Some times they just don't turn out the way you envisioned them.

kenhills

kenhills

Joined
Dec 17, 2007
Messages
984
Well clearly the first thing you make is the guard........right. Should have known at this point it was just going to be a long one.




Ok so it does not quite look like the drawing its a little bigger hmmmmmmmmmmmmm what to do. Carry on I guess.






The blade clearly has to be made bigger to fit the guard...right? No wait am I doing this backwards????????????????




OK so it has to be made bigger 7 inches or so..yea that feels about right.




Now I have that really nice piece of Ebony around here some where. Do I really want to fight with it today? Nope try something different



Jumping back to my Scandi days now it looks like this. Iron wood, Redwood, small piece of Ebony, more Redwood finish off the butt end with more Iron wood. This is through 320 grit. Looks about right.




Two more pieces of steel to work on one will go in front of the handle and befor the guard and will keep the scallop pattern going. The second will cover the butt end scalloped again and hold the hole knife together. Total time so far about 15 hours over a weeks span. Looks nothing like what I thought it would look like. Blade is made from ATS-34 guard from 416 and the two pcs yet to be made will be out of 154-CM ....All semi stainless. Overall length so far is 12 inches on the nose. Comment always welcome more pictures next week. Hey if you make leather sheaths and have some spare capacity PM me.
 
I got some mere work done. All came out about as I wanted except the but cap. Gonna have to redo that and contour the handle some so there are no hot spots.
Comments always welcome, Ken






 
Have the back Butt plate in place and the "nut" is being worked on. I will finish it last after everything is fitted and polished.

 
Hardened and tempered to a Rockwell 59. Now lots of polishing and I still need to figure out the pommel not.




 
Lots of polishing and buffing today. Need to high temperature braze the Allthread to the blade and work out the pommel and nut.

 
I really have to start tapping these blades after I put an edge on them. Well the knife is blooded already and I have a nasty cut.......Memo to self.........put the edge on LAST!...................
 
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Guess I am about 95% finished. Everything is polished and fitted. The pommel nut has been solved, the Allthread will be faceted to a point that blends with the nut and will create a "skull crusher. This knife is a fighting Bowie as well as a bush knife. This knife will break down if the owner wants to take it apart to clean it. All that's left is to silver solder the stainless blade to the stainless Allthread and polish the end of the butt plate. Another 2 to 3 hours of work and I think I will call it finished. Comments?



 
Very nice Ken!
Is this one spoken for? I've got two others of yours....
 
Hi,
No it's not spoken for. This is a spec. knife I did for the challenge and the technical exploration. There are a lot of hours into this and I really have not been thinking about a price yet. PM me.

Ken
 
Ok, so I am finished and it looks nothing like the original concept drawing. Not that it matters all that much just sort of the way it went with this one. Next one I will make the blade first then the accoutrements
So some specifics.
Overall length is just this side of 13 inches from tip to the end of the skull crusher.
Blade length is 7 1/8 inches
Blade steel is 3/16ths ATS-34 to a Rockwell of 59
The two pieces of steel immediately in front and behind the guard are 1/8 inch thick 154-cm
The guard and the pommel nut are made from 3/8 inch 416
The Rear butt plate is made from 3/16ths ATS-34 as well
Handle is Lignum Vitae (Jamaican Iron wood), Redwood, Gabon Ebony, Redwood, Lignum Vitae. Brought to 1200 grit then hard waged.
Weight 14.2 oz.
Point of balance is center of choil.
File work on the ends of the guard is called Digit.
File work on the butt plate and nut is called Random Facet (much harder to do than you think).
Total time over 3 weeks is about 30 hours.

So what do you think?


















 
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Think I am going to take the nut of the back and bring it dwn a little . I don't like the way it sits above the edge of the but plate. This is the last adjustment and it has to be on the money.
 
Finally finished got rid of the space between the top of the pommel nut and the butt plate. Now I am satisfied. This is a spec. knife and not yet spoken for. It will be going up for sale this weekend. If you want any more information PM me here on BF. Ken

 
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