I finally finished this sucker. It was forged from a 15n20/1084 billet I mentioned in another thread. It came out to 15 3/4" total length. I put on a Civil War style S-guard and file-worked ferrule forged from shipwreck wrought iron. The handle is morticed kauri wood. Kauri is an extinct wood salvaged from bogs in New Zealand and was buried 150,000 yrs ago. There is a place near to where I live that buys this stuff in huge quantities and makes high end furniture from it. I also tried something different with copper... I took a couple different gauges of small pieces and randomly placed them around the handle. I wish I had more sizes... would have been a nicer effect.
The san mai is interesting as I accidentally left little pieces of the 15n20 behind near the edge looking like islands on a coastline. Just wish I could get more contrast between the steels! It was etched in ferric chloride numerous times with polishing and bleach washes between. You can also see where it almost started to delam towards the plunge.
This thing was fun to make and the Moran style handle feels great. I would've liked to have gotten the center of balance lower but I need a pommel for that I guess.
Topic: big san mai bowie completed (Read 591 times)
