Latest Bowie Knife

[Ragnarok Forge]

Here is the latest Bowie Knife from my shop. It was forged from a Heller Rasp.  The steel is 1095 ( confirmed with Heller ).  The blade was normalized 3 times with reducing heats after rough grinding was completed.  The blade was then heated to approximately 1525 and held for 3 minutes in a steel tube in my propane forge.  I use gas to air mixture control, along with tempil sticks to check my heat. I quenched the steel 3 times in 125 degree Canola Oil.  I normally quench 1084 one time. I figured I needed to quench the 1095 multiple times due to the Canola Oil not being an optimum quench for the steel. This knife is a classic example of a blade that could have used a stepped Ricasso area to match the handle width to the blade.

The knife was in process for a buddy who jumped the timeline up about two months to wanting the knife as a Christmas gift for his dad.  I dropped everything else I had in process and got this one done.    The guard on this knife is my first hot punched tang slot, which worked out awesome by the way.  The handle is a piece of antler that my buddy had and wanted on this knife. I started a brown patina finish for the blade which has not fully taken yet.  It should finish forming in a couple weeks.  My buddy picked the knife up tonight.    

The pics are from my phone so not the best.  Please feel free to critique away. This is one of my last frontier / antiqued blades that I will be posting since I am changing the focus of my work for a while.  

 

 

 

[gudspelr]

Hey, Clay-bet your friend likes the knife.  From the pictures, looks like you got a good fit up with the guard, both on the blade side as well as the antler.  I agree with you that the dropped choil would have brought it more in line with the handle material given to you, but you were a bit limited if that's the piece of antler you had to use.  Glad the forging of the guard worked out well for you.  I've done that a time or two myself to get me closer to size and is certainly helpful.

Looking forward to seeing the next knives you come up with.  Hope you and the family have a good Christmas, my friend.

Jeremy

[Ragnarok Forge]

Jeremy,

Thanks for the comments.  The pics bug me, the brown patinated areas looks like bright orange rust which they are not.  The patina will spread to cover the blade soon enough.  A gentle rub with 0000 steel wool and a coat of oil will seal it once it is done.  Kevin was really excited about the knife.  I am sure his dad will appreciate it.  I didn't have time to get a sheath made for it.   I have three other file knives to fit guards and handles to and my antiqued series will be at an end for a while.  I also have 3 big camp choppers and a Persian influenced chopper in process right now.  Once those blades are done it will be time to focus my efforts to ABS style blades.  Time is passing quickly.  I want to test for Journeyman at the earliest opportunity.

I have another project in the works as well. I have always wanted to have a gun stock war club.  I picked up a highly figured maple gun stock blank in trade for a knife recently. The buddy I made the bowie knife for is going to band saw the blank to rough shape for me.  I plan to forge the blade for the club this weekend.  I plan to forge it from 2 inch wide, 1/4 inch thick 5160 I have in my shop.

[gudspelr]

Wow-you've got a bit of a full plate   .  Some cool projects, though.  My schedule's changing after January hits, so I'm hopeful I'll have more time for knives-it's been pretty well non-existent here for a bit...  With some luck, I may even get to a class from a maker this summer which should help me a bunch.

Jeremy

[Ragnarok Forge]

Classes are always a great idea.   They helped me a lot.   I am looking at taking a few more myself.