Time for a new BBQ Challenge - The Camp Sword

Um, Stacy, is there a way to whack my blade since it's already ground? It does indeed need a bit of curve.
 
Those are some great tips Stacy, I will have to try bending some bar stock with the method you described. I had actually considered trying something like that recently as I could get more out of my steel that way.

Awesome work guys! I'm seeing some killer stuff here.

I'm hoping to glue up 15 knives tomorrow and get back on my sword! :D
 
Size - Again, your needs will vary, but a blade from 12-18" long, 1/5-2.5" wide, and from 3/16 to 1/4" thick will be a good size for a camp sword.
Click to expand...

Well since I just finished a chopper with a 17" blade I decided to make something a little smaller for the Camp Sword Challenge. I'm making a ~13" blade with some bowie influence.......

Here are some pieces cut out from a 6' sawblade (thickness is just over 1/4"):

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Then I drill 1/4" holes and bolt them together so I wont have to use tongs:

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Forged this one out last night - it is going to a fellow BF'er:

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And this one tonight for the camp sword challenenge:

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I wanted the clip to be a little more pronounced so I'll have to cheat and fix it up a little with the grinder:p
 
medicevans

It can easily be curved if you have access to a forge. Actually, you can probably do it with a torch. Use a wooden mallet or a 2X4 as the hammer and a piece of 4X4 as an anvil. Heat the blade up to medium red color and gently strike it along the spine with he edge resting on the wooden anvil. Be gentle and coax a little curve into it. After the curve is right, check for any twist or warp, and heat again to straighten if needed.

For sori, rest the tip on the wood while working the spine. For recurve or drop, rest the edge at the center or toward the ricasso. You can hold the tang with hot gloves ( it does not need to be heated ) or use tongs or vice grips.

If you have a friend who is a smith,he can curve your blade in a few minutes with his forge, anvil, and a light hammer.

Because you don't have a filled out profile, no one knows if they can offer to have you come over to their shop and help you do it.
 
Fixed Stacy. Thanks for reminding me. I filled it out now.

I have a big brake rotor and a bag of charcoal, but haven't sourced the rest of the pieces for my forge yet. Hopefully soon though, I want to get started hitting hot metal. :)
 
Medicevans, looking good. I like the spine rounded over.
Nice forging Bruce, I like em both. That clip point should work for bowhunting backup eh?
Darcy:)
 
I got the scabbard blanked out this morning with a nice fit. I’m getting kind of anxious to see how it looks all dressed up and ebonized,... still need to thin it out some more and get the exterior form set first though. So far, everything is lining up nice, straight and snug.

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I got the lightening holes drilled and chamfered and just couldn't wait until after HT to see what hemp wrapped leather looked like.

The butt isn't going to be like that. There's a hole through the end and it will be wrapped around it, but I wanted to hurry up and see how it looked, and I was running out of time to work in it. I now am thinking a hemp and brass or copper braid as a hilt/guard. I like this hemp stuff!

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One bevel done, the other half finished, before I got fatigued, and hungry.

I think I ground away enough metal to make a regular size knife from just the one side.

I had to adjust the angles from ricasso to tip in order to get the look I was after, and the distal taper.

I will also have to make some "design modifications" as I went over my grind line.

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My first entry suffered catastrophic failure...i missed my temmpering times, and left it a liitle hard, took it foe some extreme chopping and shattered it mid section, still wanting to explore the edge on the 2 pieces, i didnt retemper the remains, i did some more chopping here is the results, inconclusive but fun no less!!
And my new entry is some 3/16" 1080, with a flat to convex bevel, with in house heat treat, ligum vitae scales.
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and 2.0
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GHaile
 
I want to play too but really need to get my current slew of super thin 3V blades to Peter's first.

There's a 1/4 x 2 x 18 piece of A2 sitting around that really wants to become a camp sword (since it
certainly won't become a kitchen knife!).

I'm thinking a Barong. This means that I'll follow a lot of Stacy's advice but the handle will have the
deplored big butt in a simple version of the traditional style (wikipedia with pics).
If I get bold enough I'll try Tai's method of making copper pipe ferrules for the long one that's traditional
in this style.

OK, now I've committed myself. Time to run and hide.
 
Geez, you all do amazing work. This makes me miss the shop I have back home, not that I could do anything even remotely close to this.. :rolleyes:
 
I drilled the handle holes this morning and decided to try and put a slight curve into the blade. I fired up the little forge and tried it out. I got a nice slight curve, but the blade was a little crooked. I used wood for a while the the hammer to straighten it out. After an hour and putting a bunch of dings in the flats, I got it straight. I think this one will have a forged finish instead of the satin I was planning on. A small design modification is all.

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What are the specs on that camp sword Frank? That little forge looks awesome!

I got my blade ground, handle shaped, holes drilled,.....all ready to heat treat:

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Bruce, the camp sword is 5/32" 52100 - 17.5 OAL

I started to panic when I couldn't get it straight. It was a stock removal blade with forging marks put there trying to get the blade straight again. I have some wolf jaw tongs and its hard to control the thick heavy blade. I have some bladesmith tongs in rout from Black Smith Depot so hopefully they will help control the blade.
 
Nothing like 1700 F red hot steel flying off the anvil when the tongs slip......

Sounds like you are getting bit by the forging bug:p
 
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