The "Gunflint Bowie"

[kbaknife]

A little progress today.
I've got to be honest here. This was the first knife - I think - that I've made from my 5160 this year. Seems like all I've made has either been Damascus of some sort, 1095, W1 or W2.
But I was reminded QUICKLY! of what I had in store.
For those who have never seen the photo, I think it was back in '02 or '03 that I acquired 2400 feet of 1" square 5160 made in 1984 at a mill in Illinois. It was a "special order" run for a manufacturing process for the creation of anhydrous ammonia application knives. After the company ordered the steel and it was delivered, they changed their process and the steel was never used.
I found it, literally 20 years AFTER it was made, stacked up on pallets behind the plant where it was never used.
I got it ALL!

 

Right after I got it, I sent a chunk off to be analyzed. I have the specs around here somewhere. I remember the metallurgist who did the analysis say, "Wow! That should be some really deep hardening stuff!"
Anyway , earlier on in this thread I mentioned how I was sure that it would harden up under clay, as well as the tang itself simply from air hardening. Well, I forgot just how tough this stuff is.
Once I started to sand it, it was almost like Cru V. If you've ever tried to clean up a Cru V blade, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I tried to keep that clayed up spine out of the quench, and I'm sure I did a pretty good job. Even with that, I could still skate a file on the spine!! Insane.
So, after I cleaned up the blade a little, I did a pretty intense draw-back on the spine. And the tang as well, so I could thread it later.

(clean up the ricasso)

 

(After an intense re-grind and rub job)

 

(draw back in progress - I keep the cutting edge and about 1/2 the blade submerged to stop the draw-back)

 

 

Result

 

[kbaknife]

So now it's time to mark and slot that guard.

 

 

My ricasso is .262".
My end mill that I used was .123".
So, if I cut a slot .123" wide, I will need .139" more - 1/2 one way and 1/2 the other, or .0695" both directions.

So, here's the guard right off the mill as slotted:

 

This is slid right onto the knife from the mill:
You can see how she comes to s dead stop right where the radius is on the guard shoulders.

 


So, we file the top and bottom of the slot to match the guard shoulder radius:

 

Tap it into place:
(The radius at the top and bottom is the only place on the guard that I touched with a file)

 

[kbaknife]

And here's what you get:

 

 

 

[kbaknife]

Here's where we're headed - tomorrow!

 

[kbaknife]

So, with the handle profile the way I like it, I lay the tang on the handle block and make my locations.
Note that the width of the tang through the guard continues for about 5/16", then steps down.

 


I mill my slot the width of the narrow portion.


 

 

Then I take a rotary tool and eat out two little pockets to accept the larger portions until they just fit:

 


 


 

[kbaknife]

Sorry, guys, I was copying and pasting this from another site and got the posts out of order.

[kbaknife]

I wanted to take a moment and interject a little philosophy regarding the take-down knife assembly components.
I often sense a little pessimism or distrust of the assembly as I am showing here.
There's no need to fear.
I'll digress a moment and share what I've learned.
When I did my performance test with DH III in '07, I was determined to build a knife that wouldn't only pass the test, I wanted to defy the test.
I built two knives that would go through the shaving, cutting and shopping, but I wanted knives that could NOT be bent easily.
It took a four foot cheater bar for me to get my knife bent to 90 degrees, and there was a moment there that we were afraid I was going to pull the vise off the wall!
Anyway, both my official test knife and my practice knife were built in the take-down assembly.
When digging up these knives, I found two knives that I built in this fashion that were stamped "KBA" - just initials. That means those knives were made before I ever even got my first name stamp! So I've been building these things regularly for well over a decade and have never had one returned due to failure.
It is my opinion after making literally hundreds of these knives, and abusing countless numbers, that the pinned guard/handle, threaded tang and finial affixed into a solid position, is the single strongest assembly available for the hidden tang knife.
Almost regardless of tang length, when the tang is EXTENDED with a correctly fitted finial, the tang runs COMPLETELY through the length of the handle.
That said, even many other types of assembly provide enough structural integrity that nearly all the knives we make will survive about anything we can put them through.
Note that in the last photo, from the ricasso through the guard, handle, than tang and finial, everything remained true and straight as a string after incredible lateral stress.
I stand behind every one I make.

 


 


 


 

[kbaknife]

The knife moved on nicely yesterday. But, the 'best made schemes of mice and men oft go awry' - right?
I'll share a moment of knife maker's honesty in a little bit.

So, this is where we're going:

 

I like to use the Blackwood that has nicely grained variations in it rather than the simple ol' black Blackwood. So I always get the instrument grade:
(Sorry about the camera focus - I'm only doing this once)

 


After I cut out the handle profile from the milled handle block, I mark the face cut with a pen on BOTH sides of a machinist square:

 

 

That way, if I inadvertently remove the front line, or if I don't like how it lines up with the handle-knife alignment, I will always have a reference to go from:

Then, I take it to the mill and mill the handle face:

 

[JohnHV]

Karl,

This is a GREAT tutorial!  Looking forward to the rest of it.

[kbaknife]

Couple quick photos here.
I''ve cut the tang off at the appropriate length and threaded it 10-32:
(I like them to look like a screw from the hardware store):

 

Now, I had the tiniest bit of play up and down in the guard. I need that to be in a really tight position when I get things pinned up, so I peined the top and bottom of the slot to eliminate any play:
(The new owner will see this, so I don't mind showing it here. It's just the way it is.)

 

[kbaknife]

I forgot a couple pictures:
Here is the butt end view of the handle. I will drill two different sized holes - 1 at 5/16" all the way to the front holes, and then I go about 1" deep with a 3/8" hole. This creates a "ledge" for the finial "receiver" to sit upon.
This is that hole only about 1/4" deep for illustration - I then continue it down to 1" right down to the end of the threaded tang.

 

This is a poor illustration of what's going on in there:

 

Then, I'll use a piece of 3/8" stainless 416. Drill a hole all the way through with a letter G drill and 3/4 of the way through with a 5/16" bit, This creates another ledge for the shoulder on the finial to rest upon and puuuuuuuuullllll everything together.

 

(This is a temporary finial I use during each knife I make so you can see the  shoulder)

 

 

[kbaknife]

So, with all parts in place and finial receiver epoxied into place, we screw her together for the first time and check for fit:

 

Then, mark the guard for profiling:

 

Check each side of the slot for symmetry:

 

And she looks:

 

[kbaknife]

I then give the guard a better shape:

 

And have pinned it to the handle with .625" stainless dowel pins:

 

 


A procedure I learned from Kevin Cashen while discussing Daggers one day - I bolt the knife to a machined block - thanks to Kevin Evans - and place on a lapping plate:

 

Locate the point with a surface gauge:

 

And mark the center of the handle material all the way around.

 

[kbaknife]

Did you read back yonder where I said I got in a little trouble?
Well, it happened.
I milled the face of the handle material.
Then me and the knife went 'round and 'round that shop for about an hour and a half.
Nothing seemed to line up!?? I could not figure it out.
After tweaking this and sanding that and on and on, I FINALLY got things to fit.
I was stumped.
So, I went to drill my pin holes in the handle material on my mill, and when I went to take out that 1/2" end mill I milled the handle face with, it just FELL OUT!!!
I only had that thing hand tightened. :mad:

As I went around the handle face, the bit was moving ever so slightly and made it some sort of weird shape, but it wasn't FLAT!!
It's flat now.
OK.
Feel stupid.

[kbaknife]

So I'm just being overly verbose here and I appreciate you indulging me this opportunity.
Here's something I'm going to pass along.
Below you will see a picture of a sanding belt.
After I have my handle material bolted on, I put on an 1 1/2" small wheel on the grinder and knock off the corners of the block and do a little bit of handle shaping just to get it done quickly.
I have used this belt since the Blade Show this year.
I used it to shape all the knives I brought TO the Blade Show this year.
I used it to shape all the handles on all the knives I've made in 2011.
I used it to shape all the knives I made throughout last year after the Blade Show.
I used it to shape all the knives I took TO the Blade Show in 2010.
I used it shape all the handles I made in 2010.
In other words, I've used this very belt to shape ALL the handles I've made in well over 1 1/2 years.
And it's the ONLY belt I've used.
A five dollar investment in over 1 1/2 years.
 

[kbaknife]

After I come off that belt I have this and go to files.

 

The most important file I use is the Nicholson Cabinet Maker's Rasp. It's NOT a cheap file, but will remove material so fast you can get in trouble!
The same file used by gun stock makers to shape entire gun stocks.
It works and it works well.

 

By shaping the guard first, I just file the handle to match the guard:

 

 

[kbaknife]

A couple more pictures of how nice it is to work with files. After the Cabinet rasp, I switch to finer 1/2 round/flat files of two different teeth configurations and things are so easily controlled it's almost fun to do it.

I just keep gradually working toward the guard, and letting that predetermined shape guide me.
I built that vise station out in the middle of the room so I could attack my handles from all sides. I built that knife vise so it sits on my sanding bench, and I can quickly remove it to the vise station as well. It's really easy to see the knife from all directions when it can move infinitely.

 

 

 

 

Notice the pile of Blackwood on the floor at my feet - it's not dust! It's chunks of wood.
That file digs it off in a hurry.

 

 

[kbaknife]

Now I can focus a little bit on that guard.

 

 

It's nice to be able to work on parts independent of the whole:

 

I wanted to clean up the butt some and thought it looked cool polished in contrast to the remainder:

 

I took the handle to a 2000 grit and a quick buff - this really accentuates any latent filing/sanding marks:

 

 

[kbaknife]

The knife is actually done at this point in time - not in these photos - but as I post these photos.
I'll do the final photos sometime tomorrow.
Here's how she looked when all shaping was done:

 

 

[kbaknife]

Tomorrow I will go through a quick run-through of the creation of the finial and finalizing the guard, but until then, here's a little preview: