- Joined
- Sep 4, 2012
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- 416
Some of you may know this and others not, but each year I like to do some type of Halloween themed knife, and while it may be early on yet in the year, I wanted to make sure it was done in time for this Halloween. A few years back I did my Van Helsing Bowie which was based around several elements of the Van Helsing legends/ stories. This is what I had come up with:
Pretty much from the moment I finished the Van Helsing bowie I wanted to do its brother in the style of Dracula. Each time I attempted this project I found my skills lacking for what I wanted the end result to be, so now three years later I am making myself finish the set.
Now due to having other paid work to complete this project will go in fits and starts, but at this point the blade is successfully heat treated and ready to be polished and etched. I started this project over two months ago and only have time to work on it a few hours at a time, but by hell or high water I will have it ready in time for Halloween!
Now with all of that being said the name of this bowie (as the title of the thread suggests) is Voivode which was the title of Vlad Dracula a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler. Voivode translates roughly to prince or ruler in the native tongue of that time in the kingdom of Wallachia. The styling I will use on this knife is a blend of the historical Vlad Dracula and the modern myths around the figure. Hopefully everything will come together in such a way that it will embody the character we all know from tales of horror.
So without further ado let's get cracking shall we?
This whole blade will be forged in a multi-bar construction from 1084 and 15n20. There are two billets that will comprise the edge, one being a jelly roll and the other being crushed W's. First the billet for the jelly roll is welded, drawn down, and rolled up.:
It is then welded together, cut, etched (to check the pattern), then drawn down to 1 1/2" x 3/8" flat bar.
Next we start on the W's billet:
I drew this billet down and re-stacked it six times to achieve a low layers Ws, this was then drawn done to 1" square and twisted:
Each of these bars were 4 1/2 inches long and drawn down to 3/4" square. I then cut two pieces of jelly roll billet to a matching length. I then took a piece of the jelly roll billet and cut it in half length wise.
Then with the top bar of JR in place it is fully encasing the crushed Ws:
After forge welding, this is what the bar looks like. In the future with this type of pattern I think it would be wise to increase the thickness of the outer layers as they ended up getting a bit thin.
I then cut this bar in half and welded it to its self:
I then cut this in half and forge welded it again to give four bars.
And that completes the edge bar.
Pretty much from the moment I finished the Van Helsing bowie I wanted to do its brother in the style of Dracula. Each time I attempted this project I found my skills lacking for what I wanted the end result to be, so now three years later I am making myself finish the set.
Now due to having other paid work to complete this project will go in fits and starts, but at this point the blade is successfully heat treated and ready to be polished and etched. I started this project over two months ago and only have time to work on it a few hours at a time, but by hell or high water I will have it ready in time for Halloween!
Now with all of that being said the name of this bowie (as the title of the thread suggests) is Voivode which was the title of Vlad Dracula a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler. Voivode translates roughly to prince or ruler in the native tongue of that time in the kingdom of Wallachia. The styling I will use on this knife is a blend of the historical Vlad Dracula and the modern myths around the figure. Hopefully everything will come together in such a way that it will embody the character we all know from tales of horror.
So without further ado let's get cracking shall we?
This whole blade will be forged in a multi-bar construction from 1084 and 15n20. There are two billets that will comprise the edge, one being a jelly roll and the other being crushed W's. First the billet for the jelly roll is welded, drawn down, and rolled up.:
It is then welded together, cut, etched (to check the pattern), then drawn down to 1 1/2" x 3/8" flat bar.
Next we start on the W's billet:
I drew this billet down and re-stacked it six times to achieve a low layers Ws, this was then drawn done to 1" square and twisted:
Each of these bars were 4 1/2 inches long and drawn down to 3/4" square. I then cut two pieces of jelly roll billet to a matching length. I then took a piece of the jelly roll billet and cut it in half length wise.
Then with the top bar of JR in place it is fully encasing the crushed Ws:
After forge welding, this is what the bar looks like. In the future with this type of pattern I think it would be wise to increase the thickness of the outer layers as they ended up getting a bit thin.
I then cut this bar in half and welded it to its self:
I then cut this in half and forge welded it again to give four bars.
And that completes the edge bar.