The bicentennial bowie 2016.

TMHunt

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Hi folks, wanted to share a really cool project I've been working on. Be patient with me as I'm sure this will be a long thread and it will take me a while to load the photos. But anyway.....

I enjoy history. I think there is a lot that can be learned from it. See where we came from, what worked, what didnt, I believe that good logic for the future can be forged from the experiences of the past. So, being the fan of history, the county I live in, which is Jackson County Indiana, turns the big 200 years old in this year of 2016, as well as the state of Indiana. To make a very long story short, you can imagine my excitement when I was asked to not only to become a part of the celebration, but to be part of future history.

The Jackson county historical society contacted me and wanted something special to take around to the many celebrations that will be held this year. Unfortunately, with all of the pending projects taking up my time I wasn't able to produce this piece as promptly as they liked. But a big Jackson county themed bowie knife was constructed and I'm here to share it with you all as well as some pics of its construction along the way. But whats really cool about this, is someone is gonna win this bad boy! Thats right, it will be offered as a raffled piece and tickets will be going on sale through me and the JCHS as soon as the end of this month.

But without further ado, here she is, in all of her 19 inch OAL glory!




Here is where it all started, a idea and a drawing. I drew what was in my head, cut it out, transfered to steel and rough cut out the stock on my shear.


Murph in true beast mode taking over the crappy task of hand cutting the profile.


The finger guard on this one is a little more complicated than most. Its cut and formed from a solid piece of brass bar. Here I mill all the surfaces to true it up so the real work can begin.

A huge chunk of time went into the finger/hand gaurd







Some things where going on simultaneously, I didn't have a lot of time to knock this out, so Murph quickly got his creative wings on and i threw him headfirst into a complex project....... He did jist fine. Here I'm grinding the blade while he no dought has the bad end of the deal rough cutting stock.


Cutting the tang piece and choosing material that is native to the area. White tail deer and maple wood.


Starting to get a idea about how its all gonna go together.



Time to start the grueling task of cold forming the curves.



......and doing the decorative peening.



I wanted for there to be something to look at no matter where your eyes where on the knife..... So, file work all around. This also took up a huge amount of time.



Laying out patterns




















Now that all the fab work is pretty much done, time to heat treat.



I'll post this pic twice because I think it's pretty cool, and lets face it. I'm pretty handsome.



I etch the blade to give it that antique gun metal look.



Now for the actual assembly. This is a stressful time. Everything has to go together flawlessly for the fit and finish to come out right. I know it may not look like it, but there is over 25 individual hand crafted pieces that make up this handle that have to be assembled in less than 5 minutes. Thats the time it takes for the epoxy resisn to set. If its not done in that time, your pretty much cutting it apart and starting over. I dyed the resin black in this case to form a back filled in the file work. (You'll see more on that coming up)



Give it overnight to dry, grind away all the ugly and...........



PRESTO!!!!! she's in one piece! :)



I got everything shaped the way I wanted it and let Murph take over the task of polishing out all of the scratches. If memory serves me correctly, he pretty much worked the majority of a whole evening hand sanding it. In the meantime, I started on the sheath.











There was a lot more to the sheath than just the few pics, but basically, I was provided a couple of bicentennial commemorative coins to use in the project, so, I inlayed them into the work, hand tooled a 2 that matched the 2 on the $20. bill (youll see later) and had to hand sew the leather. All of the layers made it to thick for my sewing machine, so back to old school manual labor!



Time to get back to the knife... I start staining the wood now. This process is a little more involved as well than one pic. Truth is, I will/did stain this and sand it many times. Kinda like doing body work on a car. The stain will show all of your high and low spots. So you sand and stain until they are all gone. That way, you end up with dare I say, perfection. I didn't count, but if I was a guessing man, I'd say I stained, sanded, polished, repeat about eight times.



It's starting to look like something now, but at this point I got discouraged. I was convinced I picked out a premium piece of curly maple. But you really dont know what your gonna get until you finish it out. Not only did this not take the color like I wanted, but the curl in the wood wasnt a obvious as I like. Only one thing to do. Sand it all back down and start over with different dye mixtures. I stopped here for a few weeks. Decided to step away and come back fresh later with a better attitude. Sometimes in my line of work, frustration is a sure sign that it's time to step away so the project doesnt end up in the bottom of the pond in a fit of rage...... Lol, and in case your wondering, yes, there are a few T.M.Hunt knives rotting away in the bottom of the pond in my back yard!
 
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This will be a good thread. I would've like to have made a mini doc about this.
 
That is absolutely amazing. The guard itself is a piece of art, much less the handle and all of the work done on the blade. And the sheath.. holy shit man that deserves it's own thread all by its lonesome! I'm not a slouch at leather work but that inlay is brilliant. I think it's absolutely fantastic you're doing this for your county but dang, that's something to offer up for your state or country for a raffle, not a county!:) Is the raffle restricted to.. ya know.. county members?:D

I do have one request. Before you guys get all rich and famous and shit can I put in an order for a Tradewater and M-18? I was going to go Tradewater(dolled up just like the one MountainMistWanderer supplied for the passaround on the ESEE forum) then M-18, but once this beauty gets out there I'm afraid you won't have time for petty orders like mine. I've always been a bit contemptuous of 'art knives' but to me it looks like you've just seriously busted the barrier open.

JMO, but I've cruised the interwebs for all of your custom work I could feast my eyes upon and I've loved it all. You have seriously stepped into the ring with .. well.. anybody making knives now.
 


So, after a couple of weeks and several beers I found myself thinking about the bowie again, In the meantime, I knew from the start since this was going to be displayed publicly I had to keep it safe for everyone. I needed a display case that kept curious hands off, but yet displayed all of its beauty. So, I started researching plexiglass enclosures. Wouldn't you know it. No standard size would fit my application. So I had one custom made to my specs. It was a little pricey, bit I'm glad I did it, they nailed it....

However, keep in mind that was just the box. I still needed a base. Now, Im no wood worker, so I sought out the advice of a very talented and respected wood worker who he and his family attend our church. To my suprise, when I told him what I was doing, he took the project over and made this beautiful base to my specs. Not only that, but included enough spare material to finish out the interior once I figured out how I wanted to mount it....... What did that set me back you ask? Here's the clincher, he didnt accept a dime for the project. Not only was I very humbled, but honored to be able to display his talents as well. The favor will not go unpaid.



So, now the knife is pretty much done other than final edge, or is it? Heres the pics, what do you think?



















So, if your answer was "yes, its done" under normal circumstances I'd agree with you. But this is my home county, my state, its 200 years old. I gotta do more to make it more specific to the cause. I have to make it memorable for when this county turns 400..... I need more....



I got a hold of my buddy Matt at our local engraving shop. Matt and I went to high school together and I've known him the majority of my life. He owns the local shop and if you've ever seen anything of mine that has been laser engraved, Matts the one that hooked me up.

I walked in with this project and explained what I was after. Instead of looking at me like I had a third arm growing out of my forehead like most people do, Matts excitement was only rivaled by my own. I bounced a few ideas off of him and left it in his shop and told him to have fun with it. I trust him, he has never let me down.....



The bicentennial logo was kinda a must do. Matt and I had another idea that we both agreed was a little more creative but they didn't want to budge on this. Can't say I blame them, it matches everything they have been printing out for the last several months, and once it was done, I gotta say, it looks nice.



The opposite side is my favorite. It was my idea but Matt made it 100% better. Jackson county is named after Andrew Jackson. The dude on the $20. dollar bill for you hisrory buffs. So I wanted something about it on the knife. We took the current $20. bill and changed the numbers to 200. Then Matt added some more Jackson County specifics and even changed the serial numbers to the bicentennial dates! Notice how the 2 on the sheath matches the two pn the $200. dollar bill? Almost like I planned it? :)



Check it out! Look closely!



Here she is in her stand. Who says I can't work with wood! Lol. I made all the interior pieces.



The little pedestal with the mirror on it shows off all of the file work on the underside of the knife that would otherwise not be visable.



And this horrible picture is it with the glass enclosure. Sorry about the glare, but this is the only pic I have of it now. Will try to update it later, but you get the idea....

Anyway, sorry for the drawn out post, but it's hard to illustrate WIPs of this magnitude without taking up a big portion of all of our lives. :) let me close in saying this was a real honor for me, and a privilege to work beside the talented people I did to pull this off. It amazes me still that I get to do this for a living. I'm blessed not only for that, but for all who have my back and help out on things like this without my asking. Murph, Matt, Chris (wood worker) and all of the sponsers that will be pushing this through the rest of the year. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Its been a true honor!

Thanks for lookin! :)
 
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.....damn, Todd (& Murph!). That is very impressive. You must be proud, and I don't blame you on bit. That is a fine piece of work.
 
Todd (and Murph),,, that is one impressive piece of work. Have y'all added up the man-hours expended yet? Must be pushing a couple of hundred by now.

Is this going into the county history museum? Or is it going to be raffled/auctioned off as a charity fund raiser?
 
That is completely sick my friend. Wow. Love all the different ideas incorporated into it.
 
Very nice work! Thanks for sharing the whole process. Fun to see that take shape. Although now I'm curious about what might have ended up in the pond...
 
That is absolutely amazing. The guard itself is a piece of art, much less the handle and all of the work done on the blade. And the sheath.. holy shit man that deserves it's own thread all by its lonesome! I'm not a slouch at leather work but that inlay is brilliant. I think it's absolutely fantastic you're doing this for your county but dang, that's something to offer up for your state or country for a raffle, not a county!:) Is the raffle restricted to.. ya know.. county members?:D

I do have one request. Before you guys get all rich and famous and shit can I put in an order for a Tradewater and M-18? I was going to go Tradewater(dolled up just like the one MountainMistWanderer supplied for the passaround on the ESEE forum) then M-18, but once this beauty gets out there I'm afraid you won't have time for petty orders like mine. I've always been a bit contemptuous of 'art knives' but to me it looks like you've just seriously busted the barrier open.

JMO, but I've cruised the interwebs for all of your custom work I could feast my eyes upon and I've loved it all. You have seriously stepped into the ring with .. well.. anybody making knives now.


Well, I dont know all about that but thanks. As far as placing orders. Feel free to do it anytime, I don't think Im gonna be kissin babies and signing autographs anytime soon. Lol, I'm just a knife maker man! :)


Todd (and Murph),,, that is one impressive piece of work. Have y'all added up the man-hours expended yet? Must be pushing a couple of hundred by now.

Is this going into the county history museum? Or is it going to be raffled/auctioned off as a charity fund raiser?

I'm telling everyone I have 100 man hours in it. Now keep in mind, that's just what ive done. That's making the knife, sheath, and interior of the display. I'd say of those 100 hours. 90 of them are mine. Probably 10 Murph. We are the only two thats touched it so far. Murph got the shitty deal, doing the grunt work cutting the rough profiles and majority of stock before grinding, then back again for all the monotonous hand sanding and prep work. Also, that 100 hours doesn't include heat treat time, or time it took for dyes, epoxies to dry so there is that. It also doesn't include the time Matt has in the etchings and Chris has in the display base, so yeah, probably when its all said and done the hours accumulate. It will continue as well because I still have to make a info plaque for it. Matt will most likely do the most of that.

I'd say out of the 90 hours I have in it. I did the majority of it in about five or six days sprinkled about.....

It will be raffled, im supposed to take it to all of the Jackson County Historical Societies functions throught the year, as well as taking it to some local sponsors for public display and ticket purchasing. SOMEONE, will take this home for no more than the price of a ticket.

Thanks for the compliments guys!
 
Are the raffle tickets limited to Jackson County/Indiana residents or can anyone play?

If it's anyone, you could sell the most tickets in Jackson County history right here on BF.

I'm in!!!!!!! :D and I'll throw in the postage and insurance too.
 
That is an incredible piece of work. I just keep going back to some of the pics and staring at it. I'm in for raffle tickets too.
 
That is a work of beauty my friend. I love how you presented it in stages for us. It really shows how much detail and love for what you do and create. I am very impressed!
 
Amazing stuff, Todd. Just flabbergasted by the final product. Kudos on a job well done.
 
wow. amazing craftsmanship. i'm rather blown away. good show boys. :thumbup:
 
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Dang brother...don't know what to say. Excellent work!
 
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