WIP – Athame

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,703
Been so long I've done one of these. A WIP I mean, first Athame. Hope you like it.

This is a gift for a friend of mine who practices Wicca. This is a surprise but I am pretty sure she wont see it. Basically a dagger, dark handle, not sharpened. That's about the basic rules. Let's see what we can come up with.

So first we need a basic dagger profile in 1095. This will be a take down obviously.



I wanted to do the guard and pommel in bronze. Thought I was gonna have to start from square stock but found some bushings (from a snowblower I think) that should do nicely.



And some wood mock ups to see roughly where we are going and if it will work.



I think we are on the right path. More tomorrow...

Thanks for watching.
 
Very good to see you back Patrice, looking forward to watching this.
 
Cool! I have daggers going right now, too. This will be fun to watch. I can see you'll likely get some fun lathe work in on this one.
 
Next, started the grind. Man am I rusty. :o
Also started to turn the pommel insert in stainless. Lots of lathe work like Salem said on this one.



Next the African Blackwood handle. Took me 3 tries to get it right. Rusty you said. :o



Threaded the tang so I can start to put it together. I get a better idea of where to go this way than just visualizing in my head, which is already pretty crowded. ;)



And broke a tap. Thats not rusty as much as tired. Time to call it a night.

 
Bummer breaking the tap. I love a good wip. Thank you for sharing.

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk
 
Stainless is such a gummy PITA to tap. So easy to break a tap in that stuff. Keep it up Patrice! Love your WIP's!
 
Thanks guys.
And it is not the good stainless either, it's 304. They only had 300 series no 400. Wonder if there is a better one in the 300?
 
303 to 304 is a huge improvement in pretty much every way. I assume you are using a center while tapping and not just free hand?

What is the significance of the dagger to Wicca? Just timing for a Wicca holiday or is it ceremonial?
 
Sorry I am lost, is 303 or 304 better? This is 304. And no, I had no center, this was freehand. :o But I would have been fine if I stopped when it bottomed out. :o

The Athame is used for rituals (no cutting as this is dull, more of a channeling energies) from what I've read, very personal to the user. Like I said, I am not Wiccan so this is all from inline searches.
 
Sorry 303 is much better. When I'm tapping any stainless, unless a specific fit is called, I over drill by a few thou. Make sure your taps are sharp as stainless has a tendency to work harden leading to taps in pieces.

Does your lathe have a tail stock?
 
Thanks wizzer. Yes it does have a tailstock and I made a tap holder for it too. :( This was just me being careless. I will try 303 next time though if I can get it.
 
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