Bill Siegle
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2000
- Messages
- 6,980
So a couple weeks ago I was waiting for something to cool off in the shop and decided to finally re-handle my old Tru-Bal Bowie Axe. I went with black G10 and 3/16 brass rod. I taper reamed the G10 and heavily peened the brass rod for a dang near indestructible attachment. Well being a fan of the Tru-Bal knives and knowing how much fun they are around a camp site for chopping and throwing, I then decided to make a camp knife built to be abused and even thrown. That resulted in the 14 3/8in knife below the Bowie Axe. After handling it for a few days, I was liking it but then I got the idea to take the concept a little further and refine the camp knife design. That lead to the third one down which has a blade similar to the JEST and Hoodlums and is 16in overall. I played with that one for a while and thought it would be fine around camp but I'd like another for the belt but with a little less "bolo" shape. That is how I arrived at the bottom knife 
That one is 14in overall. All of the ones I made are from 1/4in 5160 and lack a lot of finish work as I basically intend to beat on them and wanted speed of manufacture. The peening of the rod essentially swells the 3/16 rod to just over 1/4in at the surface. In the past I have done similar style knives using copper rivets but a lot of people think they will tear up their hands so the rivets are not very popular. I think this method may solve that fear. Heck even if it doesn't sell more knives, I like it 
The other thing I have played with is the edges themselves. When I was a kid, I owned a lot of knives but no real grinder. When I had a too thick edge, I would work it into a convex edge using stones or files and then they would cut! I decided that since these were to be worked hard, I would grind them a little thicker and then I draw filed the edges to a convex geometry. It leaves a bit of meat behind the edges, but they sure do bite well!!!:thumbup:
That one is 14in overall. All of the ones I made are from 1/4in 5160 and lack a lot of finish work as I basically intend to beat on them and wanted speed of manufacture. The peening of the rod essentially swells the 3/16 rod to just over 1/4in at the surface. In the past I have done similar style knives using copper rivets but a lot of people think they will tear up their hands so the rivets are not very popular. I think this method may solve that fear. Heck even if it doesn't sell more knives, I like it The other thing I have played with is the edges themselves. When I was a kid, I owned a lot of knives but no real grinder. When I had a too thick edge, I would work it into a convex edge using stones or files and then they would cut! I decided that since these were to be worked hard, I would grind them a little thicker and then I draw filed the edges to a convex geometry. It leaves a bit of meat behind the edges, but they sure do bite well!!!:thumbup:
