Big, Bad, Bowie Build along!

[srtben]

Hey guys!
I am currently working on a large bowie for a good customer of mine, and I have been snapping pics along the way. It is "only" stock removal, so some you may or may not be interested. I am almost done now, but I figured I would share what I have so far. I don't have pics of every step, but you will get the idea.
It will take a little while to put all of the pics together, but I figured I would get started.

This is going to be a fairly large Bowie, to his loose specs. The blade is appx. 11" long and 1075 (my favorite for a nice hamon). It is a big bellied blade with a curvy clip.

Here is the blade rough profiled.

 

Getting the clip roughed in. It can be tricky on a curved clip.

 

Here the blade is rough ground and ready for Heat treat.

 

Here it is with the clay applied. I normally use Satanite, but I was trying this other stuff out on this one. It has a very thin wash on the whole blade, and then about a 1/16"  where I want the "soft" areas to be.

 

Ok, so hardening and tempering went very well. I quenched in parks 50. No pics, sorry.

Here I am cleaning up the clip. I want to keep nice crisp lines, this is easiest by hand.

 

Off the grinder and on to hand sanding. I wish I was a better grinder, I could spend less time hand sanding.
Here the blade is at about 120 grit, and you can already see the hamon popping out.

 

Here I am cleaning up the ricasso/choil area. It is important to keep everything nice and square here. I find it easier to use edm stones in here.

 

 it is now at 220. Only 7 more grits to go!!!  :D


More pics to come........

[chall]

I love build alongs , thanks for posting .

[Lin Rhea]

Looking good Ben!

[srtben]

Thanks for the interest guys, I appreciate it!! Everything I have learned about making knives, I learned by reading info posted online, a lot of it from people in this forum. So if someone can now learn something from one of my posts, that means a lot.


here we go..
So many, many hours later, we have a blade hand sanded to 2500 grit!
At this point, before I etch the hamon, I like to fit the guard.

 

In this pic I am starting to get the fittings together and layed out. The guard  and pommel are steel and the spacers are copper.  In the past I have welded a "stub tang" on the back of my pommel to epoxy into the handle material. I took a cue from David Lisch's latest Wip, in using a using a little hole pattern jig and pins. It worked very well and was pretty simple. Thanks David!
I am going with a clam shell guard on this one.

 

Here I am milling the slot on the guard. If you do the math right, you can save yourself a ton of file work. Another shout out to Karl Andersen for a tutorial he did a while back on milling guards.

 

Removing everything that isn't a guard.

 

Cleaned up and the "shells" hollowed out.

 

Here the guard is bent and I am contouring the outside of the shells.

 

Filing the ribs in the shells.

 

more pics in the next post....

[srtben]

At this point it is finished, I will try and wrap up the rest of the pics.

The guard fit up on the blade, that math paid off!

 

Milling the slot in the copper spacer.

 

Truing up the ends of the walrus.

 

Marking the Ancient walrus ivory for the tang. This is the first time I have worked with it, kind of nerve racking.  :eek:

 

Drilling hole number one..

 

Hole number two.

 

I decided to connect the dots by hand. I could have used a long end mill, but I wanted to er on the side of caution.

 

[stumpsniper]

Awesome post, I think you make some of the nicest knives I have ever seen.  I hope you continue the build a long when you make the sheath.

[srtben]

Thanks!

Using that little jig to drill matching holes in the end of the handle.

 

All together for the first time.

 

Shaping the spacer and pommel.

 

Cleaning up the shape on the handle.

 

All sanded and polished up.

 

The guard and pommel browned and the copper spacers heat colored.

 

Last minute, I changed my mind on the spacer and added some subtle texture and grooves.

 

[srtben]

Here is the blade after I etched and polished to hamon.

 

Gluing up in my fancy big bowie clamp.  

 


Time to start the sheath......

[srtben]

I only have a couple pics of making the sheath, but here they are. It has bison leather front and is entirely hand stitched.

 

 

 

[srtben]

And without further ado........

I did my best taking pictures of this beast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very pleased with how it came out. And am quite proud of the fact that it is 100% sole authorship from blade to sheath to pictures.
Any and all feedback is welcome and encouraged. Thanks for watching!!

[benny]

Boy I like that!

[ChuckC]

I think it looks great.  I would be happy if I had ordered that one !
ChuckC

[Lin Rhea]

That's a beautiful knife Ben. I like your WIPs too. Your eye for color and texture is great.

[Al Dente]

That is really easy on the eyes.  Even being a BIG one, it all just flows so nicely together.  It is one beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

[GWV]

Ben, that is a beauty for sure!

[tomsm44]

I guess it's ok, you know, if you like cool hamons, walrus ivory, and copper.       Since it isn't forged, I think it would be called a BSO ( Bowie shaped object).       Keep them coming.  I always enjoy seeing your work and I like how you always do the whole package yourself.  I always enjoy being able to tell people that I built a knife AND the sheath it's in.

Matt

[JohnHV]

Thanks for sharing.  I know it is a lot of work to put these build-alongs together.  I always learn something when I read through them.

PS. beautiful bowie!

[just_a_hunter]

I just came into a bunch of walrus ivory and I'm looking forward to working with it.

Your knives are beautiful. Every one of them.

Todd

[Ray Hammond]

very nice, Ben!

[Chromebuck]

Great contribution Ben!  From kitchen utensils to choppers to hunting knives.  Your stuff is solid.