“King Cobra” Knife I Finished

Archer Here

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
1,277
Steel is from ½ ton Spring. Heated in a forge to approximately 1700 degrees Fahrenheit, until blade became nonmagnetic, then dipped in a vat of oil. Fine satin finished. Tempered at 400 degrees for 1 hour, letting it air cool, then putting it in 1 more hour at 400. Blade was file tested for hardness. Very hard.

Handle is made of distressed Walnut and pinned with brass & epoxy. Sheath is hand stitched out of dark red gator hide.

Measurements:
Total Length: 11 ½ ", Blade Length=6 ½ ", Blade Width=2 ¾ ", Blade Thickness= 3/16"
Handle: Walnut, Handle Length: 5", Handle Width: 1 1/4" Guard: 2 7/8 long by 1/4"

Below are pictures of the finished knife.

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Killing cobras, of course.

Interesting knife. I am not normally a fan of such blades (there may be some physical problems in heavy use), but yours look nice. I would recommend a full tang on any future models.

I am not sure I understand the reversed handle? Why is the butt curving against the hand? It seems it would be quite hot in the hand in use.

Stacy
 
Hey, Thanks for the feedback. That’s kind of my thing. I like to do things a little out of the ordinary …. something unique. My idea was to give it a combination hatchet/knife look. I chose to have the butt go up instead of down because I thought it would help when it pivots when you’re swinging the blade up and then on the down stroke.

Sure you could kill a cobra with it, if you’re brave enough to get that close :) but you could also use it for hacking. I thought the blade had a look of the cobra head.
 
Chris, as a rule, you want a hande to have a downward curve when you're building a chopping style of knife. Look at khurki, machetes and competition cutting knives. When you swing hard a downward turned handle will "hold" onto your pinky and end of your hand, when it strikes, your follow through will lever your hand down onto the handle, if it's turned up it'll tend to lever out of your hand or apply a lot of pressure to the end of your hand. Think of the handle as a hook, at least that's how I look at them.

It's a neat design and with some tweaks would be a pretty fair belt axe/survival tool sorta thingy. Your fit and finish is getting better by leaps and bounds. :thumbup:
 
Hell I think its a good design. Just like every knife I have design take the suggestion and put them into work on the next knife like this.
Great job
Eric Knight
 
I like the exagerated WSK look! I even like the handle, but it probablky would be hot in the hand. My concern is the 1700ºF temp! Are you guessing at the temp? This temp would probably cuase a HUGE amount of grain growth even in 5160. 1525-1550ºf is all it needs to get hard and keep grain growth to a minimum. get ya some tempilsticks they'll help get ya into the right temperature ballpark. Great Craftmanship!

Jason
 
I appreciate all of your feedback. I’m really trying to apply everyone’s knowledge I’ve received, combined with the studying I’ve been doing, into my knife making. I must admit, I’ve become addicted, and loving it!

Thanks!
 
Archer, I'm enjoying the look of this one! Although the reversed arching handle would likely help the blade movement on the up swing, the down swing is where all the power in a chop comes in, and a normally shaped handle is more conducive to assisting in the downstroke. I'd also suggest some temp-sticks to get you in the ball bark of temperature for the heat treatment. 1700 would cause the grain of the steel to grow quite rapidly if it was held at that temperature for any time. This will cause the blade to become more brittle. This is a really weird analogy, but it's kinda like some really fat 800 pound people hugging each other vs. skinny people hugging each other. The fat people just can't get their arms around each other to hold on. I know, really weird analogy.

Keep up the work. You're getting much better!

--nathan
 
I’m sorry, but this is a newbe question. I was told that for future do a full tang. What would that be? Are you referring to the butt?
 
Chris a "full tang" means that the metal from the blade extends full size (usually reduced width ;) ) through the handle. You know, when you look down at the top of the handle you see that the metal from the blade is sandwiched between the handle material.
 
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