- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
Greetings all,I thought I'd share a recent arrival of mine.A while ago, Derrick and I had discussed an order for a fighter based on a knife that he had posted on his web site. At the time, he mentioned an idea that had been percolating in his head for an integral version of the knife. I'll confess that I was struggling to wrap my head around the concept he was describing, but I have learned over time that when a maker has a project that he really wants to pursue, getting behind the idea usually leads to great results.I'll let Derrick take over the tale:
The general idea for this knife first came to me about two years ago as I was preparing my test knives for the Journeyman judging. I wanted my first JS marked knife to be something special, and I always liked the look of multi-bar opposing twist pattern billets, so I started working on design ideas based on that general theme. You and I had also talked about the paratrooper knife I had made recently for an active duty Airborne soldier, and we agreed that the knife design looked best with a curved guard face, so I thought about incorporating this design feature into an integral knife pattern. It was right around that time that I came up with the idea of using one of the twisted bars in the multi-bar construction to build an integral wrap-around handle frame and guard. Essentially, I would forge one long twist damascus bar being careful to get the orientation of the twists correct and then fold that bar over into a C shape before stacking the additional twisted bars in between the prongs and then forge-welding all the pieces together. Once welded, the billet would require additional forging and shaping, both on the blade and the guard and handle profile. The handle profile was particularly difficult to forge because of the large hollow space left inside the tang area, so I built a few forms to help me mold the profile into the shape I wanted it.
The photos below demonstrate the process
Derrick's description continues:
Once the billet was finally forged to shape (you will see that the pattern in the steel follows the blade profile closely), I ground and filed the knife to its finished shape. The transition between the curved guard face and the ricasso took some extra hand-work with precision files and a lot of sandpaper, but I didnt know of any other way to get it just the way I wanted it.The blade was forged and ground to incorporate a nice distal taper and a very fine point, making this more of a fighter-style blade than a big bowie, but I refrained from calling it a fighter because I did not sharpen the clip. That said, its definitely not far off. With the distal taper comes also the important element of balance, and here I also took care to make the knife feel light and lively in the hand, with a balance point just slightly forward of the ricasso.The handle scales Im sure you recognize as a nicely figured specimen of curly koa from Hawaii. Sandwiched between them is a small slab of spruce (a lighter and softer wood than koa) which fits tightly into the hollow of the handle frame. These parts were bedded and epoxied after shaping and polishing, and are further held in place by a set of stainless steel pins with domed and polished faces.
The package arrived in my postal box about a week an a half ago, and man, was I ever happy with my choice to let Derrick run with his idea. The Damascus pattern is so tight and clean. While a large knife, it is commendably quick and perfectly balanced. I was grinning like a kid at Christmas.Though it was hard to part with the knife so quickly, I wanted both Paul Long and Coop to add their talents to the project. Paul chose a perfect combination of buffalo and sharkskin for the sheath. Coop's contribution can be seen below:
Now, what of the knife's name, you ask? Well, Multi-bar Damascus Frame-handle Integral Bowie with Curly Koa Handle would be perfectly descriptive, but something of a mouthful.Thor's Handshake came from my favorite part of the story:
Now I must admit, it required more than one attempt to forge a suitable billet, and on my first attempt I even received a stern reprimand from the original hammer-God, Thor himself. As I was re-heating that first billet, already stacked, wrapped and welded, a violent thunder-storm broke out and a bolt of lightning struck nearby (perhaps even hitting my shop directly) and traveled through my steel-bodied forge, jumped into the billet itself, and then ran up the tongs I was holding it with to shake my hand. The entire shop lit up in a bright blue flash and I about jumped right out of my boots from the shock! Its not often that Thor will strike his hammer down to shake hands with a bladesmith, but perhaps he was trying to tell me something, and my next attempt at this billet proved successful.
Thanks to you all for looking and reading.
Thanks to Coop and Paul for their talent, professionalism and efficiency.
Most of all, thanks to Derrick for allowing me to be part of this project. I can't wait to have this terrific piece back in hand.
The general idea for this knife first came to me about two years ago as I was preparing my test knives for the Journeyman judging. I wanted my first JS marked knife to be something special, and I always liked the look of multi-bar opposing twist pattern billets, so I started working on design ideas based on that general theme. You and I had also talked about the paratrooper knife I had made recently for an active duty Airborne soldier, and we agreed that the knife design looked best with a curved guard face, so I thought about incorporating this design feature into an integral knife pattern. It was right around that time that I came up with the idea of using one of the twisted bars in the multi-bar construction to build an integral wrap-around handle frame and guard. Essentially, I would forge one long twist damascus bar being careful to get the orientation of the twists correct and then fold that bar over into a C shape before stacking the additional twisted bars in between the prongs and then forge-welding all the pieces together. Once welded, the billet would require additional forging and shaping, both on the blade and the guard and handle profile. The handle profile was particularly difficult to forge because of the large hollow space left inside the tang area, so I built a few forms to help me mold the profile into the shape I wanted it.
The photos below demonstrate the process
Derrick's description continues:
Once the billet was finally forged to shape (you will see that the pattern in the steel follows the blade profile closely), I ground and filed the knife to its finished shape. The transition between the curved guard face and the ricasso took some extra hand-work with precision files and a lot of sandpaper, but I didnt know of any other way to get it just the way I wanted it.The blade was forged and ground to incorporate a nice distal taper and a very fine point, making this more of a fighter-style blade than a big bowie, but I refrained from calling it a fighter because I did not sharpen the clip. That said, its definitely not far off. With the distal taper comes also the important element of balance, and here I also took care to make the knife feel light and lively in the hand, with a balance point just slightly forward of the ricasso.The handle scales Im sure you recognize as a nicely figured specimen of curly koa from Hawaii. Sandwiched between them is a small slab of spruce (a lighter and softer wood than koa) which fits tightly into the hollow of the handle frame. These parts were bedded and epoxied after shaping and polishing, and are further held in place by a set of stainless steel pins with domed and polished faces.
The package arrived in my postal box about a week an a half ago, and man, was I ever happy with my choice to let Derrick run with his idea. The Damascus pattern is so tight and clean. While a large knife, it is commendably quick and perfectly balanced. I was grinning like a kid at Christmas.Though it was hard to part with the knife so quickly, I wanted both Paul Long and Coop to add their talents to the project. Paul chose a perfect combination of buffalo and sharkskin for the sheath. Coop's contribution can be seen below:
Now, what of the knife's name, you ask? Well, Multi-bar Damascus Frame-handle Integral Bowie with Curly Koa Handle would be perfectly descriptive, but something of a mouthful.Thor's Handshake came from my favorite part of the story:
Now I must admit, it required more than one attempt to forge a suitable billet, and on my first attempt I even received a stern reprimand from the original hammer-God, Thor himself. As I was re-heating that first billet, already stacked, wrapped and welded, a violent thunder-storm broke out and a bolt of lightning struck nearby (perhaps even hitting my shop directly) and traveled through my steel-bodied forge, jumped into the billet itself, and then ran up the tongs I was holding it with to shake my hand. The entire shop lit up in a bright blue flash and I about jumped right out of my boots from the shock! Its not often that Thor will strike his hammer down to shake hands with a bladesmith, but perhaps he was trying to tell me something, and my next attempt at this billet proved successful.
Thanks to you all for looking and reading.
Thanks to Coop and Paul for their talent, professionalism and efficiency.
Most of all, thanks to Derrick for allowing me to be part of this project. I can't wait to have this terrific piece back in hand.
