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

Salem- Yep... I think very few folks can truly understand just how strong the feeling is, that you're going to explode from your insides out... when you check a blade and it didn't do what you had planned/hoped during the quench. And each progressive disappointment makes it exponentially worse.


"Are you F'ing kidding me?!?!?" is the common catch-phrase in my shop for those circumstances. ;) :)

The first blade for the Khuk project I'm working on did EXACTLY the same thing you've been dealing with. It went from Khuk to boomerang. :eek: :grumpy:

To say that is humbling is a huge understatement. :foot: :o


I think it's great that you are sharing the whole story here... folks need to know these things don't just make themselves, and there is literally blood, sweat, and tears shed in the process.


Hope I didn't jump the gun asking about the handle! It just looked like that's what you were setting up for and I was way curious.


This project is all kinds of cool Salem!!! Way to march on and make it happen... Major kudos! :thumbup: :cool:
 
Nick, "are you f-in' kidding me" flies around at my shop, too. Like I said before sometimes it feels like the blade and the maker are racing to self destruction and the blade may win by about 10 seconds.

It started out as a "kukwie" and became closer to a normal kuk shape, glad I didn't get to "khukerang" stage!

As for the handle, it's a bit like quitting smoking- sometimes I don't want to tell people right away, from some fear of jinxing my success. But hey, I've actually been quit for a month now, so maybe the handle will be all good after all.
 
NickWheeler said:
Salem- Yep... I think very few folks can truly understand just how strong the feeling is, that you're going to explode from your insides out... when you check a blade and it didn't do what you had planned/hoped during the quench. And each progressive disappointment makes it exponentially worse.


"Are you F'ing kidding me?!?!?" is the common catch-phrase in my shop for those circumstances. ;) :)

The first blade for the Khuk project I'm working on did EXACTLY the same thing you've been dealing with. It went from Khuk to boomerang. :eek: :grumpy:

To say that is humbling is a huge understatement. :foot: :o


I think it's great that you are sharing the whole story here... folks need to know these things don't just make themselves, and there is literally blood, sweat, and tears shed in the process.


Hope I didn't jump the gun asking about the handle! It just looked like that's what you were setting up for and I was way curious.


This project is all kinds of cool Salem!!! Way to march on and make it happen... Major kudos! :thumbup: :cool:
Click to expand...

Even though I've only been doing this a short while, I understand the sentiment. I've thrown more knives into the wall than I care to count. I have a section of the shop wall that looks like a porcupine.
 
Salem Straub said:
Nick, "are you f-in' kidding me" flies around at my shop, too. Like I said before sometimes it feels like the blade and the maker are racing to self destruction and the blade may win by about 10 seconds.

It started out as a "kukwie" and became closer to a normal kuk shape, glad I didn't get to "khukerang" stage!

As for the handle, it's a bit like quitting smoking- sometimes I don't want to tell people right away, from some fear of jinxing my success. But hey, I've actually been quit for a month now, so maybe the handle will be all good after all.
Click to expand...

Salem, you do great work! I especially love the kitchen knives you've done.
 
Salem , Thanks for sharing your work. I know it takes effort to just share the process. Your definitely inspiring. I need to spend more time appreciating these types of WIP threads. You guys really deserve applause just for taking the time out . Beautiful work.

James
 
Salem Straub said:
As for the handle, it's a bit like quitting smoking- sometimes I don't want to tell people right away, from some fear of jinxing my success. But hey, I've actually been quit for a month now, so maybe the handle will be all good after all.
Click to expand...

WAY TO GO, SALEM!!!

I smoked 2.5 packs a day for 17 years. Gave it up cold turkey almost exactly 20 years ago. I have never regretted that decision or looked back. Hope you stay quit, my friend. Your life will be richer in so many ways.
 
Salem Straub said:
As for the handle, it's a bit like quitting smoking- sometimes I don't want to tell people right away, from some fear of jinxing my success. But hey, I've actually been quit for a month now, so maybe the handle will be all good after all.
Click to expand...

If you didn't give in after having to quench that blade 4 times I'd say you are golden! Congratulations on quitting.

Chris
 
Quit on blade = bad. Quitting smoking = good. I am a musician though, band practice and gigs are the hardest part about quitting. I'm trying to get so far before next band thing that I'll be very loathe to break my good record.

Thanks a lot everybody for enjoying the thread. I didn't intend for it to be a WIP so much, anyone who's read an actual WIP of mine will know that I spend a lot of time and go into fine detail about my processes. Here I'm just kind of sharing I guess, without making the big time commitment of an outright WIP.

Plus, I needed the moral support on this one!

All right, I tempered and shimmed a bunch until the blade is as close to right on as it'll get. Which is to say, I can see a little bend still maybe if I check it on granite, but I don't know if anyone else would. I felt like I'd reached the limit of reasonable straightening force, even at a tempering heat, and I know to obey the little warnings from my brain on stuff like this. Usually.

I went out and hand sanded back to 220 after hitting the clip a little on the platen.

I check etched, and coming out of the ferric, my heart sunk. I've done a lot of check etches, and this one looked like the whole blade had hardened. Could I have been wrong in my assessment after the quench?

I went in with a plodding step and neutralized, then scrubbed with Flitz a bunch. And then...

Lo and behold, what's this? I did get a hamon! And I like it. Not what I'd first envisioned, but maybe better in its own way. One flaw only, and that I had predicted and will deal with.

Here are some crap pix taken in crap light at 220 grit with a quick etch and scrub.

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As you can see in a couple of the pics, the hamon does not quite reach the heel. Well dang, I liked that heel, but it's just going to have to go- here's the change marked out. I think it will add a pleasant sleekness, if detracting a little from the overall masculinity of the knife. Maybe that's the problem- the knife has been fighting all along to be acknowledged a woman. No wonder it's been so strong willed...

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The clip just fully hardened along its edge, despite the hamon encroaching on it in a couple places, which I like. Some of the gunome character of the clay remains in the habuchi but no a lot. The whole looks as if it will have a pleasingly chaotic effect (which I WAS going for) and I can't wait to polish it! Lots of work to do before that though.

Thoughts?
 
Seems like all of your troubles with the hamon are going to pay off... that one looks sweet! I, for one, like the altered profile at the heel quite a bit.

Do you mind if I ask what your clay "recipe" is? Just started toying with hamons myself, and I haven't found anything I like using for clay yet. Yours looks to have a nice consistency.

Thanks for posting this WIP. I'm really enjoying it thus far, and can't wait to see the outcome.
 
Hey Weebus. Thanks for the feedback on the heel profile. I don't have any clay "recipe" per se- just satanite and water. I mix it up pretty thin and brush the base coat on, then I add a little more powder for thicker clay on the secondary coat, then thin back out a bit for the ashi.
Satanite works great really, but it's just a little grittier than I'd like. I tried Rutland's, but I can't stand the whole puffing up thing. I've researched home brewed clay recipes, i.e. powdered sandstone, charcoal, natural clays, flocculents- but I've not tried my hand with them yet.
I'd like to be able to control my application a bit better on the ashi and that's why ultimately I'd like to make my own HT clay.
 
Nice work Salem. Stoked to see the keyhole take shape... make sure to shoot some photos of that. Maybe this one will make an appearance at the Seattle show? ;)
Erin
 
Don't think the knife will be there, but you should see me walking around at least one day and hopefully two.
 
Salem, it's threads like this that keep me coming back to Shop Talk. Lotsa great back-and-forth by some great makers in here. What it's all about. :thumbup:
 
Had company today so didn't get much done. I did rummage through the wood blocks and found some nice flamey/curly walnut I think I want to use.
Expect some pics tomorrow though.
 
Just got back from vacation and finally saw this saga. I'm very impressed with both
the knife and your craft and dedication.
 
Hey thanks, Dan! Here's a bit more. I got distracted with ordering parts to finish my forging press today, and with reconfiguring it a bit, so knife progress could have been better.

I cut the heel off the blade and ground the profile out into an arc there.

I painted the bolster with dykem and marked out the keyhole location.

I drilled the hole first, with 1/4" for a pilot, then 1/2" for finished size. This was done on the mill for a good slow speed and a true, square hole. I used collets for both bits so as not to have to fiddle with the R8 chuck and adjust the mill head height.

I used the bandsaw to cut inside the lines, then took it over to my little 1x42 with the thin platen to finish grind.

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I had first trued the table square to the platen with a speed square, then dialed it in totally square by grinding a tall flat on mild steel square stock, then flipping the stock, grinding again, and looking for slight plane differences in the ground face. A little of that, a little tapping on the wedge for fine table adjustment, and I had a completely vertical grind going. What little tips on these handles I've been able to glean from Ken Hall and Haley DesRosiers made it clear to me that for a good fit the inside of the keyhole needs to not be tapered at all.

With that ground, I chose a piece of softer, plain walnut for a test handle piece. One thing Haley D. said in a thread was "be prepared to shove several expensive pieces of hardwood through it" so I figured I'd start by shoving a test block through first.

With an xacto tip I scribed the outline onto the wood, then marked over that with sharp pencil.

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I rough cut to the line with the bandsaw, then sanded up closer on the 1x42. I used a file to gently chamfer the leading edge of the shape.

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I don't have a forging press yet, which is what Rodrigo and probably the DesRosiers use, (and which probably, with an HT'ed damascus bolster gives a screaming press fit) so for parallel pressing I used a heavy drill press vise to press it in a bit and check the fit. I filed a bit and pressed more, a few times.

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After a while I had it through with a few little gaps. Next time I'll leave a little more material when grinding to the line.

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Then with a little tweaking and filing and such, I actually improved it to the point where it would look OK glued up. The block fit in quite firmly.

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But, I don't want to have to lean on glue much to fill for me, (especially since I'm not using a black wood) and I think that with what I've learned from the test block, and the fact that I'll be using a much harder block for the actual handle, the fit will be better yet on the final piece. Either that, or I'll be swearing while destroying the block out of the handle...

Some of the best pieces I've seen done this way have no pin through the handle, and while I'm sure those knives are rock solid (done by more experienced makers than me) I will be vertically pinning this handle for added security, like Ron Newton does.

Tomorrow I will do the handle construction and glue up. I'll finish the blade out after the handle is put together and shaped.

Stay tuned for more pics, sorry they've been a bit minimal. Hope you all are enjoying it this far. And BTW, this is just the way I'm stumbling through my first keyhole handle. There are most likely more effective methods out there than this...
 
Awesome !! Looks like a pretty good test and I bet you learned the major process steps to move on to the harder wood. Definitely on my list to try after awhile. Chris
 
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