What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

[NickWheeler]

Wow, lots of updates/contributions--- That's awesome fellas, please keep 'em coming!

NJJ- Very nice work.

Josh, I'm sorry to hear about the hard times, but glad to hear you're bouncing back. I know firsthand about going back to the folks' to get re-established. It was a hard pill to swallow, but in the grand scheme of things, I was extremely fortunate to have that as an option. Your blades look great as usual--- very sharp grinds!

Don- Those look great! Where are the tips? I hope you show them when they're done!

Ron- Looking good--- I'm really intrigued to see where you go with the milled liners. Looks like you might have come down with a little bit of "rounded-the-tips-over-itis" :foot: It's sure easy to do. Lemme know if there's anything I could do to help you out with that.

Stigamort- do you carve/whittle? That's how I got into making knives in the first place (at a very, VERY amateur level of whittling).

Here's my current bench work--- A couple of concealed carry combat/utility bowies. They are all business- machine finished 5160, canvas Micarta (top is OD green, bottom is black) scales with ss corby bolts (a nice/needed break from going nuts with finish details). They are the bare-bones, user grade version of the gentleman's concealed carry bowie I did recently (second pic).

 

[Marko3]

Wow, lots of updates/contributions--- That's awesome fellas, please keep 'em coming!

NJJ- Very nice work.

Josh, I'm sorry to hear about the hard times, but glad to hear you're bouncing back. I know firsthand about going back to the folks' to get re-established. It was a hard pill to swallow, but in the grand scheme of things, I was extremely fortunate to have that as an option. Your blades look great as usual--- very sharp grinds!

Don- Those look great! Where are the tips? I hope you show them when they're done!

Ron- Looking good--- I'm really intrigued to see where you go with the milled liners. Looks like you might have come down with a little bit of "rounded-the-tips-over-itis" :foot: It's sure easy to do. Lemme know if there's anything I could do to help you out with that.

Stigamort- do you carve/whittle? That's how I got into making knives in the first place (at a very, VERY amateur level of whittling).

Here's my current bench work--- A couple of concealed carry combat/utility bowies. They are all business- machine finished 5160, canvas Micarta (top is OD green, bottom is black) scales with ss corby bolts (a nice/needed break from going nuts with finish details). They are the bare-bones, user grade version of the gentleman's concealed carry bowie I did recently (second pic).

View attachment 392015 View attachment 392016

Nick .. That concealed carry Bowie is pretty cool. Its good to see some smaller ones that people can actually carry around and use

 

[Jason Fry]

I heat treated 14 or 15 stainless blades this weekend, and completed two other knives while those were in the oven. My motor arrived Friday and my VFD is expected on Wednesday. Nothing's on the schedule for this weekend (other than my birthday), so I hope to be up and running with 2hp variable speed by Saturday afternoon I'm terrible about not taking pics, but I'll try and remember.

I also found my 50th knife out in the back yard rusted up. I am not sure if I left it out there or if my boys 8 and 9 carried it off. The handle scales were cracked and the steel was all rusty (1080). I took it apart, added a finger groove where there wasn't one before, ground off the rust and put a fresh 400 grit hand finish, and put on some black G10, all in about 45 minutes. The pin alignment isn't right after the modification, but since it's just my deer skinning knife, that doesn't matter much. Even though my 50th was a long time ago, heat treated in a charcoal forge with vet grade mineral oil, it RC'd at 59. I realized last year or the year before that all my personal knives sucked. I pretty much sell everything I can make presentable, so the only ones I keep are the junkers. Finally I have one that will work a bit better.

 

[ron_m80]

Ron- Looking good--- I'm really intrigued to see where you go with the milled liners. Looks like you might have come down with a little bit of "rounded-the-tips-over-itis" :foot: It's sure easy to do. Lemme know if there's anything I could do to help you out with that.

The liners are for a folder. My first.

These being my first knives (fixed blades), I am sure my order of operation will get revised with time. I haven't brought the grind to the tip, its full width pretty mush all the way for now. After the many drops and mishaps with the blades as they are, I didn't have the guts to put a point on it. I will make the extra effort and do it post HT. The bowie is pretty much the same, the tip is rounded where the metal will be removed later to bring out the point.

-Ron

 

[Don Nguyen]

Don- Those look great! Where are the tips? I hope you show them when they're done!

I usually do the tips really late since I don't have variable speed and I'd probably burn them super quick

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Stigamort- do you carve/whittle? That's how I got into making knives in the first place (at a very, VERY amateur level of whittling).

Here's my current bench work--- A couple of concealed carry combat/utility bowies. They are all business- machine finished 5160, canvas Micarta (top is OD green, bottom is black) scales with ss corby bolts (a nice/needed break from going nuts with finish details). They are the bare-bones, user grade version of the gentleman's concealed carry bowie I did recently (second pic).

View attachment 392015 View attachment 392016

I do carve. It's one of my favorite things to do to relax. The baby is just learning to walk so I'm trying to find a safer spot in the house to do it though.

Btw, those "bare-bones" cc fighters are some of the most (personally) appealing knives that I've seen come from your shop. I DO appreciate the high end pieces, and I know that they are 100% functional. The problem is that I'm a user, not a collector. I doubt I'd ever have a need for a knife in a definitive situation, but those look small enough to offer some good utility. I've had a few high end knives and can never bring myself to use them, which drives me nuts.

Also, have you ever made any carvers? They aren't very lucrative (unless sold in quantity), but would probably be a fun change of pace.

 

[quint]

Well have a bunch of stuff going on right now. Got the bandsaw fired up and it performed very well. I am surprised. I am gonna use this piece of railroad track to make a hammer with. The piece is right around 3.6lbs as it sits. After forging and some grinding I am hoping it will be just under that, am shooting for about 3 to 3.5lb hammer. Have not decided exactly what shape I am gonna go with, gotta see if I can get it drifted. May end up having to just drill it out which will lose some of the weight and wouldnt be too bad.

Working on a few blades, 2 kitchen in 1095, the others are 52100 except for the kiridashi and chisel which are forged W1. So they always say that stepping out of your comfort zone is a way to get more advanced at something. Well that seax is really doing that. Been a challenge to say the least. Next time I am leaving a nub sticking out on the tip I think. Not sure if that would help or not, regardless its gonna be a challenge to HT I think.

 

[Will Morrison]

Glad to see this thread hasn't died.

I finally got around to making one of these drilling fixtures.

This thing is going to save me lots of time. It's nice to have the right tool for the job, rather than endlessly dicking around with everything but the right tool.

 

[PT Doc]

Glad to see this thread hasn't died.

I finally got around to making one of these drilling fixtures.

This thing is going to save me lots of time. It's nice to have the right tool for the job, rather than endlessly dicking around with everything but the right tool.

Neat looking fixture. Can you explain the design a bit, why it's so high?

 

[Will Morrison]

Neat looking fixture. Can you explain the design a bit, why it's so high?

Thanks Doc. The fixture needs some height to allow room for whatever handle material will be attached to the tang. My fixture is taller than it needs to be however, simply because I wanted to preserve the squareness of my cold rolled stock, rather than cutting it down shorter and never quite getting it square again.

Ignore the base plate with all its holes and little feet, I don't know what that thing is from, but it was flat and parallel, so I used it.

 

[quint]

Thats good stuff Will. So you basically just clamp your material to the tang and drill your holes I assume.

 

[Will Morrison]

Thats good stuff Will. So you basically just clamp your material to the tang and drill your holes I assume.

Exactly. This can be used for hidden tangs too. For both hidden and full tang, this fixture will work best if the ricasso surfaces are flat and parallel.

Just to make it clear, I did not just think this fixture up. I've seen this type of thing used in multiple WiP threads and tutorials.

 

[quint]

Cool thanks Will.

 

[mushroomgrey]

i died a little today at work....
boss goes and tells me that we are turning our 3600lb stash of 1 1/4 " 1078 hex bar into crowbars!
gutted.....

 

[mushroomgrey]

here they are ready to forge tomorrow.... this is the only time ive ever hated my job.... told him we should sell it all to knifemakers.... but noooooo.....

 

[Jason Fry]

Here comes the next round of "can I make a knife out of a crowbar" thread, because "I read somewhere that crowbars are 1078."

 

[ron_m80]

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The top knife looks like something I would love to carry. Nice work with the material and guard. I like the design.

 

[NickWheeler]

mushroomgrey- your reply got 731 times better when you followed up with that photo! What's the ram weight on that hammer? That's a big'un!

Will- that looks familiar You'll be glad to have it! It's one of those tools that's simple to build and use, and like you said, it's so much better/easier than dicking around with stuff trying to compensate for tapers (in both the steel and the handle material!).

PT and Corey- Per the drilling fixture- I built mine to about the same dimensions as Will's. I could have cut/milled it down shorter, but wanted it tall--- because you want room in there (between the fixture base and the bottom handle scale) for clamps. I had a picture of a full tang knife with the bottom scale held on with a couple Kant-Twist clamps, but I can't find it now.

One thing to keep in mind, is the drill bit will exert some pretty serious downward pressure when drilling, so a simple support on the ass end of the knife is, IMHO, a must.

Here are some shots of one I have with a hidden tang knife ready to drill the pin hole. You can also see the tail support--- very simple, but very effective---much like the fixture itself!

Corey- looking good, you've been busy!

Jason- pics or it didn't happen!

Stigamort- I'd love to see some of your carving work. I have made a couple small blades for myself, but they would be considered gigantic by most traditional whittlers/carvers.

Ron- Sorry if my other post felt insulting :foot: I meant it as an offer to help with something that is really easy to do when learning to grind blades--- but it sounds like I was trying to get your cart ahead of your horse.

As far as the 2 little bowies posted above- Thanks guys. I do love a finely finished piece... but I also love knives that people aren't afraid to use.

 

[ron_m80]

Nick,

I didn't think that at all. We are good sir.

-Ron.

 

[mushroomgrey]

jason: i have proof! i spectro analysed those bars myself....


nick: dont know what the ram weight on that is , but its a nazel 3b and it hits HARD! but thats not the biggest one we got its this one.... she stands about 13 feet tall imagine doing damascus billets a foot thick on this baby!