W2 fighter from polishing thread

NickWheeler

NickWheeler

Joined
Dec 3, 1999
Messages
9,437
Some of you may have taken a gander at the thread I put up about how I've been polishing my clay hardened blades.

This is the blade from that thread. I CANNOT BELIEVE how well PhotoMeister Jim Cooper captured the activity in the blade. This photo is insanely good. My biggest kudos to my buddy Mr. Cooper!!!

And, of course, Paul Long perfection. The man must have sold his soul to be so good! I did make the stud! ;) :D

My many thanks to my good buddy Roger Pinnock for supporting me by adding this to his collection AND having the sheath made and photo taken all on his own dime. :eek: :cool: :)

orig.jpg


orig.jpg
 
It's extremely lovely and I mean the knife and the case !!! They sure favor one another. The pictures are first class of course too !!!! Very lovely. Frank
 
This is simply a stunning fighter knife Nick with or without Jim and Paul. Nice work buddy.
Would you mind explaining in exacting detail how you polished this blade again? I'm too lazy to find that thread.
 
Congrats to all--Nick, Roger, Coop, and Paul Long. None of us works alone, and this is just a great coming together of some of the best in our small world.

That said, Nick, stay with this thing. You have an amazing gift, and the world would be a poorer place without its expression.
 
Dang Nick, .........................................................................................
..........................................................Whow!!!!!
 
I wanna be like Nick when I grow up :D

GREAT JOB!!!

Bill
 
Its awesome Nick. Thanks for the tricks. It makes my hands hurt just looking at the pictures.
 
Thanks guys! :)

It's really all in the pic.... My hat is off to Coop... his work just blows me away! :eek: :cool: :thumbup:

Edited to add a couple pics... First one is the knife still under construction, and the second is one showing one of my nightly visitors that came in to get a closer look at the blade (or some free dog food! ;) LMAO) Her five little ones were just out of view in this shot.

standard.jpg


standard.jpg
 
Last edited:
One of the great things about living on the edge of civilization is the kind of visitors that come by. I love raccoons, so far haven't seen any at my place. My visitors are mostly deer and they have gotten completely used to my banging and clatter.
 
Great job on that knife Nick. Just shows that dedication and hard work pay off.

Like you, Coop and Paul are at the top of their game also.

Thanks for sharing.

Robert
 
Nick
I read your "polishing" thread instead I'd reviving it I'll ask here. It mentioned somewhere it took maintaince to keep the blade looking so good. Did I read that right? How must it be maintained ??
Thanks for sharing this beauty!
 
Yes, it's a pretty delicate finish. Mostly because it's so fine...it can easily be scratched.

And also, putting it in very crude terms, the steel is left "more opened up" with this type of finishing rather than a "smeared surface" which leaves the steel vulnerable to rust if not taken care of. This is much more of an issue if you're working with traditional tamahagane than mill run monosteel like W2.... but it still seems to be an issue. It's mostly from my use of stones and abrasive powder in finishing rather than just abrasive paper. The most stain resistant finish is a "smeared" surface caused by a lot of buffing with buffs and compounds (IME).

Nothing crazy to maintain it if it's a collector's item... just clean and oil every now and again. But if you do a lot of cutting with it, it's very easily screwed up.

If I'm making one that's going to be a hardcore cutter, I simply don't take the finish out so fine.

Now please don't get me wrong here, this isn't like hot bluing a blade in 600degree salt and then saying it's just a collector item (since the heat-treat has now been screwed).... the knife is still completely capable... it just won't likely be beat up.

IF it is, it can always be refinished (but good luck talking a maker into doing it, lol ;) ).

I made a knife with a similar finish several years back and a guy called me and told me he'd been cutting brush with it for weeks and just loved how it cut. Then he asked me if there was something he could wipe the blade down with to get the finish back to where it HAD BEEN. ;) :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top