Let's build a bowie for TEOTWAWKI

[Mperez76er]

 looking good cant wait

[Doug Campbell]

Dang Darcy, if your getting this same weather we are and grinding outside your one tough cookie... Looking pretty durn nice by the way.

[D.Ellis]

Doug, it was not too bad yesterday, but I would have chickened out today for sure. It was -20 all day........brrrr! Got the shop fire going instead and worked on the false edge. Draw filing.........pics were tough to take, here're a couple.

[D.Ellis]

Then I stamped the spine with the year. I have been marking the year on my forged stuff since around 2001........a few years after I began bladesmithing. Around a year ago I got the wild idea to use roman numerals............just because I am a bit quirky.
I make the spine fairly rounded rather than flat, so I have to roll the punches to get a good stamp that wraps over the spine. Then I draw filed and sanded the spine to 220grit, just to make it easier to clean up after heat treat.

[D.Ellis]

Please withhold all negative comments about my messy shop  :D  
I then decided to chose a piece of anter for the handle. Picked this one........I had nothing that would fit perfectly so I will have to do a bit of external shaping on this piece. I am fairly confident it'll work out nicely. It is elk antler, and a very heavy solid piece with good color........this northern elk antler tends to run a bit heavier wall than the southern variety. This piece has a good solid 3/8 inch thick wall around the pith.
Notice the coffee cup........hinting at a late Chistmas present that I should get sometime around mid march.  
 
Thanks for the replies fellas,
Darcy  

[David Yukon]

Nice work! I would love to forge a knife... My great grand father was a black smith, maybe I should give it a try, do a work shop or something....

Anyway back to your knife, will the knife have a guard?

[tomsm44]

That is getting better every day.  Just one concern.  How is the antler handle going to hold up to radiation, residual air contamination from chemical warfare, getting soaked in zombie blood    , etc.?  Just a thought.    :D

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by David Yukon:
Nice work! I would love to forge a knife... My great grand father was a black smith, maybe I should give it a try, do a work shop or something....

Anyway back to your knife, will the knife have a guard?

Thanks for the reply, yes it will have a guard.
Matt, I am pretty sure the antler will survive longer than I do in those cases..........just how corrosive is zombie blood anyway?  :D  
Here's what got done today.
Measured up the front end of the elk antler so I could make the ricasso fit.



The tape is my file guide, which will let me get close to squared up while the steel is easier to work with. Will get trued up with the guard after heat treat, but it is much easier to file before.

[D.Ellis]

As you can see I need to take a bit off the bottom side to match the antler.
Filing up to the tape........I use chain saw files to round the transition and avoid any sharp angles. No stress risers here.

And then the bottom side gets the same treatment. I also contour the ricasso much like the spine........I don't like flat surfaces and sharp corners here. Double radius ricasso.
 

[D.Ellis]

The edge is still thick, but it was too cold today to do any grinding. Hopefully it will be more pleasant out tomorrow.
Threaded the tang for the pommel nut. 1/4 28 thread.

Ran into the first real glitch of this project. Snapped a tooth off inside the die causing probably the ugliest threads ever    
It still has plenty of good threads for strength, so it will work fine. But it sure looks awefull. Thank goodness this will not be a takedown.

That's it for today's installment. Getting pretty close to heat treat time, just a bit more refinement of the flat grind and a couple other preps.
Darcy  

[So-Mo Archer]

Darcy, that is turning into a true work of art! I am digging the design, and like how you stamp on the radius of the spine. How do you get the stamp to roll without making "stutter steps" in the marking?

[Lamey]

looks great so far!!

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by So-Mo Archer:
Darcy, that is turning into a true work of art! I am digging the design, and like how you stamp on the radius of the spine. How do you get the stamp to roll without making "stutter steps" in the marking?

Thanks Matt,
I stamp in the center lightly, and then deeper if it lines up exactly the way I want it. Then several smacks from all the angles necessary to get a smooth impression. Each letter gets hit probably 15 to 20 times with varying degrees of intensity until it looks right. Hope that makes sense.
Darcy  

[kansas stik man]

very clean , i know lin will love this one hes a big fan of the super sized pig stickers

[D.Ellis]

Thanks Lamey......still a long way to go before this one's done.
Thanks Kansas stik man.
Darcy    

[D.Ellis]

Got this one ready for heat treat now. Tried to get a pic of the edge with moderate success. Have to hold your noggin crooked to see it properly though    . It's tough holding the knife in one hand and the camera in the other, and getting everything to line up right.
Finished the flat grind down to about .030" and sanded the edge lenghtwise to minimize chances for cracking during the quench. Deep grinding marks on the thin edge can cause stress cracks during hardening, so I get the edge smooth as a precaution.
 
Tea time        :D  
 
Hopefully will get this heat treated in the next couple of days.
Darcy

[Steve Nuckels]

Darcey, I'm liking the way this knife is turning out!

OK, which GN did you order?  Very nice bows!

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

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by Steve Nuckels:
Darcey, I'm liking the way this knife is turning out!

OK, which GN did you order?  Very nice bows!

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

Thanks Steve,
I ordered a Jack knife Lil' Creep 60#@27" straight grip..........can't wait    
Darcy  

[akaboomer]

Ok, now your just going to have to show us the GN!! The knife is coming along  nicely.

Chris

[D.Ellis]

Chris, I'll be sure to post pics when my bow gets here.
I got this one hardened and have tempered it one time. It warped a bit so when I do the next temper cycle, I'll take some pics of the straightening process.
I did not get any good pics of the quench, it was too dark out and there was no cool flare up, but I got a couple other pics that look OK.
I normalized 3 times, starting at 1575*f, then 1550, and finaly 1525, and then an eight minute soak at 1525 and qunched in preheated(130*F)canola oil. One thing I was going to do was trace the profile of the blade pre and post heat treat, but I forgot until it was too late. I have found most blades that I quench in oil will warp downward toward the edge during the quench........like a kukri, but obviously less drastic, so I take that into account when forging. I make sure to leave the tip slightly higher than I want in the finished blade. This one curved downward noticably as well, but since I forgot to trace it first, I can't show how much. I will try to take a pic at the same angle as one of the pre heat treat pics and post them together to show the difference.
 

I will be pretty busy this week, so not sure how much progress I will make for a bit. One thing for sure, the work done so far is the easy quick part. Finish work is the challenging and time consuming stuff.
Stay tuned.  
Darcy