PICO CHOPPER

[Justin Carnecchia]

Hi, here's my latest. Camp chopper in reduced size. Blade is 7" of clay hardened w2. Fittings are heat blued w's damascus and copper. Handle is curly maple with a very nice chatoyance.
Thanks for looking, Justin Carnecchia

 

[Josh Rider]

Oh that’s a sick hamon. Was that water quenched? Just beautiful!

 

[Justin Carnecchia]

Thanks, I do quench most of my blades in water but this one was Parks. -Justin

 

[the possum]

Love the way that hamon jumps out in your second photo. But I gotta ask, what are those spots in the hamon near the tip? It almost looks like unhardened steel in several areas just above the cutting edge. ?

 

[Justin Carnecchia]

Thanks, yes there are a couple of spots unhardened, lower on the blade than I would have liked. The edge however is hardened along it's full length, with good clearance from the unhardened spots. So while not aesthetically pleasing as I would have liked, it should in no way effect the performance of the knife.

 

[the possum]

Thanks for the clarification.

I asked, because I've sharpened more steel off my big chopper than that, after just a year or two of hard use. If ya have to sharpen out little dings & nicks every other day, it adds up quick. So I generally prefer to have more hardened steel towards the end third of the blade, to give it a longer working life. But like I said earlier, that activity looks beautiful.

 

[Justin Carnecchia]

What are you chopping? And what is the knife you're using? I like to think that my knife wouldn't be constantly chipping but I don't know your usage.
For what I would consider normal usage and the associated sharpening, I would expect this knife to last a lifetime.
For, usage that would chip this blade, I think I would suggest a different design. Maybe fully hardened with spring tempered spine, full tang, and maybe stouter edge geometry.
I appreciate your comments, my only goal is to grow as a bladesmith and often it takes the criticism of others to help us along that path. -Justin

 

[the possum]

For my uses, when a chopper is put to work, it will eventually come into contact with things it's not supposed to, whether by accident or because it can't be avoided to get the work done. This means the edge may hit the ground, or a piece of scrap iron that was hidden in the weeds, or ya have to chop out some roots, or do some digging, or there's dirt & mud stuck to the bark of a downed limb, or ya whack a piece of concrete, etc. The knife doesn't really matter. I've never heard of any chopper that will maintain a pristine hair-popping edge after whacking a rock. It will need sharpening. Even if the worst nicks are only 0.3mm deep (which I don't consider horrible), you can only do that 10 times before you've lost 3mm of steel off the edge.