards on a 4" drop point and a fighter very similar in shape to your blade. An awesome experience and a couple knives that will take some time deciding on just the right handles. I already am expecting to remove a handle or two in search of something that is just right.

Congrats on your opportunity and the end result. Superb.
 
Thanks all for the kind words.

Blademan -- I used JB weld on the joint, but used Q-tips (with a little acetone) instead of something square. It gave it a more rounded look than I'd like.
 
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