- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
Sometimes lady luck smiles on you. Yes, sometimes she kicks you in the shins, but thankfully for me this is not one of those stories.
You see, I had been chatting with Russ on the phone one evening - about knives and life and such - when we got to discussing his current projects. He mentioned that he had a couple of relly nice pieces of stag that he was putting to good use (translation - bowie handles). He had just completed one for a fellow froumite and was about to get started on another for a dealer. We chatted a bit more, which was fortunate as it gave my syrupy synapses time to fire: Dealers...didn't know that Russ worked with any dealers....you know the thing about dealers.... they've been known to sell... knives.... they..order "HeyRusswhichdealerizzit??!"
About 3.6 nanoseconds later I had Les Robertson on the phone. No, this knife wasn't spoken for. Yes, he would put me down for it. COOL!
Russ had yet to put hammer to steel, so I also had the benefit of seeing knife unfold over time. The pictures pretty much tell the story thereafter, so I’ll just string them together for you. (Dial-up dudes, the album can be found here: http://www.fototime.com/inv/137BABB699AF528 )
From humble beginnings: a stout bar of W2:
Get it hot, hit it hard and shape it thusly (or, how to drastically oversimplify the forging process):
When it gets sufficiently blade-like, quit hitting it:
After some grinding, put it in a home-made blade clamp and stamp your name on it:
If you happen to own a blade marked: “ER Andrews II” consider yourself fortunate and please consider putting me in your will.
Next you may want to spend about a gazillion hours working through several increasingly fine grits of sand paper, rub-rub-rubbing the kind of superlative finish that this blade (and all Russ’ blades) exhibits:
Per Russ: "The blade's finished to 1500 grit with a hard block, then refinished with a block which has a thin leather cover. That little bit of give in the leather seems to aid in bringing out the hamon, and I think it leaves a little bit better finish."
… end, Part 1 of 2
You see, I had been chatting with Russ on the phone one evening - about knives and life and such - when we got to discussing his current projects. He mentioned that he had a couple of relly nice pieces of stag that he was putting to good use (translation - bowie handles). He had just completed one for a fellow froumite and was about to get started on another for a dealer. We chatted a bit more, which was fortunate as it gave my syrupy synapses time to fire: Dealers...didn't know that Russ worked with any dealers....you know the thing about dealers.... they've been known to sell... knives.... they..order "HeyRusswhichdealerizzit??!"
About 3.6 nanoseconds later I had Les Robertson on the phone. No, this knife wasn't spoken for. Yes, he would put me down for it. COOL!
Russ had yet to put hammer to steel, so I also had the benefit of seeing knife unfold over time. The pictures pretty much tell the story thereafter, so I’ll just string them together for you. (Dial-up dudes, the album can be found here: http://www.fototime.com/inv/137BABB699AF528 )
From humble beginnings: a stout bar of W2:
Get it hot, hit it hard and shape it thusly (or, how to drastically oversimplify the forging process):
When it gets sufficiently blade-like, quit hitting it:
After some grinding, put it in a home-made blade clamp and stamp your name on it:
If you happen to own a blade marked: “ER Andrews II” consider yourself fortunate and please consider putting me in your will.
Next you may want to spend about a gazillion hours working through several increasingly fine grits of sand paper, rub-rub-rubbing the kind of superlative finish that this blade (and all Russ’ blades) exhibits:
Per Russ: "The blade's finished to 1500 grit with a hard block, then refinished with a block which has a thin leather cover. That little bit of give in the leather seems to aid in bringing out the hamon, and I think it leaves a little bit better finish."
… end, Part 1 of 2
:thumbup: 
