Shrapnel...can it be used?

Gravelface

Gravelface

Gold Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2005
Messages
11,346
In my travels in the Army I went to Iraq(beautiful place if your blind) I had the dumb luck of being the victim of a roadside bomb, and now wish to see if I could get a piece that was removed from my gut formed into a small blade. I also have a large piece of a 155 mm round that nearly took out all of our hummers. I was curious if this material has been used or is possible to use as material for making a knife? If anyone could give me the name of anyone who may be interested I would appreciate it. thanks Jason Anderson
 
J. Neilson made a beautiful Purple Heart knife, using some shrapnel I sent him. You might want to contact him, even though he has a heavy work load, he may work something out with you. The knife was made for a wounded soldier, and the knife is a real piece of art. The Purple Heart sheath is a work of beauty, made by his lovely wife. Check on our seach engine here, "shrapnel knife", and it will come up. So, how are you doing after being wounded? Good, I hope!
 
Jason, Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I doubt very much if there's enough carbon in the steel to really make a decent knife but for sentimental value I don't see why not. Would it be possible to use the natural shape of the steel for the blade? I'd be interested in seeing what you have and any idea you have got. You can contact me threw my web page.
 
The piece of steel can be added into a canister with other high carbon steel to make a damascus blade...I think this would be the best way to incorporate it.
 
Glad to hear your still with us!!!

You can use it but, it should be blended with different steels (those with a high enough carbon content) to make a usable knife. The easiest way is to put it into a canister as Greg mentioned. The problem there is you may end up with a large "dead steel" chunk in your edge. You can solve this problem by taking the "can" and forging a high carbon edge into it. A much more labor intesive way is to forge it into barstock and add it to layered damascus as you would nickle or wrought iron (approx. 2-3% of your billet material). Enough to spread out and add contrast but, not enough to affect the blades performance. If I can help let me know.

Here's the link to my Purple Heart Medal Knife-
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=363234&highlight=purple+heart
 
I dont know the size and shape, but another possibility would be to use the shrapnel as an insert in the handle.
 
thank you all for the positive response. I dont know if anyone is familiar with the wood called "Purple heart".If it is hard enough to be used as the handle?Its beautiful deep purple with black hard grain. As far as the 155mm piece it is roughly oval shaped 9" long and 2.5"at widest point 1/4 inch thick. My gut shot piece actually went through my magazine pouch, 3 fully loaded magazines and my kevlar body armor! I guess all that slowed it down enough not to rip through me! It is approx. 1" round If more is needed tell my doctor to cut it from my groin where more is resting.I was actually contemplating selling the rights to that piece on Ebay including Xrays but its only recievable upon my death :) I will post some pictures in the next couple of days of the pieces.Mr. Neilson that it a beautiful knifeand the sheath remarkable. That soldier ought to be proud of it!
 
Gravelface said:
In my travels in the Army I went to Iraq(beautiful place if your blind) I had the dumb luck of being the victim of a roadside bomb, and now wish to see if I could get a piece that was removed from my gut formed into a small blade. I also have a large piece of a 155 mm round that nearly took out all of our hummers. I was curious if this material has been used or is possible to use as material for making a knife? If anyone could give me the name of anyone who may be interested I would appreciate it. thanks Jason Anderson
Click to expand...

Good to see you are still with us Jason. Such knives were all the rage during the first world war. Blade did an article on them years ago. Common practice at the time was to leave some of the shrapnel in it's original form so you would know what it was from. Check ebay to see what they look like. they come up every so often.
 
Purpleheart is a great wood to use for a knife handle....as far as toughness goes. I have a good size board of it out in the shop.

Sounds like a very large piece of shrapnel....a piece of it could be cut out and flattened in the forge as used as a guard if you didnt want to use it as a blade.

I did this with rifle grenade shrapnel that a friend of mine pulled out of his hindquarters in 1968. The material was some sort of brass or bronze rather than steel.

What style of knife were you thinking...a fighter?
 
Anything is possiable....Shrap will work fine in Damascus or as a san mai blade Purple heart is a excellent choice of wood for a knife like this,others should of thought about this wood for knives like this themselves,me included:o

If you would like I could help you out with this also.You already have offers from allot of great makers though.

Glad your still with us and able to tell the tell another day.

God Bless,
Bruce
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top