Wheeler's Steel * Stuck in the metal with you

This part about the guard is going to be so helpful on my next knife, Nick's attention to detail is something I aspire to have in my own work. I think from this time forward that I will refer to him as Mr Wheeler, because I have such respect for his work.

Thank you for sharing this with us Lorien and MR Wheeler

George
 
Bruce Bump said:
Cool tricks Nick. I particularly like the micarta half gaurd as a template to scribe the steel guard. Your engineer schooling is showing.
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Hey and the glue up fixture is the best I have ever seen and only one of a set it sounds like.

Nick you Rock!! Thanks for all the details.

Oh, Lorien you Rock too thanks for all the hard work putting this and other similar posts together. Having done several WIP posts myself I know it is a huge time burner for both of you.

Best Regards,
Eric
 
Nick and Lorien, this thread is EPIC! This is the first place I come to every day after I get my coffee:) By far the most informative WIP I've ever seen and my absolute favorite thread ever...thank you both for all of your hard work in this! Nick, your meticulous work and dedication to what you do is simply staggering! Now I understand why your knives look and feel the way they do. Lorien, many thanks for putting this up for us brother, it looks like EVERYONE who makes knives is taking notes. Again, thanks guys, this is awesome!
 
MRuthJr said:
Nick and Lorien, this thread is EPIC! This is the first place I come to every day after I get my coffee:) By far the most informative WIP I've ever seen and my absolute favorite thread ever...thank you both for all of your hard work in this! Nick, your meticulous work and dedication to what you do is simply staggering! Now I understand why your knives look and feel the way they do. Lorien, many thanks for putting this up for us brother, it looks like EVERYONE who makes knives is taking notes. Again, thanks guys, this is awesome!
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What he said!!:thumbup: I look forward to the new instalments to this thread every day. Thanks for this awesome WIP
Nick, I love your work~!!
 
Not only an awesome thread - a pretty awesome knife unfolding here. Lorien's design as tweaked by Nick is going to make for a very impressive piece. And we haven't even seen the etch yet.

Roger
 
This has been an amazing thread and is getting EXCITING! I am anxious to see the blade etch and grain pattern in the handle:D

Thanks again Nick/Lorien.

Peter
 
I almost forgot this was a damascus knife:eek:
'til I saw Nick's recent photos, which you will see too very soon.
Have a cup of coffee or tea or yak milk or whatever floats your boat, in hand, in 2 1/2 hours.
:thumbup::D
 
Good point Roger!

Geeze, I too forgot this Puppy is in fact Damascus!!

Look forward to More Pictures please Lorien
 
Here's a diagram for my next step. I like to use the broaches to cut pockets in the tang hole, for epoxy to fill and grap onto. This is NOT the same as drilling out a huge hole in the handle and just filling it with epoxy. This allows the epoxy to not only act as an adhesive, but also a mechanical fastener... kind of like a barb on a fish-hook;

MkyPXXP.jpg


This is a narrow broach I made for cutting the side pockets;

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Using the narrow broach in the corners of the tang hole;

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Setting up to broach a pocket in the middle section of the handle;

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Once I got the pocket work done in the tang, then I get to play with fingernail polish ;) LMAO I'm using it as a resist for the etch. I worked hard to get the guard to fit just so, I don't want to etch the area the guard will fit up to and then have it not fit anymore;

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Here's the basics for how I etch a blade like this. Distilled water, Ferric Chloride, and a small tank to submerge the blade in. The two small tanks I've been using for 10 years weren't big enough for this blade, so I had to make a new one today.

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Time to make sure the blade is CLEAN. I like scrubbing it with hot water and Liquid Ivory soap. This is the same thing I do for cleaning a clay-hardened blade prior to etching;

lox1B3w.jpg


Clean, clean, clean...

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Clean and rinse... NO FINGERPRINTS!!!

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Ready for a quick dip. I like to dip the blade for just a few seconds and then pull it out the look over it. If we somehow missed some oil, or dirt, etc. then it can interfere with the etch. If you catch it RIGHT AWAY it won't be an issue. If you don't catch it, and let it stay on the blade while it's etching, it could be a big problem;

gHzUm8V.jpg
 
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Pulling the blade out after a few seconds to check. It looked good, so back in it goes...

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I leave it in the echant for 5 minutes, after which I'll take it out and check it, then go back to the utility sink and scrub it with dish soap and a blue paper towel again;

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Here it is after the first 5 minutes. At this point, the blade is pretty much black;

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Close-up of the same;

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This is the blade after a total of 3 runs through the etching solution, with a good dish-soap cleaning between each etch. It's really close to just being black at this point;

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Back to the sanding fixture we go. I need to sand the oxides off that are a result of the etching process. I do this with a steel sanding stick, 2500 grit abrasive paper, and LOTS of KoolMist sprayed on the blade;

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Here's a different view of the post etch hand sanding. After I get done doing this, then I take a real good look at the blade and decide how exactly I want to proceed; :)

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Most excellent. Have you guys revealed the wood yet (I may have missed it along the way)? Stabilized Koa?

Roger
 
Just out of curiosity Nick (Mr Wheeler), how deep is your etch? I have only done one Damascus blade and it came out fairly deep, but I realize now that my solution may have been a little strong at 4:1, and what do you use to neutralize the acid?
 
Awesome thread!
I love Nick's WIP's. His attention to detail and great photos help me to learn something everytime I read them. Lorien, I dig this knife you two have put together. It's going to be beautiful and still 100% efective at slashing out trail.
Nick, maybe I missed this, but what is the "Koolmist"?

Adam-
 
There is only one thing wrong with this thread - Checking out Nick's shop just makes my tool wish list get longer. I keep telling myself - oooo I gotta get one of those and one of those and one of those.....

Rob Thomas
ABS Apprentice
 
Dang, thanks guys! :o :)

Roger- you didn't miss it. :) Lorien and I talked about the wood, and it ended up at sort of a, "Whatever you choose will be cool!!!" kind of thing, so I decided to surprise him. LOL ;) As of right now, it appears to be a giant block of brown paper tape :p ;) :)

Unki- No Mr. stuff!!! LMAO I'm more used to "Hey you." :D I always struggle with exactly how deep to etch EACH blade. IMHO, certain patterns looks good with a shallower etch, and some with a deep etch. Since this is a moderate layer (300ish) count random pattern, I like a fairly deep etch. The best way to describe what I'm shooting for, is deep enough you can feel it with your fingers, but not so deep you'd catch your thumbnail on the layers. I think 4:1 is just fine, and is what I normally use, in fact many of my friends use 3:1. I mixed this batch at 5:1 because I didn't have enough FeCl3 :o :) It's odd though, it etched the blade awfully fast... faster than it should have for that ratio actually. But it came out clean, so no worries.

As a side note--- I know most folks think damascus is a real rarity for me...and actually finishing one that people see IS rare. But I have a drawer full of billets and damascus blades. I guess I'm weird, but many times, I prefer a straight steel blade. To my eye, there's something absolutely gorgeous about a clean, satin finished, straight steel blade. I have a lot of mosaic steel made as well... but 98% of the time I'm drawn to a random pattern. People ask me, why, since I'm so into symmetry and definition, why I would like a crazy, somewhat unpredictable pattern.... well, it's just like the handle material. If I can take a block of something with a natural, organic look to it, and then shape it to my finicky desire... then I see that as a win/win--- capturing something free flowing into a very defined area really trips my trigger. :)

Adam- Thank you! It's a HUGE deal to me to have guys I respect so much post to this thread. I was just telling a guy the other day that if I needed a knife to chop down an entire FOREST :D, you were one of the 3 guys that IMMEDIATELY come to mind to get the knife from. :) KoolMist is a spray mist cutting fluid for machining. I can't even remember who recommended it to me now... I think it could have been Vagnino. There's no real call for KoolMist, it may as well have been water or Windex, etc... I just have a lot of KoolMist and it works nice so that's what I grabbed.

I hope this knife is everything Lorien dreamed it would be. I was just giving him a hard time about using it... but like in the knife show bs sessions we've had--- you, Jason, Burt... we've talked about how it kind'a sucks to try to learn so much about heat-treating, then work hard enough to implement it, to have a knife never get used.


This is actually a lot more knife than Lorien and I originally agreed to, but, as per the story of my life, this project took longer to get to than originally planned.... so I wanted to step it up a bit to make up for that... and also thought it would make a cooler thread and even more importantly, a cool knife for the guy who is like a little kid at Christmas whenever he gets a package of anything knife related. :thumbup: :cool: :D



Thanks again for looking guys!!! :)
 
Nick,
Absolutely the best WIP thread I have had the pleasure of following, tons of really good information. If its not an impositon would you mind sharing where you purchased those nice broaches you are using. Nice looking tools, far removed from my modified sheetrock saw.
 
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NickWheeler said:
Roger- you didn't miss it. :) Lorien and I talked about the wood, and it ended up at sort of a, "Whatever you choose will be cool!!!" kind of thing, so I decided to surprise him. LOL ;) As of right now, it appears to be a giant block of brown paper tape :p ;) :)
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Well, I'm sticking with my guess then. :)

10Ring - those broaches are made by ABS Master Smith John Perry. If there's a better tool for that particular job, I haven't seen it or even heard of it. They work a treat. :thumbup:

Roger
 
above and beyond, Nick. That is all I have to say.
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
Now that its etched I can officially say im pretty jealous of this one.. Nick was supposed to make me a "badass fighter" but you beat me to getting a badass blade from him. Great to see Nick working and finishing knives. I might have to start bugging you again nick!
 
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