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Author Topic: Bowie in Progress  (Read 2257 times)

Offline kbaknife

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Bowie in Progress
« on: May 16, 2009, 04:44:00 PM »
I wanted to show you guys a litle "something" that I got myself and Lin and another fine gentleman into last year in Atlanta.
I suggested a "Game" when all three of us wold use the smae materials - which I supplied - and over the following year, we were each to produce a knife using all those smae materials.
I am directly copying my portion of the thread showing my creation of "Belle Blue".
Hope you guys enjoy "Andersen Forge"!!
Here we go -
I got myself into the habit of doing a drawing of however I want a knife to come out. I usually draw the ENTIRE knife before I even proceed.
Handle and all.
This way, throughout the creation of the knife - from forging to completion - I always have the end-game in my mind, as well as hard-copy reference.
Then, I will even cut out a pattern to refer to during the forging process.
This gives me something to keep on hand for reference after the knife has moved on.
Here I will show my supply of materials for this project, which I'll admit, is more than I gave Roger and Lin!
I can afford a few mistakes!
   

And here is the drawing, the square stock, a peice I have knocked down and the pattern.
 

When I knock my large stock down, I leave it well over-sized so I can then make whatever I want.
This piece over 1 1/2" and was .334" thick.
Here is the forge area:
 
and here you'll see me reducing the size. I do this with spacers that I have made to stop the hammer dies at pre-determined thicknesses.
Here is the first draw-down to .300"

 
Then, I will draw the entire bar down to .270" with progressively thinner stop-blocks.
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2009, 04:45:00 PM »
After I have the material reduce to a working thickness, I may even want to widen it, as is the case here.
I do this on the dies in my hammer which are taper on the front and rear edges for slight drawing.
The, by stepping down with my die spacers, I will litterally forge in the blade distal taper before I even shape the blade profile.
When held laterally on the dies, the material is widened:
 
To the anvil next and start forging in the tip:
 

then using the pattern to determine progress and how to "tweak" things:
 

Just a picture of me doing what I do:
 
Now, after I have some basic profile, I go back to the tapered die to pull the edge down and create the main blade bevel/taper.
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2009, 04:45:00 PM »
Here I am tapping in a little notch where I want my ricasso to start. This is reference for the following step:
 

Here is use the reference point to drive the ricasso down with my whammer-jammer that has replaceable dies to create the correct ricasso shape:
 

Here is the basic blade shape prior to final tweaking:
 

Drawing out the tang:

 

 
If you ever want to really check your knife for straight, point it at the sky! It's amazing what the background will show you!
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2009, 04:46:00 PM »
I give you "Belle Blue":
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2009, 04:47:00 PM »
Show ya'll what I do so far today - amongst other things.
A few pics of the finish room.
Now before I hear any smart alec remarks - I MAKE KNIVES! I don't DUST!
ABout once a month when I can't take it any more, I close all the cabinets, tool boxes and drawers, open the front door and fire up the Stihl leaf blower and let 'er eat!
I can guarentee you this shop will see NO cleaning up unti I get back from Atlanta.
In the mean time, I try to equip myself the best I can.
If I need something - I get it.
   

 

 

 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2009, 04:48:00 PM »
Here I am beginning work on "Belle Blue".
 
I first square up the side of the ricasso and remove all forging traces.
 
Then, I'll take my knives to a granite lapping plate that has been certified to +/- .0001" laterall accuracy.
 
I'll then mic it to ensure both sides are consistant.
With my take-down method, I can afford no variance as I mill my guards and those sides are true and parallel.
"Belle" ended up at .251" at the guard shoulders.
 
Now we'll press in the Maker's Mark!
 
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2009, 04:49:00 PM »
You've all seen grinding before, so I'll dispense with that.
Next I go to a knife vise and bar sand the grinding scratches out.
 
I've nevere been a big fan of mistakes, so I try to eliminate them before they happen - I draw file my false edges rather than grind.
I find it a little relaxing actually.
And almost NO mistakes ever occur.
 
Gettin' close!
 
Now, file in the guard shoulders
 
Radius the joint:
 
Clean up the choil:
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2009, 04:50:00 PM »
I intend for this to do some heavy chopping - maybe tomorrow.
5160, especially the stuff I have, is AMAZINGLY tough in pearlitic form, not to mention tempered martensite!
I like to clay my guard shoulders and a few inches of the tang, as well as some of this spine on a hard-use chapper.
 

 
I did these photos myself on a tri pod and timer and caught this pretty much right where I wanted it!!
This is right out of the oven after an austenizing soak on the way to the quench tank.
I should have pulled the door closed and turned off the lights.
Oh, well.
Maybe next time!
 
I just pulled "Belle Blue" out of the tank and she is resting peacefully in the tempering oven right now.
I took my testing file right to the cutting edge and for all I was worth, I couldn't even insult the ol' gal!
She's gonna be something to contend with!!
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline Phoenix 1967

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2009, 05:08:00 PM »
Great build along brother. You have some nice toys!
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Lawren

Offline OconeeDan

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2009, 08:00:00 PM »
Karl, GREAT photos and story!
You have a nice shop too.  
Thanks for your time.  
Dan
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Offline Steve Nuckels

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2009, 08:56:00 PM »
COOL !!!!!!
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Offline Kevin Evans

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #11 on: May 17, 2009, 10:00:00 AM »
That is great stuff!!!Only thing better if it was a movie  ;)  
Karl we have to move the motorcycle!!
Great illustrations and one thing for sure is, Karl I need more tools!!!
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Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #12 on: May 17, 2009, 11:10:00 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Rooster1:
That is great stuff!!!Only thing better if it was a movie   ;)  
Karl we have to move the motorcycle!!
Great illustrations and one thing for sure is, Karl I need more tools!!!
She's the only friend I've got!
Actually, she's inspiration. She lets me know that as soon as I get my work done we can go for a ride!!!
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #13 on: May 17, 2009, 11:11:00 AM »
This thread may get a bit more lengthy, so whenever you see it bumped back up to the top means I probably posted more stuff to see.
Here's a little bit of my 1903 wrought iron supply, from which I am going to snatch out a 1 inch round piece about 5 inches long or so.
 
Then weld it to a short piece of re-bar for a handle:
   

I already got my forge up to welding heat and want that piece of wrought iron to basically DISAPPEAR in the oven.
I want my wrought HOT! Otherwise, it has a tendancy to delaminate while forging or manipulating:
 

Now, first I took it to the power hammer and knocked each end square so one end would lock into my holder and the other could be latched onto with my twisting gadget:
 
A little bit difficult to see, but here she is - twisted:
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2009, 11:12:00 AM »
Now back to the hammer where I have placed a .600" spacer block to beat the ol' dog down to that thickness evenly:
 

A little better view after manipulating:
 

Here is the result of this project:

 

Now, "Belle Blue" has one more tempering cycle this morning so I'll work on two fixed assembly hunters I have in the pipes:
 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline Irish

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #15 on: May 17, 2009, 01:53:00 PM »
Would one of the fixed assembly hunters be for a guy in Kansas City???   :wavey:
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Mel Riley

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #16 on: May 17, 2009, 02:22:00 PM »
Nope!
I hope I sell them both in Atlanta.
If not, I'll take them along to Compton's with us.
I'm gonna make yours as soon as I get back home!!
Can't wait until the next two weeks are behind me.
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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  • Posts: 2670
Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #17 on: May 17, 2009, 04:28:00 PM »
Let's clean up "Belle's" guard material a little.
I took the twisted wrought and ground off the scale on the grinder.
Then, flattened and "paralleled" all four sides on the mill.
Then, took to the granite lapping plate and got 'er true.
Here I wiped on a little FeCl to check our twisting success:
Looks good to me!

 

I used that .600" spacer on the hammer so that after I removed the scale and trued up the dimensions I would have a piece 1/2" X 1".
Here's what I got:

 

 

A quick scribe down the center for when I mill the slot:
 


I hear "Belle" calling me from the oven!!
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline kbaknife

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #18 on: May 17, 2009, 04:29:00 PM »
She was ready!
I did a preliminary grinding and took the edge right down to zero.
Last fall I was at a neighbors house and we got to talking about firewood somehow. He said that he had a bunch of oak that he'd had for years and didn't remember the last time he used his fireplace, so I took what he had.
This is that ol' bone-hard oak that'll take the edge right off a chain saw blade!
What you see here is about 100 whacks into some of the oak.
I was able to bury "Belle" that deep in the oak with NO HANDLE!
Then, I cleaned up the smears so the edge could be seen.
I think she'll take to the woods quite readily.

 

 

 
Logged
When the last deer disappears into the morning mist,
When the last elk vanishes from the hills,
When the last buffalo falls on the plains,
I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph

Offline tippit

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Re: Bowie in Progress
« Reply #19 on: May 17, 2009, 05:53:00 PM »
Karl, Great to see some of your techniques!  Super thread    :notworthy:  

PS: I had a great weekend by joining (NEB) New England Blacksmiths at their spring meeting and getting back on Blades Forums.  Got a lot to catch up on & learn.  Guys like you are a tremendous help for the rest of us.  Thanks...tippit
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TGMM Family of the Bow
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