Finally finished up me a personal Bowie/Cutter. Settled on one within the size of the standard cutting competition knives,  15" overall, 10" blade, 2" wide.  This way I can cut with it at hammer ins etc...

Any how, forged from 3/8" thick 1095FG (1095 with added vanadium).  Differential heat treat by watching heat zones,  has a visible temperline but I didnt etch the blade to show, its fairly simple/straight etc...  

Just a plain brushed finish,  blued steel guard/pins, and Curly Maple handle.  I had it finished and then after some cutting went back and tweaked the handle/guard and edge a bit.  

Did some more serious cutting today in its "final" form.  Really was surprised how it "snicked" through hard/tough bamboo with clean single cuts.  I figured being 3/8" at the spine it would want to wedge a bit... but nope, really performed well.  

Have to get some 1" rope and do some rope cuts next.

I cut about 3X the bamboo you see in the pic, this is a good test for edge durability, edge holding etc...  Had no deformation, chipping, rolls etc... held up perfectly and still shaved easily with the "used" section of the edge.

A great looking working knife Matt!

I like the blued guard and pins, and of course the maple handle.

I'm making a similar sized Bowie for my next project.

Steve
--------
Potomac Forge
W.F. Moran Jr. Museum & Foundation

thanks Steve!  im looking fwd. to getting some more cutting time in.

Matt,

Saw that you called.  Sorry, family emergency - wife twisted ankle badly earlier today.

I like the guard - how would it look on a Swamp Chopper configuration in the blue or in a wrought iron finish?

I'll try to catch you in AM!

Great looking knife!!      

BC

i think that guard with an "as forged" chopper blade would look great.  Take care of that wife!

Looks great Matt. I've said it before, you do the maple up right. Thanks for sharing. It would be great to see that one in action. Hope to meet you at a hammer in some time.

Chris

Really Cool knife!
Matt it works out good when you can tweeekk on anything you like ,after a while.
I hadn't made many for myself and after I did ,I think it makes a better knifemaker ,because you can go back and change as you want.Then pass it on ( to the customer) as time goes on.
   
Kevin

     Gotta love a good chopper.

That's "research" for a knife maker. Some makers are known for their actual use of their knives. I like seeing this. Nice knife Matt.

thanks again for the kind words.  When I first built the knife the bottom guard tine was a tad longer, i trimmed and reshaped the guard a bit.  The edge had a bit more abrupt angle on the convex, I blended a longer roll.  I was at first worried a bit about edge durability with all that blade weight behind it, remember it has a 3/8" spine with very little distal taper.  Obviously it tested great with no edge issues even in hard bamboo, some cuts I intentionally "twisted" in the cut.  For those that havent tried it.....  hard bamboo (more then a year old), is a GREAT test for your edge.  

Also did some expirmenting on the handle finish.  I normally take to about 600/800 grit then use "gloss" tru oil.  On this one I stopped at 400 grit, and used "matte" finish tru oil, which actually gives an almost "coarse" feel to the handle.... on a user this is a good thing.

Im debating on keeping this one or forging me another with some more distal taper.

Couple more pics

Like the handle design and the "grip" idea.  I'm just a knife user, not collector (yet   ), but I like the idea!!

Great work, Matt!

That knife looks like it means business!  Beautiful too!

built a sheath today, going to carry it a bit.