Frontier Knife New Sheath

[Steve Nuckels]

I finaly finished the sheath for this project!!


Hi guys I did some forging today!  I have been on a file kick lately, I guess I'm practicing for my 5160!

Anyhow, I got inspired by a Frontier knife a friend of mine has with deer antler, wrought Iron and a nice "petina" on the blade.

So I decided to forge one out!  I rough forged it a few days ago and finished it today!

I also hammered out a piece of wrought Iron for a "Twisted guard", So here is a progression!

I love to forge and have several projects stacked up and God only knows when I will finish them!

So here ya go!

Started out as a full tang, I did not like how it was looking, and I wanted to work on the blade profile!

   


I forged the blade, and now drawing out the tang!

   

Shaped the tang to the curve of the antler handle.

   

Here is some wrought Iron I forged flat from an old bolt used on a wagon and twisted it, that may end up on this project as the finger guard.  I will of course clean it up file it too shape and etch it.

   

This last photo has little to do with knife making but is interesting!  I use hard wood ashes to anneal my steel and I was sifting the ashes thru a fine screen removing the charcoal from the ash and I found a sizable chunk of what looks like lead.  The ash came from my friends fireplace, the wood from his property and I figure the metal is a muzzleloader ball that was fired some time ago!  What are the odds of finding that!

   

I will post the finished knife, hopefully soon!

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

[DANA HOLMAN]

Steve
that looks like it's going to be a heck of a knife, can't wait to see the finger guard
keep us posted
dana

[prarieboy]

Thanks for sharing.

[Scott Roush]

Looks like you're having fun! And making some progress... Can't wait to get my forge running!

[Tater John]

Interesting knife. I'd like to know how to work steel into blades.

I've been a cabinetmaker/carpenter for 31 yrs. and have sawn through one bullet and found one other in a board through the planer.

Rusty

[ALW]

Great looking knife.  Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

I cut a piece of walnut a while back for scales and right where I made the cut I found what looked to be about a #5 piece of lead shot.  I also cut some hickory for bow staves and one of the staves had streaks of damage near the surface that looked like someone had shot it with a shotgun.  I guess they may have been shooting squirrels.

Aaron

[Tom I.]

Steve....check your PM's
Tom I.

[Maxximusgrind]

Sure cant wait to see it finished   :D

[razorback]

Got to work that lead into a handle or something on one of your knives (this one    ) Maybe a lead wire inlay, pins or anything else. It is too cool to leave out.

[Steve Nuckels]

Tony (razorback)  that's a good idea!  I will have to give that some thought!

Any other ideas how I might integrate that into the knife design.

Here are my materials and a concept drawing, with another small knife.

 

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

[Tom I.]

Man, Steve, that is going to be sooooo COOL!
Tom I.

[Lin Rhea]

Good job. I'm liking your creativity in this one. Also, good use of drawings.     Lin

[Maxximusgrind]

Thanks for sharing the drawings,where did the twisted gaurd come from,its unique for sure.I love the faces too

[Steve Nuckels]

I posted this some time ago and have neglected this project while finishing others.

So recently I have been devoting some time to the Frontier knife.  I clay coated the blade for the Quench and the edge came out good and hard!

   


Next I sketched out some handle details and dyed the whitail antler and did some fancy file work on the antler crown, I will eventualy put a copper pin in the center of the file work.

   

Im using wrought iron fittings with a copper spacer.  You can see the sketch detailing the copper pins in the twisted finger guard and pins in the antler handle with scrimshaw work.

   

 

This last photo is the knife all together to check the fit.

   

Steve
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Potomac Forge

[sticshooter]

Wow my Friend you have done something just Flat out awesome! Rustic forged blades are the best IMO. Yeah baby.<><

[Scott Roush]

really cool steve,, i love work on the antler crown! and the fittings look great...

can't wait to see the finished piece...

[Steve Nuckels]

Thanks for the positive comments.

It will be interesting to see how the scrimshaw lines come out, and I plan to etch the wrought iron fittings and the blade, I hope the temper line comes out!      

I'm contemplating a proper sheath, any suggestions?  I need John Cohea's (current issue of Blade)video on making primitive sheaths.

Steve
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Potomac Forge

[Steve Nuckels]

Too hot outside for yard work so I did a little more work on my knife today.

I hand finished the blade to 800 grit and etched then polished the blade.

The temper line is just noticable at the point of the blade  and extends about three inches down the blade. I'm a little concerned the lower part of the blade may not have hardened properly.

 

I also finished then etched the twisted finger guard and spacer for an hour.  I then used 800 grit paper to finish after the etch.

I cut some copper wire for the twisted finger guard and upset the wire and used two modified nail punches to create "domed" pins.  They diden't turn out perfect, but then this is a primitive style knife.  I think the etch turned out nicly on the wrought iron fittings.

 

Next I will use some domed copper pins for the handle and do some scrimshaw work, you can see the small dots layed out on the antler where the pins will go.

Steve
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Potomac Forge

[Steve Nuckels]

A better pic of the temper line.  Some of the file teeth lines are still visable in the blade those are the marks in the blade.

 

Steve
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Potomac Forge

[walkabout]

very nice, cant wait till my knives look that good. how exactly did you attach the copper domed pins if i may ask?this knife has alot of details that i like.