I was chosen to make the Custom Knife Collector's Association first annual "Club Knife" for the first 20 members who wanted one.

That was quite a project, since I had very little experience doing them!

What I did was forge some W2 round to the dimension I wanted the bolster to be.

Forge the blade.

Then with some help from Ray Kirk, I forged the tang about 3/8" round and in line with the blade. This then got stuck in a block of wood and locked into the cut-off saw!!

Bring the blade down to the bolster and then spin the blade around slowly cutting the back of the shoulder. A little pucker factor to keep from cutting the tang off!

Karl

Thanks for sharing, love the blades. I would have never thought of using a chop saw, and Ray is always willing to help you and share his experience and knowledge.

Anthony

Karl

Those are absolutely stunning!

Hello friends, integral knives are my specialty, I have worked with the steel 52100, in round bars of 1 ", 1 1/4" and 1 1/2 ", in this last measure for knives with full guard.

Forge using a homemade hammer and anvil. I'm at the disposal in case of any doubt. Still do not understand how it works to put pictures in the forum. I have some of the forging.

By the way, beautiful knife Karl.

Best regards

Thanks for the info Karl, I was wondering how to get the back of the bolster squared up while leaving the bolster round? Also any tips on keeping the blade and tang centered while forging? I have seen some photos of integral grinding jigs but I imagine you could grind the radius on the bolsters with a small wheel attachment and gind the flats on the grinder? I must try one of these soon.

I just finished my Appalachian Power hammer and I've been looking for videos on knife-making with a power hammer and found this Jason Knight video making an integral chef knife video. I tried it on a hot cutter I made and I think with a little practice it may work for me.

https://youtu.be/phcjPCjOdBo

Barry

Master Ray Kirk uses some simple jigs, hardy hole tools/swage to center the tangs. At one time he had some jigs for sale, to center everything up.

And I think he had a youtube video showing how to use them. I do not know if the video is still up or not.

Anthony

Carl, that's clever to use the chop saw to get the shoulders square on a round integral bolster!

I do a fair few integral chef knives, and I generally leave the bolster square after forging and then use a carbide grinding guide and a 120 grit belt to square up the shoulders. Once the shoulders are square, then the bolster can be quickly shaped with small wheels on the grinder.

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Thanks for the info Karl, I was wondering how to get the back of the bolster squared up while leaving the bolster round? Also any tips on keeping the blade and tang centered while forging? I have seen some photos of integral grinding jigs but I imagine you could grind the radius on the bolsters with a small wheel attachment and gind the flats on the grinder? I must try one of these soon.

I don't have any incredibly valuable tips - I struggle with each and every one.

I do forge the tang round while leaving a longer bolster area than desired in the end.

Stick the round tang in a block of wood and lock it in the cut-off saw with the smallest blade in the saw as possible, to avoid wobble.

Slowly bring the blade in contact with the bolster and spin the blade to create the square cut at the back of the bolster.

I do have pictures of that - somewhere.

Thanks again for the information, I will try this out when I am next in the workshop.

Cheers