Groomsmen Knives

efleming

efleming

Joined
Jun 6, 2007
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My oldest son Justin is getting married September 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] and I am making 7 groomsman knives at his request. This has kept me really busy working toward a deadline. His knife is made from billet of 1080 and 15n20 in W pattern. When making this billet I pulled out a section that was at a lower layer count and continued the rest of the billet up to 2000 layers. Then welded in the lower layer count before performing a ferry flip to bring out the pattern. My intent was a tiger stripe look. It came out ok but not exactly as I envisioned.

The best man’s knife, my youngest son Jeremiah, is san mai of 1095 core covered by nickel foil then sandwiched with 416 ss. Both blades are at 2000 grit, etched in ferric chloride 5:1 three times then treated with Casey's Super Blue several times and polished with Flitz for the san mai, additional 2000 grit polishes for the Damascus.

The other 4 groomsman knives are all 52100 made in the same style but brought up to 400 grit satin finish. Speaking of style, when my son came to me and asked me if I could make groomsman knives for him, he showed me a picture of Adam DeRosier’s Freemans knives and wanted something similar. He really liked the design. When at Blade 2011, I discussed with Adam my intent to make groomsman knives that were inspired by his, he was excited to see how they turn out. I had the opportunity to hold one of Adam's Freemans knives at the show as well. When I told him his Freemans knives were the inspiration for my son's groomsmen knives, he went and got one of his to show me. Very well crafted and both Adam and Haley are such a pleasure to speak with. I changed grind a bit, changed the handle design and made the knife a bit larger (7.5” OAL).

All knives tested out 59-60 HRC. Well, just 6 days to the wedding... Let me know what you think.


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AWESOME job, Eric. All of them are first rate, but I love the first two, especially the san mai. I can see where you were going with the tiger stripes in the damascus. I bet with a little tweaking here and there, you can make that pattern work out. Great job! So much better than the groomsmen knives I made for my wedding.

--nathan
 
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The set is awesome. That one hamon looks like lightning. Show them to the boys before the reception, but give them well after or they will all try to cut the cake.
 
WOW!! Love 'em all, but the San Mai for the best man is my favorite. That nickel foil really makes the layers pop like the fourth of July. Great looking blades!!

Congrats to the young couple, nice work!
 
Nicely done! I love them and I too am a sucker for San Mai... That one is my favorite..I absolutely LOVE how the foil makes the the transitions bold
. Nothing like a deadline fast approaching to give you a push. I like the design of the blades too... The look like they are meant to be used for a lifetime.
 
I am in agreement with the others.

I really like how the nickle foil on the san mai makes those layers pop
Congrats on a really good job keeping those layers centred all the way around the edge and swedge- that's really well done
 
Thanks guys. I appreciate all the great comments. Carl, The sheaths are not done yet so I have some more work to do... Yes, nothing like a deadline... :-) Thegeek... blades are about 1.5-1.7 inches wide. I do not have them in front of me to measure but I can tell you that the grinds go up the blade 1".
 
That damascus knife is great looking, but if I were the groom, I would be claiming the san mia. All of the knives are beautiful, but that san mia is gorgeous.
 
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