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Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Joined
Jun 17, 2001
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piece of 60 grade rebar in the photo's. 12" blade, bronze guard and cap with iron spacer. Handle is ebony. Long/lean blade that is very springy. Overall its just under 18" and weighs 9 oz. Bottom picture was just after I forged it. Decided to go through tang instead of full. The nut will come off tomorrow and tang will be peened after epoxy has cured. Yes it does have a few forge marks.

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Raymond, that's one beautiful weapon! But please tell me a little more about the rebar you used to make it. For five years in the 1970s I sold a lot of rebar, tons of it I'm sure, along with many other kinds of building materials. At that time I was told by people who cut the rebar and used it that rebar was made of a low grade mixture of scrap steel of all kinds, and that its composition varied greatly from piece to piece. Is there now some rebar that meets standards rigid enough to be sure you can make a good knife blade from it?
 
Dr. Mudd said:
Raymond, that's one beautiful weapon! But please tell me a little more about the rebar you used to make it. For five years in the 1970s I sold a lot of rebar, tons of it I'm sure, along with many other kinds of building materials. At that time I was told by people who cut the rebar and used it that rebar was made of a low grade mixture of scrap steel of all kinds, and that its composition varied greatly from piece to piece. Is there now some rebar that meets standards rigid enough to be sure you can make a good knife blade from it?
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The rebar that I collected was off jobs I worked in the 90's. There is a large amount of scrap used to make it. There are also several grades. I've only used 60 grade which was the only grade used on the jobs I work. I did get a piece checked out and carbon content was .43 and I'm sure that will vary from batch to batch. This blade hardened up nicely just using oil for a quench. I'll mess with the rebar once or twice a year now. Sold many knives made out of it when I worked construction.
 
raymond....i like pretty much all of the knives you post but i really really like the handle/guard on this one....thanks for sharing......just curious-do u ever make any damascus knives?.....ryan
 
Ryan, I've made a small handful of damascus knives. In 2004 I ordered a Clayborn press. Waited for over a year to have it delivered since Ron was having heart problems at the time. About 2 weeks after the press showed up I started a fire while working on a new quench tank and lost my shop and barn including the new $3000.00 press. I really have a passion for making knives but the damascus bug has never gotten a good hold on me.
 
Hi Raymond,
Long and lean,nice and pointy.
Been hanging out in Bladesmiths Q & A a bit,mostly for the Kevin & Tai Show :foot: :eek: :D,just kidding, but I do remember reading a thread about the high(er) carbon rebar that has good hardenability.
This one looks like it will fill the bill as a collector piece or a nice solid user. :thumbup:
Hope you post a pic when tang is finished. :)

Doug
 
I don't understand this idea of using unknown steel of unknown grade when good, known steel is available so cheaply. This can only affect performance in my opinion, in 2 ways:

1 - The steel used might be bad quality. For example, I simply cannot believe that rebar is produced with very good homogeneity, purity, etc, etc.

2 - Even if you find steel that happens to be appropriate for knives, you cannot assess its composition and therefore how to HT it.

Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding.
 
There are a variety of simple tests that can be done by a smith to assure that their scap steel is of sufficient quality and to determine the proper heat treatment. I believe some of it is covered in Goddard's $50 Knife Shop book. Some makers test steel whose provenance is known to assure that they got what they paid for.
 
The forge marks give the knife true character. Beautiful work! I was wondering, where do you get Grade 60 rebar, and what do you quench with to get the stuff to harden?
 
bennett said:
The forge marks give the knife true character. Beautiful work! I was wondering, where do you get Grade 60 rebar, and what do you quench with to get the stuff to harden?
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All the 60 grade rebar came as scrape from large industrial construction jobs I worked on in the 90's. I have no idea what todays rebar is like. I've used several different oils to harden the rebar and they all worked. I'm still thinking about trying water to see if I can get some hamon action out of it. Nothing like that with the oil quench.

Joss, To each his own. I work with the stuff from time to time. I've had it tested and feel I can make a good knife out of the 60 grade rebar. By no means the best steel but sure not the worst. I wouldn't waist my time with it if I didn't think it made a good blade.
 
That is truly a fine looking knife. It's just my style.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
Almost looks like a cutlass to me. Would look great on a pirate's belt. Unbelieveable that was once a piece of rebar! I can't wait to try forgeing myself.
 
Here's a picture of this knife finished but the focus of the picture is the new blade I finished forging this morning. I used the rebar knife not as a pattern but as a reference while forging the new blade. The new blade is 1084. I wanted to do the blade shape except have a larger blade with the new one.


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fudo said:
KEEP THE PICS COMING!!!
My wallet is wimpering already.
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Here's a picture of the Shop Troll who lives in my shop. He's got the forged blade in his hands from yesterday forging session. No more pictures till this blade is finished.

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Ray, come on up to Seattle and I'll show you a real Troll!!! Bill Burke has seen it! :eek: :D

And like someone just pointed out - you are coming closer to making cutlass-sized stuff... When are ya gonna try and make a true cutlass???:thumbup:

See ya in Eugene!
 
joeshredd said:
Ray, come on up to Seattle and I'll show you a real Troll!!! Bill Burke has seen it! :eek: :D

And like someone just pointed out - you are coming closer to making cutlass-sized stuff... When are ya gonna try and make a true cutlass???:thumbup:

See ya in Eugene!
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Joe, Bill Burke has seen me, maybe we should let him pick who is more Troll like. I was just out doing some fence work and moving my cows woundering why my hands and wrists were hurting so bad. No more forging till I do the demo. I've thought about a cutlass several times. Jumbo was kind of close but really not there. I'll think about it more.......
 
Raymond,
You have a gift for grande shapes and flowing clips, just something you seem to do effortlessly. Always good to see these impressive works.

I like whatever guides your instincts.
David
 
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