WIP Ghost Jade Hidden Tang...

[Overmountain]

Well, not much of an update, but I was able to cut some guard material to size. Instead of just being able to cut away for the past couple of days, instead I had to go and buy a new bandsaw. And then make a new stand.

I had a Dewalt porta-band that I had honestly just strapped to a craftsman work table. It used to work OK... but not really ideal. Therefore I had a tendency to use my angle grinder more than the bandsaw. So... I got a HF saw and built a mount. A real solid mount setup changes things dramatically. As does a larger work table. I think I will be using the bandsaw much more often now. Something I have sworn I was going to do anyway...

But, here is the material I was able to cut to size and the new bandsaw.

And the back of the mount...

I am clamping it down ATM but eventually will bolt it down somewhere... Man what a difference. I didn't really ever take the time to do this in the past as I didn't think it would make much difference. And I was planning on getting one of the vertical/horizontal jobs and just putting a seat on the frame. But for now, I am very pleased with this...

-Eric

 

[Chris Larrikin]

Some day you will need to give us a pictorial tour of your workshop

 

[Overmountain]

Some day you will need to give us a pictorial tour of your workshop

That day will come when I can be less embarrassed about the amount of crap strewn about

Well, seriously that is the state of things in the home workshop ATM, but the main pain is that all my toys are broken up amongst three different workshops. One at home, and two on the separate family farms. And then there are the two workshops I occasionally use that belong to friends who share mine from time to time. We all have different tools and toys so it helps us all save money. Sometime in the very near future I am hoping they will hock some of their stuff on my site with me. They are both far more talented than they will admit to themselves, and are too shy to hock their wares on the net. (Of course I shied away from the net for quite a while myself so I can understand...) I have no dreams of going full time with any of my little ventures and interests... But in an ideal world, I would love to gather my friends under one roof and share equipment to try and make the best of some of our passions. I think collectively we could possibly come in a little ahead of just keeping the lights on... Which for me would be considered an outstanding success.

Even at that, my shop pales in comparison to some of the shops I saw lately on the 'show us your shop and what you are working on' thread. Man some of you guys have cool shops and combination man caves. TV's on the walls and such... Nice, clean and orderly... Makes me feel like a troll down in a dark dungeon somewhere breaking rocks for my master... Of course, don't take that to mean I just huck stuff everywhere. The areas where actual work is accomplished are in order and everything has its place. Belts separated and hung, machines kept clean and well maintained, bits stored appropriately, etc... (My reloading area for example is excessively clean and organized for obvious reasons.) I just have a bunch of personal projects that are in various stages of completion that seem to just keep hanging about.

(And there is the weird little bit of cop reasoning in the back of my head that says "Don't advertise to the world that you have high-dollar pieces of equipment x, y, and z in your shop. Especially when you have a unique last name and it is easy for anyone to look up your address...) But that may be a bit overly cautious...

-Eric

 

[tryppyr]

Eric, I am starting to think you are as slow and methodical about this as I would be. Good on ya, mate! Nice to know I'm not alone in thinking things through (several times, and then several more times) before pushing the GO button.

 

[Overmountain]

Eric, I am starting to think you are as slow and methodical about this as I would be. Good on ya, mate! Nice to know I'm not alone in thinking things through (several times, and then several more times) before pushing the GO button.

Greg, you are spot on. You'll never hear me tell anyone to speed up their projects. I have noticed you take your time, and same sentiments here, kudos for that. There are some guys who can rock out a knife in nothing flat. If I try that it i am certain I will hose it up.

I also tend to notice things about my equipment that will bug me (like the saw not being stable enough) and spend time working on that instead... But, my dad always pointed out that a setup might be 'good enough for now' but it's better to remedy it now and not have to fight with it over the next five projects...You also come out in the end with a shop that functions perfectly and ultimately starts saving you time and headaches...

Plus the old 'measure twice, cut once' addage never hurt anyone.

Thanks again.

-Eric

 

[Overmountain]

Worked the billet some more tonight. Should be about ready to start shaping into something resembling a knife soon.

I think that's the first time I've shown my face in a pic here... lol. And without my leather apron on... for shame!!

-Eric

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Can't really see much of a face.

Which reminds me, my old Mustang board had a thread for pics, something like "The faces of Shop Talk" sorta thing. Not sure that's a good idea (considering what I imagine all of y'all to look like! ), even if Stacy did sign off on it.

I won't push you to hurry either Eric. I'm a slow mover myself. Worked all day on a sheath pattern just to scrap it. Right, so take your time. But kinda hurry doing that.

 

[Overmountain]

Can't really see much of a face.

Which reminds me, my old Mustang board had a thread for pics, something like "The faces of Shop Talk" sorta thing. Not sure that's a good idea (considering what I imagine all of y'all to look like! ), even if Stacy did sign off on it.

I won't push you to hurry either Eric. I'm a slow mover myself. Worked all day on a sheath pattern just to scrap it. Right, so take your time. But kinda hurry doing that.

In addition to measuring 50 times to cut once, I also tend to do everything in double to some extent. Like the billet will be double the steel I need... Just in case something happens. Same for guard hunks... Two will be cut close to size... Etc etc etc. And I scrap my fair share of stuff too... As do all makers I have discovered. Seems the difference is whether or not you share your failures with the world... Personal choice there obviously...

And that's about all the face you'll see pretty much ever... Don't want to scare the kiddies... The hot steel in those tongs awaiting hammer strike is where the focus should be... And if you're like me, that's a plenty sexy sight...

I have always hated having my picture taken or hearing my voice recorded...

-Eric

 

[John Andrews]

can't wait to see this...

Yeah on that!

And about yer face, I don't reckon a Hollywood face would help sell our wares. I don't have what is called a handsome face either, but they still buy my wares.

I finally broke down and got a leather apron and alway wear it when working. I clearly remember times I should have been wearing one.

 

[12345678910]

.

(And there is the weird little bit of cop reasoning in the back of my head that says
"Don't advertise to the world that you have high-dollar pieces of equipment x, y, and z in your shop. Especially when you have a unique last name and it is easy for anyone to look up your address...) But that may be a bit overly cautious...

-Eric

NO, that makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[Overmountain]

I'm glad that made sense to someone else, so I feel a little less like my relationship with normal society is jacked up...

No pictures but I have been working on this project. I have a couple of simple campy type knives and a couple of repairs going on too, but in another week or two this one should get 100% of my attention until completion. One of the repairs is actually a complete rebuild of an old Camillus USN mk2 fighting knife (AKA Ka-bar) which is being done as a surprise for an old vet... Nonetheless, I should be making significant headway once I'm able to commit full attention to it.

I have the guard probably 80% done, no slot yet obviously since the blade isn't done... And speaking of the blade... As shown before, my billet started as 10 layers of alternating 1095/15n20. (I usually prefer just a few thicker layers to start but I had a bunch of thin stuff on hand so...) Starting stack was 5"x2"x3/4" and took a good initial weld with minimal waste. It has now been squished and folded 4 times and I'm debating another fold. This is kinda the most dramatic fold obviously, from a kinda lazy 160 to a tight 320... It will be a ladder pattern when complete, and I typically prefer tight over loose patterns... Dunno, will obviously be two blades worth of a billet so I'll probably go tight with it.

I'm having a weird problem since lining my forge with the Matricote 90... Obviously the forge is much more efficient and heats much more quickly, and the heat reflected is palpable. In so much as the round bar I use to weld my billets onto is getting screamingly hot. The 1" square peep hole used to blow out a little heat and the bar would get warm enough I had to use welding gloves to handle it... but now the stream of heat coming from that opening is like a blow torch. It is highly noticeable 4' from the opening.... Kevin Cashen (at least I think it was him) had pics up of a handle he made using threaded sections of rod and pipe that fit together and had a shield etc etc... Anyway, it looked like it would work well. I do use tongs a fair amount, but prefer the handle welded on for obvious reasons. My tong technique isn't what I would call a really strong skill for me...

Anyway, I appreciate everyone's positive responses and such, and I also hope it turns out as close to the drawing as possible. One of the better times I've put pencil to paper...

-Eric

 

[Overmountain]

Just a quick update... Have a run of 'Brew-tal knuckle duster bottle openers' up for sale on the exchange to help with keeping the lights on, so working to have that filled and shipped to everyone in the meantime... but have been able to get some work done.

The ghost jade for the handle is rough cut out. I went back and forth on handle material for the bolster between black paper micarta, buffalo horn, and bog oak. I settled on buffalo horn just to keep the feel of the knife intact. The stainless guard is more or less done, and the blade is ready for HT... And about that blade... I went from wanting a damascus blade, to a laminate blade, to a homogenous blade... I cut out two blanks, one from a billet of twist damascus I had done, and one from 1095, my old go-to steel. I ended up feeling like the damascus was going to be too busy. Therefore I went with the 1095 and will shoot for a nice hamon, and a nice patina finish above it with my mojo mix of chemicals... Everything else will be a nice uniform high grit finish.


Pics to be added as soon as I have access to them again. Dang work computers don't allow me to get to my pintrest posts...

Eric

 

[Overmountain]

Hey guys. Haven't been very social lately... but have been lurking. Looks like some nice stuff coming out of the shops lately.

I did a run of my little keychain deals, and have been covered up with doing the normal summer fix-n-fab stuff... But I have been able to do a little bit on this. It's getting there. Gonna make a push to try and finish it this week... As long as nothing else cuts my legs out from under me...

Here is the guard, cut from a stainless drop, squared on the disk, and ovalized. Template glued on to cut the step.

Used the mill drill to rough the step. Just trying to get uniform height on everything. Will finish it out by hand after everything is rough fit. I want the spine of the handle to match the spind of the blade as in the drawing. I've made a slightly undersize surrogate tang to use while rough fitting. Forgot to photo it...

Here is the huge block of FR4/G10 traced and cut into a smaller blank.

The blade is 90% ground bevel and plungewise. Swedge not done yet... But it's dead flat, straight, yadda yadda yadda...

And after going back and forth about 50 times I decided to use buffalo horn as the bolster. So that's here and ready to start taking shape.

Things are settling down here for now, so maybe I can get back to the norm. I feel like a stranger here now... lol.

BTW here is one of the little knuckle duster bottle openers I did a run of. Nothing special, and honestly barely more than a break-even for me... but I like em. The idea was to look as little like any sort of weapon as possible, be light and compact, and useful. 1/4" aluminum, waterjet cut, media tumbled and acid etched. Gives it a raw titanium kinda color IMO. They sold out this time in about 72 hours. So I'll be doing another run soon for anyone interested. Any more and I'll have to switch to a manufacturer membership... lol.

Cheers y'all!

-Eric

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Anything new on this Eric? I really really want to see this when you're done.

Are you gonna sell it or keep it?

 

[Overmountain]

Anything new on this Eric? I really really want to see this when you're done.

Are you gonna sell it or keep it?

Hey brother.

Yeah, it's actually quite far along but just keeps getting set aside for paying gigs. The blade is done and heat treated. (Clay coat, showing good signs of a nice hamon...) The guard is 90% done with slot cut and all. The buffalo horn is cut to size and started to take shape.

I added a couple of pics to my pintrest page but those are old pics. Kinda wanted to just reveal it when done. As soon as I get the face and front section of the guard finished it will all be put together and finished up. Then I'll have the sheath to go.

I haven't decided if I'm going ti keep or sell it. I've had a love affair with ghost jade for a while so it will be hard to let go. I did two sets of scales for friends' Kershaw Tremors. I liked that enough to buy a tremor myself. Maybe I'll get around to finishing that too... lol.

Thanks for the interest. I'll do a separate 'reveal' thread when it's done. No need for a WIP as the construction elements of this style has been thoroughly covered by those much better at this than me.

I have a bar of Aldo's Hitachi score on the way. So there are now some chef's knives to be done ahead of this too... (my first ones for sale to someone... nervous about that...) They know enough to know about the steel so I'll assume scrutinizing will be tough.


I'll add more pics when I get a chance. Took a few in thd middle if I can find em. (I suck about taking pics...)

I'm extremely anxious to get this one finished too.

Cheers!
-Eric

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Ack! I love it. It's pretty rare when I'll be going about my business and have a knife pop into my head for no reason.

I haven't worked with jade gee-ten, but I love the way it looks too.

Good luck with the kitchen blades. I'd be nervous too just because they are so technical to get right, but I'd bet you'll pull it off fine.