Two Year Knife

LongRifle

LongRifle

Joined
Apr 5, 2000
Messages
2,018
I forged my first knife two years ago on the day after Thanksgiving with Dan Farr. I forged this blade the day after Thanksgiving. I decided to forego tradition and make a mini bowie, I did, however, stick with 5160, I forgot how nice it is to work.

This knife is actually dual purpose; a little tradition, and it was also intended to be practice for a big bowie I am working on. This was my first time with this type of construction method. The handle and guard were shaped while press fit onto the blade. Usually I JB weld the guard and epoxy the handle in place before shaping.

I had some trouble getting the handle to fit back together with the guard, but it came out pretty nice anyway. I think I solved the problem for next time :)

Anyway, the blade is 4.75" 5160, wrought iron guard, ironwood handle, OAL 9.75".

I am in the middle of exams right now, I'm done next Friday. I plan on getting the big bowie done in a couple weeks...

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Matt
 
Looks really great. I especially like the bladeshape and that fantastic wood.

I have something quite similar finished that I'm going to post soon.

Are you using two slabs epoxied together for the handle or one solid block?
I tried using slabs but messed when I wanted to carve out the place for the tang. Waht method are you using?

I hope I don't highjack :D your thread with my questions.

Marcus
 
Marcus, I use a mortised handle construction; two slabs with a recessed slot to accept the tang. I use a mill now, before I used chisels and gouges and got a pretty good fit. It took a little while, but the results are worth it, at least compared to using a handle broach (for me...:) anyway).

Matt
 
Matt, firstly congrats on your 2 years. Secondly, congrats on a most impressive knife. Clean, tight stuff. I like this style very much. I tend to make them with narrower blades, but your execution on this one is making me rethink. The broad blade gives it a very beefy and rugged look and I'm sure will also translate if actually used. Most impressed by the clean lines (have I said that already ?).

Is that guard bead blasted, or just the pictures... and to satisfy my curiosity, why the different technique now ? I sometimes finish the handle before epoxy, but I find it more difficult... Thanks for the pics. Jason.
 
I don't want to answer for Matt, but I think I know why he used this method, because I had the same "problem".

In Matt's case it's a wrought iron guard (in mine it's a damascus one) that needs to be etched after grinding to shape and sanding.
Either you have to have a very good press fit to do the grinding and shaping without the parts seperating from each other, or use locator pins connecting the handle and guard. With the last method having the advantage that the parts will fit perfectly together after disassembling for etching and for epoxing afterwards.

Marcus
 
Thank you very much for the compliments Jason. My blades are getting wider as my forging gets better :). It's pretty easy to make the blade less wide, but, I'm such an egomaniac that I like to see how far I can drop the edge ;). The knife actually lost some width from the forged blank, the 5160 I have has a round edge which I grind off. I might lose 1/8 of an inch...

The guard is actually wrought iron. It's something you need to see in person to appreciate unfortunatly. I had the guard etched a little farther but I decided to sand it down; it was a little too rough.

I went with this construction method because the wrought iron needs a pretty long etch to bring out the character. I didn't even want to consider masking the blade and handle and then etching. I agree, it's much easier to attach the handle then finish grind and polish. In fact I wish the fit was a little better.

Matt
 
What Marcus said :).

The fit was tight enough to allow me to grind and polish. When the guard was JB welded on, however, the handle fit wasn't exactly the same. I kicked myself for not putting a pin in the handle to hold everything together...but I hate looking at pins :D :p :rolleyes:
 
That's another nice one Matt - I really like the broad blade profile on a realaitvely small knife. Looks real clean too. Wrought iron was an excellent choice for the guard as well.

Roger
 
bullet101 said:
I especially like the bladeshape and that fantastic wood.
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Yeah...What Marcus said!! :D What a pretty 5-inch'ish bowie it is. I like your design -- really clean.

Making the blade wider visually balances out the great woodgrain in the handle. IMHO a narrower blade would have been somewhat overwhelmed by the relatively high contrast of the figure in this particular piece of ironwood. Also, I think you achieved very nice texturing on the sides of the guard.

Me likes!! :D :D
 
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