Walla Walla Toothpick (take down peek)

NickWheeler said:
Fantastic piece Bruce! What a fine display of craftmanship!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

AG, Bruce is referring to ladder pattern dies that have a lazy W-curve instead of the standard, straight rung ladder. They are made and sold by Uncle Al Lawrence. When pressed into the billet they give the lazy W-curve pattern you see in Bruce's dagger. (I'm not Bruce, but I have a set of the same dies.) ;) :)

Edited to add, here's a picture of the dies from Al's website... The Texas Wind pattern is the 2nd from the right. Hope this helps :)

PATTERN.JPG
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm wrong on the name of his dies. I thought they were Texas Wind all this time. Yep those are mine the second ones from the left. Anyway Thanks Nick for the compliment!
 
No, you're right Bruce, I was just trying to explain what they are. I think Dickie Robinson named the pattern. :)
 
Hey Bruce, are you going to be in Montana next week? I was hoping to see some of your work.
Gordon
 
I swear, Bruce, that's the most symmetrical random pattern I think I've ever seen! Just beautiful!
 
GSC said:
Hey Bruce, are you going to be in Montana next week? I was hoping to see some of your work.
Gordon
Click to expand...

Hi Gordon,
We are cutting back on shows and Montana is one of them. I feel bad too because like BladeWest the Montana show is so nice. Its too bad the almighty dollar plays such an important role in things. :grumpy:
 
Ridiculasly Awesome Bruce! Also thanks for the exploded view! I'm wondering though (always gets me in trouble... but here goes) was the dagger ground on a surface grinder or was it done by hand?

Jason
 
The set up work to grind double hollow grinds on a surface grinder would be harder and more complicated than grinding it by hand.
 
JasonSCarter said:
Ridiculasly Awesome Bruce! Also thanks for the exploded view! I'm wondering though (always gets me in trouble... but here goes) was the dagger ground on a surface grinder or was it done by hand?

Jason
Click to expand...

Hi Jason,
Like Nick said, I didnt grind the bevels on the surface grinder but the blank is. There is no taper in the tang or ricasso as it is right off the surface grinder.

I forged the blade to shape and put a distal taper on it before pressing the pattern into it. After I ground away all the excess high spots from the dies I forged it again just to tune it up and went through my thermal cycles for the heat treatment. I used a 4" wheel for the hollow ground bevels by hand after the blade was hardened and tempered. Thanks for the question.
 
Burl Source said:
Being where you live, shouldn't this knife be called an Onion Sticker?....
Click to expand...

Mark, I think that's is essentially what he did. I believe the onions in his neck of the woods are called walla walla onions, thus Walla Walla Toothpick = Onion Sticker! And, a sweet one at that. (Pun intended: walla walla onions are renown for being very sweet.)
 
Very nice Bruce. Thanks for showing. I also appreciate you showing the dissassembled view so we cah see the mechanics of construction.

Brian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top