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Main Boards => Hunting Knives and Crafters => Topic started by: D.Ellis on May 03, 2014, 06:43:00 PM

Title: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: D.Ellis on May 03, 2014, 06:43:00 PM
Finally finished this one today. Fairly low layer count, but my  first attempt at twisted w's.
All done with hand held hammers.
Blade is 5 5/8" from tip to bolster. Overall length is 9 7/8 inch.
Bolster is nickel silver........handle is stabilized birch burl.
Comments and critique welcome as always.
Darcy    :campfire:  

     (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/P5030267_zpsa3f7be38.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/45stomp/media/P5030267_zpsa3f7be38.jpg.html)

   (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/P5030268_zpsf1586fb6.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/45stomp/media/P5030268_zpsf1586fb6.jpg.html)

  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/P5030269_zpsf57b88cb.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/45stomp/media/P5030269_zpsf57b88cb.jpg.html)

  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/P5030270_zps33cc883a.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/45stomp/media/P5030270_zps33cc883a.jpg.html)

  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/P5030273_zps9bb4f741.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/45stomp/media/P5030273_zps9bb4f741.jpg.html)
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: tomsm44 on May 03, 2014, 07:38:00 PM
That's a sexy knife.  Can't find anything I don't like about it.  I love the engraving and antique finish on the bolster.  I've never done any Damascus but it looks great to me.  The pattern is attractive and it looks pretty consistent from one side to the other and over the full length of the blade.  Not bad for one of them old timey Armstrong power hammers.  1084 & 15N20?

Matt
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: kbaknife on May 03, 2014, 08:49:00 PM
That's spectacular.
All by hand - from the beginning?
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Lin Rhea on May 03, 2014, 09:00:00 PM
Very nice knife Darcy. I like your style if you don't mind my saying.    :campfire:
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: D.Ellis on May 03, 2014, 11:55:00 PM
Quote
Originally posted by kbaknife:
That's spectacular.
All by hand - from the beginning?
Thanks Karl. Yup, from the beginning, well, I didn't smelt it myself    :D   But yes, I started with 1084 and 15n20 barstock and cut,stacked, tacked and welded it all up. I forged an initial stack of 10 layers, doubled it to 20 and then squared it up, squished it corner to corner, then flattened it that direction........and folded it 3 times, for 8 layers of w's. 5 welds total.
 I was going to do a couple more folds, but goofed one fold and ended up losing about 1/3 of the billet after I cut off the flaw. I was afraid I'd loose too much volume if I did a couple more folds, so I decided to finish it as it was.......forged it into a round bar, twisted it and forged it flat. I forged the preform to profile without shaping the bevels much, forged the tang, and ground the bevels in to cut thru as many layers as I could. Turned out OK I think........

Matt, twist patterns are nice for getting both sides to match up........even hard for me to goof up   :D  

Thanks Lin, very much appreciated.
Darcy    :campfire:
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: just_a_hunter on May 04, 2014, 02:22:00 AM
What a beautiful piece...

Todd
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: gudspelr on May 04, 2014, 05:39:00 AM
That right there is just awesome. I really like the blade shape as well as the rest of the design. Can I ask for how you made the NS bolster look all antiqued like that?  Flows very well with the forge finished flats, and makes for a nice transition to the handle. And the fact you hammered that bugger out by hand means you're likely beat most at arm wrestling   ;)  .

Jeremy
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Doug Campbell on May 04, 2014, 08:52:00 AM
Another winner Darcey, I love the stuff your doing, your attention to those little details, very nice buddy.
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Danny Rowan on May 04, 2014, 10:23:00 AM
Very Nice Darcy, I gotta get you to make me one like that or you could sell me that one.  :bigsmyl:
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: KSCATTRAPR on May 04, 2014, 12:23:00 PM
I like everything about that one, great knife sir.
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: D.Ellis on May 04, 2014, 01:33:00 PM
Quote
Originally posted by gudspelr:
That right there is just awesome. I really like the blade shape as well as the rest of the design. Can I ask for how you made the NS bolster look all antiqued like that?  Flows very well with the forge finished flats, and makes for a nice transition to the handle. And the fact you hammered that bugger out by hand means you're likely beat most at arm wrestling    ;)   .

Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy.
Pretty simple to do, just used a dremel with a carbide burr and   very carefully roughed up and carved out the areas I wanted textured. Then polished, darkened with cold blue and polished again to leave some of the dark behind. If I wanted a more crisp and sharp border around the texture, I'd cut it with an engraving chisel first, but wasn't looking for that on this one.

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments.

Darcy    :campfire:
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Antlerhog on May 04, 2014, 06:38:00 PM
Absolutely a beautiful piece of work. You should be proud of your work.

Jay
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: 4est trekker on May 04, 2014, 09:49:00 PM
That's fantastic in all respects!  Way to go!    :thumbsup:
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: gudspelr on May 05, 2014, 12:08:00 AM
Thanks for the info on how you do that.

Jeremy
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: 2Tim215 on May 05, 2014, 05:33:00 AM
Lovely! Came out stunning.
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: FerretWYO on May 05, 2014, 11:27:00 AM
Very cool Always enjoy your work.
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Fallguy on May 05, 2014, 10:30:00 PM
Darcy that is one beautiful knife. If I had that talent I would stick with the hand hammers. It just ands a little more WOW factor.   :notworthy:
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: D.Ellis on May 06, 2014, 12:00:00 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Fallguy:
Darcy that is one beautiful knife. If I had that talent I would stick with the hand hammers. It just ands a little more WOW factor.    :notworthy:  
I don't know about "wow", but it adds a fair bit more "OW!"   :D

Got the sheath done today.
    (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/P5050276_zps57264dbe.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/45stomp/media/P5050276_zps57264dbe.jpg.html)


  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/P5050277_zpsa9942f01.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/45stomp/media/P5050277_zpsa9942f01.jpg.html)

Thanks again fellas. Means a lot.
Darcy   :)
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Izzy on May 10, 2014, 09:36:00 AM
Only critique from me is that it ain't mine. Your a master of your craft.
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Bladepeek on May 10, 2014, 08:13:00 PM
Now that's a really interesting twist (or fold, rather) on the opening lips of that sheath. Nice touch I haven't seen before. Nice, clean texture on the sheath too.

A really beautiful package that fits together well. Somebody is going to be very proud to own that knife!
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: D.Ellis on May 11, 2014, 01:07:00 AM
Thanks guys.
Bladepeek, the sheath is lined with thin black leather........no more exposed flesh side of the leather....... which can look pretty rough depending on the cut of hide and the quality.
Darcy   :campfire:
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: Medic85 on May 15, 2014, 12:25:00 AM
Really great stuff.
Title: Re: My first attempt at twisted w's
Post by: tomsm44 on May 15, 2014, 10:59:00 AM
Nice.  I like how the tooling on the sheath follows the twisted Ws pattern.  I've used thin soft black leather to line wooden boxes several times but it never occurred to me to line a sheath with it.  I was given an 8 ft bar of aluminum a while back and have used it for bolsters on several small knives but it scuffs too easily on the rough leather in the sheath.  This probably would have helped a lot.  I may try another one with aluminum bolsters just to see how this works.

Matt Toms