Tradgang Member WIP

[Emmons]

Hello all,

I am in the process of building a knife for a fellow Tradgang member for part of a trade (KOM jacket).  I thought I would show it here.  Please keep in mind this is not a how-to, just a series of photos to show the knife being built.

This is the design we came up with after a few rounds of back and forth.
 

I make photocopies of the drawing.  One goes up on the board for reference during the build and other get cut out and glued to 1/4" hardboard.
 

The hard board is cut and ground to make pattern.
 

Bar stock is cut to lenght and dyed.  In this case CPM 154 that is 3/16" thick.
 

The pattern is used to scribe the knife on the bar stock.
 

The knife is cut out of the bar stock using a portable metal band saw.
 

This is the knife before grinding the profile.
 

Next I grind to the scribe line using the grinder set-up with a 8" contact wheel and work rest.
 

[Emmons]

Here I am cleaning up the inside radius using a drum sander mounted in the drill press.
 

Handle pin and lightening pattern layout.
 

Milling the pockets and drilling the pin holes.
 

Holes and weight reduction pattern completed.
 

Milling the guard slot in the blade.
 

Checking blade thickness.
 

Marking the blade center and grind to lines.
 

 

[Emmons]

Layout of grind lines and mount the blade in a carbide file guide.  I will grind in the bevels from here.
 

I took some time to perpare the guard material before moving the work to the grinding room.
Band saw off a piece of 416 SST.
 

Flattening and sqauring the guard in the milling machine.
 

Checking the guard for proper thinkness to get a perfect fit with the slot milled in the blade.
 

Guard and the Sambar Stag scales.
 

More to come as this project progresses.

[oldpaths]

That will be very nice,can't wait to see more!!!!!

[4dogs]

O BOY!

[kansas stik man]

looks good

[awbowman]

That's a work of art.

[kbaknife]

Very enjoyable! Thanks for all the time you've put into this.

[GWV]

Karl is absolutely right!  Thanks alot for taking us along for the ride.  Can't wait to see the rest.

[srtben]

Very nice, it is always cool to see other peoples processes.

[Emmons]

Well I got some free time from a busy work scedule and was able to make some progress on this knife.

Here I start the bevels by starting the grind with the contact wheel and an old belt.  I grind to the layout lines.
 

Then I rough in the bevels with a 60 grit belt on the flat platten.
 

Because this is not the traditional full hieght flat grind I normally do, I made sure the bevels were flat by draw filing them.
 

After draw filing I hit them on the disc sander to remove the file marks.
 

Now that the bevels are flat I refine them on the grinder using 120 and 220 grit belts.
 

With the main bevels done, I grind in the false edge using a work rest to keep the angle consistent on both sides.
 

 

Then the flats are sanded to 220 grit.
 

[Emmons]

Here is the blade with the rough grinding completed.  I still need to refine the plunge lines later.
 

 

[Emmons]

Next I start the traction grooves on the thumb rest.  I do this by using my file guide and a flat file to start the groove and finish them off with a round needle file.

 

 

Here you can see the layout and finished arrow head file work.

 

 

Thanks for looking,

James

[4dogs]

James, this is looking fantastic! Five arrowheads...lucky number! I cant wait.

[South MS Bowhunter]

James a question sir, and it only because i’m curious to the different ways knives are shown being made on the forum.  With your method everything seems to be a cut and grind process (at least so far) instead of the hammer and anvil is there a name or different theory to your approach?  Fascinating to see how these works of art are crafted  

[South MS Bowhunter]

And i did go to your photo bucket page and you craft a beautiful Knife!

[Rusty Snuffers]

Hurry up, already!   :D

Looking good so far.  

[Emmons]

John,

This knife is being build using the stock removal method.  I rough forge my high carbon knives and stock remove my stainless and tool steel knives.  Most stainless are not forging friendly.

James

[South MS Bowhunter]

What the pro and cons of the two James?

[Emmons]

Great knives can be made from both methods.  Forging give you some more freedom and you are not constrained to the bar stock dimension.  The most important this is to understand the steel being used and working it properly (HT).