"Snapshot WIP"-10 1/4 Inch Walrus/Damascus Dogbone Bowie for Jim Treacy

[John White]

Let me add two magnificent photos of the finished Dogbone...

First by our own Coop...

and one Chuck Ward took at the Arkansas show...

The knife we'll be looking at here is a 10 1/4 inch, six-bar Turkish Twist Damascus Dogbone Bowie, with Walrus Ivory scales, and fittings of matching Damascus, and Sterling Silver.

At the end of this thread, we'll see photos of the finished knife by both Coop, and Chuck Ward.

The last WIP, for Joe's Chopper, was a step-by-step. This time, let's take some "snapshots," and focus in on details of some of the steps.

Snap #1- The design drawing, and the handle plate.

Jim asked for a Walrus/ Damascus Dogbone, and requested a six-bar Turkish pattern. We both knew we'd be referring to Tim Hancock's master interpretation of this traditional style, but I also taped a photo of the original 1800's "Loving-Kimball" above my desk when I did the drawing.

I sent Jim a sheet with two designs, the bottom,with the standard parallel sided handle, and the top, with a double tapered handle, thicker and wider at the butt than at the collar.

As I'd hoped, Jim chose the tapered.

The detailed drawing, with sections, allowed me to pre-plan all dimensions and tapers,

and to cut a 1/8" steel pattern, which could be drilled for all pin holes.

This pattern could be super-glued to the damascus frame pieces,and to the sterling silver frame spacers for drilling the pin holes, and stacked over both when I drilled through all, into and through the walrus scales.

 

[John White]

Snap #2-The blade

I forged and twisted six bars, 1/2"x1/2"x6", of 176 layer Damascus.

By the way, that's the chunk of beautiful, creamy walrus that makes up the handle scales. We'll be losing almost all of the streaks as we cut into the ivory to shape the "dogbone, but the cream color will more than make up for that.

In a six-bar, we want the two outer bars to run the length of spine and cutting edge, and meet at the tip. We also want each inner bar to meet along the center line in a symmetrical manner. Here's one way to do it.

First, using the twisted bars, forge two, three bar billets, with the twists alternating.

like so,

and so,

then cut curves from what will be the center-line to the tip, like so,

and so,

then forge the curves flat to the center-line like so,

and finally forge-weld together, and forge the blade to profile, like so.

like this,

and after heat-cycling,rough grinding, hardening, tempering, finish sanding, and etching, we'll have this.

I hope some of this makes sense, and gives a bit more detail about how this knifemaking works out in the day to day.

There's lots more to come....

 

[Lorien]

thanks John!:thumbup:

 

[Karl B. Andersen]

Thanks for showing us the how-to.
I understand what it takes.
That said, it just ain't right to be forging in shorts when I'm still looking out my window at piles of snow.

 

[Eduardo Berardo]

Dear John your work is wonderful. Its design is perfect, clean and impressive. In your knives do not miss anything and there is nothing that should not be there.
Now also I very impressed with your planning.
Congratulations your work is an inspiration to me.
Can not wait to see this knife ready .....
Eduardo Berardo

 

[JParanee]

Looks to be a really stunning piece

looking forwaed to seeing more

 

[Mike Quesenberry]

Thank you for this inspirational WIP. The dog bone bowies are menacing to say the least. Your work is always crisp, clean and down right stunning!

Thanks again

 

[canineforge]

This will be fun!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

- Joe

 

[Keith Montgomery]

I'm a huge fan of the dogbone bowie, and I bet this one is going to be great.

 

[xaman]

Thanks for doing this John, this will be fun to watch...

 

[Gary Mulkey]

John,

Thanks for taking the time to post & explain all of this. I wish I would had the time to talk to you in Little Rock about things just like this. I've been an admirer of your work for a long time. Keep the pictures coming.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[peterinct]

Looks GOOD so far. Undoubtedly...the BEST is still to come.

Thanks John,
Peter

 

[jjtjr]

It was a real pleasure watching John make this Dogbone Bowie.

When I got on John's list I wasn't sure what type of knife that I wanted. Last year at the Bladeshow I asked John if he would make me a Dogbone. He had never made one before but he agreed to make the knife. He said that he would need to talk to Tim Hancock about the project, luckily Tim's table was only a row or two away.

I wanted Walrus Ivory and John acquired a beautiful piece at the show. Then I had to wait my turn until John was able to start making the knife.

We talked more about the knife at Jerry Fisk's Microshow where John was the guest Mastersmith.

Then the fun started.

First John sent me the full sized sketches showing how he intended to make the knife. One had tapered handles and the other straight handles. We both preferred the tapered handle. He had put much thought into this project. The sketches were perfectly to scale with all of the dimensions on page. John is known for his fit and finish. I could see why after seeing how much care he put into the sketches.

John then forged the blade and sent progress pictures to me of the blade. It came out exactly the way that I wanted.

After that every few days John would send me an email showing photos of his progress on the knife.

I think that you will enjoy the photos when John posts more.

Jim Treacy

 

[John White]

Hey Jim , welcome back from the Hammer-in.

Snap #3 Shaped Guard

With the blade finished, I'll forge out four more twist bars, two for the frame pieces, and two I'll weld together for the shaped guard.

Since each shaped guard I make seems to need to be a different size or shape, I don't bother with a metal pattern. Instead, I'll fold a piece of tracing paper twice, at right angles, and draw a quarter pattern. Folding the paper over, lets me trace the pattern through and duplicate it exactly. Then, I can simply tape the paper to my guard material, and cut the shape out with a razor knife, leaving the outline on the steel, like so,( note the octagonal "Dogbone" shape of the collars on the guard drawing)

With the pattern marked out on the polished damascus, I'll mill out the slot to within a couple thousandths,

and file the milled slot for a press fit. The polished damascus creates a mirror, which lets me keep the file absolutely perpendicular as I cut.

Using the work platform, and a 50 grit Norton, its easy to grind to the cut pattern lines.

Round over the edges with chain-saw files, sand out to 600 grit,

Heat-treat and temper the guard, since the etch looks better on heat-treated damascus,

re-sand to 1200 grit, etch, and I'm ready to press the guard onto the finished blade. I'll use a screw press, adapted from Uncle Al's soldering fixture.

That blade needs to look like it grows out from the guard.

 

[RogerP]

Great stuff. :thumbup: I've already held the exceptional end product in hand, but it's neat to see a snapshot of what went into making it. And congrats to Jim on an exceptional piece.

Roger

 

[Kevin Jones]

It's a great Bowie that I have really enjoyed handling on three occasions now. And I appreciate it more each time.

 

[D lisch]

Very Cool John I learn something every time you do one of these thank you.

 

[John White]

Well, kinda got backtracked into a step-by-step on that last post. Here's a few real snapshots, with some explanation...

In this shot, I've slotted the two pieces of twist damascus, and three of sterling silver, onto the tang, where they'll become the octagonal, grooved collars. I've also flattened, and forged roughly to profile, the two frame twists we saw earlier. They're lying under the steel pattern I made from the detailed drawing. I keep the Walrus around for inspiration.

Here, I've cut the frame pieces to exact profile, using the pattern, and then, by super-gluing the pieces to the steel pattern, drilled all the holes for the sterling pins in the correct spots. That's $120 worth of Argentium (non-tarnishing) Sterling Silver plate and wire under that blade!

As I begin to assemble and dis-assemble the handle the hundreds of times this will happen over the next days, I'll need a finial to hold it in place. Here's my state-of-the-art, 18volt, Makita portable lathe, and chainsaw file cutter turning the damascus I've silver-soldered to a round nut.

In this shot, I've been turning out the parts. In each case, I've used that steel pattern to mark out the profiles on silver plate and walrus, then superglued the pieces to the plate for back-drilling. At one time, I had a stack of two sterling spacers, the two frame pieces, and one scale, all stacked up and glued to the pattern for drilling.

What's this thing gonna look like when its all put together. Here's the handle rough-ground, and on the spindle for hand finishing.

This spindle is a "C" shaped jig, with a 1/4 inch re-rod, and a set of nuts and washers, that clamps in my vise, and holds a handle together, while it lets me turn it to all angles for filing and sanding. Here's a better view(with a different handle)

And here, by the way, is the angle plate on my grinder's work platform, set to the 24 degree angle taken from the detailed drawing, that cut those facets on the handle.

This knife took about two and a half weeks of eight hour days. Lets assemble this puppy, and look at it, to cheer myself up, and try to keep going.

 

[ckerwin]

WOW, just wow. This is one of my all time favorite knives!!!:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Bruce Bump]

Real enjoyable and informative John. Thanks for showing us some tricks. Super nice dog bone bowie.