What have I been up to? Well, I'll tell you anway.

[Salem Straub]

Here’s a few shots of what I did today. I sawed off a puck of 2-5/8” round DHIII W2 this morning, and forged it into a blank, then rough ground it to what you see in the pics. It’s a big ‘un, just under 13” of blade!

The bolster/tang area is flat to within 5 thou all over. The blade profile was ground, then the blade was traced, and some different grind lines and clip sizes were drawn in until I found what I wanted.

The final blade grind line was cut out of the drawing, and traced onto both sides of the profiled, flattened forging with a sharpie.

Then it was color inside the lines with the grinder, using the platen. Hogging was done with 36, then 60 grit 984F belts, and refinement with Gator A100 and J-flex 220.

Ready for clay and quench tomorrow, after I hand sand all the lines horizontal with 220 grit Redline paper.
Wish me luck!

Feel free to tell me if you think it's gonna be ugly!

 

[Eric Kidwell]

Not ugly! AWESOME!:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Don Nguyen]

Man I'm curious what the handle/finish product is going to be. Abso-freakin-lutely awesome Salem.

 

[crank78]

that thing is far from ugly. awesome grinds I bet those are tough to do. well maybe not for you.

 

[Idlewild]

Salem, this blade is terrific! I'll be following to see this one completed. :thumbup:

 

[Darrin Sanders]

You have my attention.

 

[Frank Niro]

It has lovely curves, Salem !!! Frank

 

[Salem Straub]

Well, cool. Thanks for the encouragement guys. I'll post some more progress on it soon if I don't screw it up. Then you can see about the handle, Don...

 

[severtecher]

I'm on board with every one else. Looking good.

 

[Shawn Hatcher]

Looking forward to seeing this one progress, Salem! It's looks quite fabulous already. :thumbup:

 

[james terrio]

Looks great from here.

 

[S.Grosvenor]

Looks Great! Since it's some of DIII's awesome w2, I forsee a wicked Hamon???

 

[tryppyr]

That is amazing. I will say I too am curious what it will be used for. At first glance I thought it looked like it would be able to behead someone or something in a single slice. And do it in high style!

 

[Barry Clodfelter]

Nice grinding in the recurve! Man those are not easy to do right. Can't wait to see more of this one Salem!

 

[PT Doc]

very pleasing. nice.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

That thing looks heeeavy! Whoever gets it will have to bench press it for a while before wielding it.

Seriously though, that is one wicked looking piece. I'm also on board to watch. Especially the handle.

 

[JMJones]

I am guessing keyhole handle.

 

[Perrin]

Wow, that's pretty. I don't know if you had a kukri in mind but that is the narrow shaped kukri blade that I have always dreamed of. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

[Salem Straub]

Perrin, it does indeed have some kukri flavor but less extreme, with the clip and more restrained style suggesting a bowie. So, I'm calling it a "kukwie" for now.
I thought about making a similar blade but with no clip and a longer grind line, and calling it a "shinogi-zukukri." I might just do that still. Life is too short to be restrained by idiom!
Yes it will have a hamon. I'm going out in a minute to get back to work on it.
Y'all have a good day out there and my we all meet with success in our endeavors!

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

I was wondering what you have been up to... that is spectacular!