Work in Progress, Hanger Bowie

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Thanks so much everyone. :-) I'm glad you like the pics so far. Here are some more pictures of the knife in progress. Enjoy. :D

The blade after tempering.
001 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to order some stainless steel. The ended up not having a lot of the sizes I needed so I had to get some way bigger than what I need, it will still work fine. I'll just have more removal to do.
005 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I also ordered some transfer film for the engraving. I'll use it to transfer the artwork from the computer to the steel.
006 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Also need some 14k gold for the handle pins.
007 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to start surface grinding the tang of the blade.
009 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Make a few passes and it's ready to flip over so I can do the other side.
010 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


011 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Both sides completely surface ground. I've stepped the area around where the guard goes and the rest is uniform in thickness.
012 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to dress the wheel on my surface grinder so it will leave a nice smooth finish on the ricasso area when I grind that in next.
014 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The dresser is made from a 1/4 carat man made diamond.
015 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Just run the wheel across it a few times lowering it into the dressing diamond and you have it.
016 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Starting to surface grind the ricasso.
017 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

One side done. I can start out at 600 grit on the ricasso when I hand sand.
018 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The thickness is at 0.247 after surface grinding the ricasso.
019 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Scribe some lines to follow when I finish grinding in the primary blade bevels.
020 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Some lines on the area where the clip will be too.
021 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

No music ever since I moved becuase I hadn't had time to hang my stereo up. Well, I stopped the other day and just did it. Love to listen to my music while working.
022 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


023 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

My family came over and helped get a bunch of stuff done like cleaning up the yard, helping me get my house more in order, getting the vent system set up for my KMG grinder and my surface grinder. Dad and I also got the wiring all done and cleaned up for my press, surface grinder and air compressor. And to top everything off my pressure tank for the well water quite working so we put a new one in. Lots of stuff.... :P
025 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The vent for my surface grinder.
026 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

And the vent for my KMG.
027 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

All the wiring finished up for the big equipment.
028 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The new pressure tank.
029 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Okay, back to knives. Finish ground to 50 grit.
030 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I'm using a height gauge to measure the tip to see if it's in the very middle of the blade. I make a few minor adjustments with the grinder until it's right where I want it. Within 0.001 inch. :D
031 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


032 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Right at 0.043 on this side and 0.044 on the other. Close enough for me. I measured a piece of my hair and it was 0.002 inches thick so the tip at this point is only off by half the thickness of a human hair. :D
033 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Ground the crest onto the spine.
035 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Heading out to the mail box I found the the flowering bushy thing out there had bloomed. I thought it was pretty so I took some pics of it. I have no idea what it is, do any of you know what it is? The flower is as big as my hand wide open.
037 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


038 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


039 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Okay, I've got the blade ground to 120 grit.
040 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


042 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to convex the edge. The tape is so the slack belt won't grind into the spine area.
043 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here is the edge convex ground ready for sharpening so I can performance test the blade.
044 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Sharpened.
045 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I put a flat pipe handle on so I'll have something to grip when chopping.
046 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Went through the 2x6 with no problems. I went through a huge and very hard knot too. It still shaved hair after all the chopping was said and done with. :-)
047 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now I put the file guide on the ricasso so I can scribe lines for where my plunge cuts will come to. When using the lines as a guide and also using my plunge cut jig it makes the plunge cuts perfect every time with no guess work in it.
048 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here is my plunge cut jig.
049 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

A close up shot of the place that makes the magic happen. :D
050 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Ready to start grinding.
051 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

All ground in and looking really good.
052 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I'm all ready for hand sanding next.
053 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Thanks for looking. More to come in a few days.
 
Congrats on the your first house and shop. The shop looks so nice, clean and roomy, you should be able to turn out some fine knives for many years.
The Hanger Bowie WIP is interesting to follow.
 
That looks great, Kyle! Thanks for sharing! Congrats on the new house and shop - looks like you'll have years of fun there.

I like your plunge cut jig - what radius is on the end?
 
Thanks so much. :-)

The radius started out at 1/8" on my plunge cut jig. After using it a bunch it's more like 3/16" now. Every couple years it needs re-dressed a little. I just use the grinder and then clean the radius up with a file.
 
Flowers are hibiscus. Awesome work in progress. I am amazed at the craftsmanship and artwork of you and many on this site
 
It's good to see one of your WIPs again, I've learned a lot from you! I always find your knives amazing and the WIPs I like best are ones where the maker incorporates some of his life outside of the shop. Nice to see you moving up in the world.
 
Salem Straub said:
It's good to see one of your WIPs again, I've learned a lot from you! I always find your knives amazing and the WIPs I like best are ones where the maker incorporates some of his life outside of the shop. Nice to see you moving up in the world.
Click to expand...

I agree.
Kyle, you're really getting your shop set up nicely. Can't have too much ventilation.
 
Kyle, great WIP, I like that you performance test your knives, and I'm sure many makers do test for performance. I suspect that the majority of your knives being very high end will never be used as a tool. However you ensure each blade is worthy of the task.

I am not casting dispersion's, but wonder how many high end blades are up to the task and not just a work of art?

Bravo

Steve
 
Steve Nuckels said:
Kyle, great WIP, I like that you performance test your knives, and I'm sure many makers do test for performance. I suspect that the majority of your knives being very high end will never be used as a tool. However you ensure each blade is worthy of the task.
I am not casting dispersion's, but wonder how many high end blades are up to the task and not just a work of art?
Bravo
Steve
Click to expand...

Steve, I always like to save a WIP shot like the one below just so when friends see the knife on display and think it's just an Art Object or Ornamental knife, well photo pretty much speaks for itself.

047 by Kyle Royer
 
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That pic is intense. Impressive and I really like Kevin's approach of showing a beautiful knife's capabilities.

I also went from seeing shots of Kyle appreciating the flowers he discovered blooming in his front yard to imagining what it looked like when he was chopping that wood. It took a bit of a mental transition on my part. Truly a "Man of Contrasts" who appreciates a lot of things in life :thumbup:
 
Hey everyone,

Sorry it's been so long since I posted more pics. I've not been able to work on this knife as much as I've wanted to but is getting back on track now.

So, for the hand sanding I start out with 220 grit and go at a bit of an angle.
004 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Next I start the 320 grit in the plunge cut areas.
005 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Going at an angle opposite of the 220 so I can see when I've made the entire surface 320 grit.
006 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

One of my primary sanding sticks.
007 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


008 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

One side is done so I protect it with tape and start on side two.
009 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Side two is done for now at 320 grit.
011 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to clean up the the bottom of the ricasso.
013 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

All cleaned up and shaped with the grinder.
014 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

And hand sanded to 2000 grit.
015 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Next I grind and hand sand the crest on the spine of the blade. I hand sanded it to 1000 grit.
016 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to start grinding in the clip.
017 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I hand stone and sand this portion of the clip before grinding in the rest.
018 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

All ground, stoned and sanded. :-)
019 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now I've milled the ricasso and tang where the guard will fit. Now this area is uniform and ready for the guard that I'll fit later.
020 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


021 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Etch my name into the ricasso.
022 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The blade is now done until the rest of the handle is finished. When the handle is all done I'll finish sanding and etch the blade. For now I prep the 416 for the hanger guard.
024 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Go ahead and bend it hot and let it cool.
025 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Mill in the slot so it will fit over the tang after some fine tuning with a file.
026 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


027 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

After many steps of hammering the guard onto the blade and then going under the microscope with a dental burr and removing material I have a guard that fits over the ricasso. The guard fits over the ricasso about 0.020 of an inch.
029 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to start on the regular clam shell guard.
030 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


031 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


032 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Everything is fitting great.
033 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to soften the tang with heat.
034 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now for the three front spacers, two damascus and one 416.
035 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


036 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Okay, now we're ready for the frame and rear bolsters which will be milled out of a solid piece of 416 stainless steel.
037 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Milling all six surfaces so I'll have a nice uniform block to start with.
038 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to remove some serious material.
039 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


040 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here I've cut out the slot for the tang.
041 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


Thanks for looking everyone. I hope you have a nice evening. :-)
 
This is great, thanks for going through the effort of posting this up, Kyle! Much appreciated! Can't wait for the next installment...
 
Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay in this thread and knife build.

I've got some new pictures to post up. Everything is taking shape now. Today I'm working on the guard getting that shaped up nicely.

Time to start making the pommel nut which will hold the handle onto the blade.
001 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Pommel nut is taking shape now after turning it down on the lathe.
002 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

After some more turning.
003 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Next I drill and countersink the pommel end of the handle assembly.
004 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The pommel nut fits nice and tight.
005 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here, the frame is fit onto the blade, it's looking really good as far as the fit on everything so far. :-)
009 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Next I have to put some green tape on each side of the tang because the tang is a little thinner than the frame. I them take two flat pieces of steel and clamp them on each side of the frame and assemble the frame onto the blade. Then I superglue the frame onto the front spacers so I can drill line up pin holes through the front spacers and into the frame. The clamps and steel are to hold the fame where is needs to be on the tang while I superglue.
011 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here are the front spacers with the line up pins I was talking about in the last picture.
012 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr
 
Now I've shaped the top and bottom of the front spacer.
013 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to mark out where the frame will be shaped.
014 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Shaped frame.
015 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now I'm laying out the holes for the handle pins.
016 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

14K gold wire for the handle pins.
017 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I drilled the frame and am now seeing if the gold fits and it does.
018 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to start fitting the stag onto the frame.
019 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr
 
Here I've drilled the hold in the stag for the handle pins.
020 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Milling the end of the handle so it's nice and flat. This will make it so there is a nice tight fit against the front spacers.
021 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Close up of the milling.
022 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

All fitting tight with the handle pins all in.
023 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here you can see a little of the frame and handle where I've reassessed the frame so the handle material is a little larger than the frame. I'll bull nose the handle material all around the frame and at the ends of the handle. This helps with shrinking and expanding of the materials and it also feels good in the hand because there is more texture to feel from the different heights of the frame and stag.
024 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here you can see it better.
025 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now I've shaped the front spacers all the way.
026 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


027 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to lay out the clam shell scallops. :-)
028 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Cut them in with a file.
029 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


030 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr
 
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