Nice.I can't see anything wrong with it.

Dale

Thank you, I am planning on going a little wider at mid grip and the hilt with my copy as my hands are quite a bit bigger than the gent I made this one for. I'm also just a bigger fellow and can conceal a larger knife... Also planning on about a half inch longer blade, extended swage, and probably a more natural finish. Also going with black paper micarta bolsters with centrally located stainless pin in the bolster and stainless divider between bolster and scale. All other pins will be of the hidden variety. I like the copper, and it goes well with the wood, however I just like the clean and modern look of stainless or nickel silver. If I could get my carbon/mild/copper mokume down, I'd be featuring that on my personal blade... Can't seem to find a source for the 16ga or so 1084 stock Ariel uses for his in his tutorial...

Why don't you forge some thicker 1084 down to the thickness you need??

Dale

Thanks Dale, I would, however I'm still a manual shop when it comes to forging. The old right arm is a strong one, but pounding that much stock down would be more effort than I have to expend on that particular venture at the moment. I do have access to a press and power hammer at another shop, but its one of those when they have time, and I have time, and they aren't working on anything sort of deals. I will probably end up going that route as a source seems unavailable.

Tangent warning:

I just flat need to get back to forging more anyway. That's what I started with in this venture to begin with, and somehow got sidetracked to stock removal for the past year or so. It's quick and easy I guess, and it helps keep the shop lights on... But, damascus, laminates, beautifully forged blades is what attracted me to knifemaking in the first place and why I joined the ABS... The first piece of knifemaking specific gear I built was a forge after all...

My day job is in law enforcement. I am a local PD officer and have been assigned to the regional active meth lab enforcement team which already ate into my free time. This year I was federally sworn with the US Marshals Service as part of their regional fugitive recovery team. Take another chunk of my shop time away... Then, I took on being a scout leader for my oldest son's cubscout den (I'm an Eagle Scout) and football practice for both sons, etc etc etc... I think I have a knack for this, and love doing this more than any other hobby I have pursued. I guess I need to set aside some time to get in the shop. Of course I already cut back my fly fishing to almost nil due to the above obligations and shop time, which gives me the itch... lol. I'm a bug chucking junkie... But, this community, along with the encouragement of Mr. Foster MS who is nearby, I can stay motivated to keep working toward a hopeful JS rating at least...

Sorry to get off on that tangent, however with the mention of forging that much stock down to that thin, I thought I would share my appreciation for this community for keeping me motivated to stay in the shop and keep working on the skills that set the ABS craftsmen apart from the rest.

Thank you all.

Have you checked with Aldo (The New Jersey Steel Baron)?

Dale

|quoted:

Thanks Dale, I would, however I'm still a manual shop when it comes to forging. The old right arm is a strong one, but pounding that much stock down would be more effort than I have to expend on that particular venture at the moment. I do have access to a press and power hammer at another shop, but its one of those when they have time, and I have time, and they aren't working on anything sort of deals. I will probably end up going that route as a source seems unavailable.

Tangent warning:

I just flat need to get back to forging more anyway. That's what I started with in this venture to begin with, and somehow got sidetracked to stock removal for the past year or so. It's quick and easy I guess, and it helps keep the shop lights on... But, damascus, laminates, beautifully forged blades is what attracted me to knifemaking in the first place and why I joined the ABS... The first piece of knifemaking specific gear I built was a forge after all...

My day job is in law enforcement. I am a local PD officer and have been assigned to the regional active meth lab enforcement team which already ate into my free time. This year I was federally sworn with the US Marshals Service as part of their regional fugitive recovery team. Take another chunk of my shop time away... Then, I took on being a scout leader for my oldest son's cubscout den (I'm an Eagle Scout) and football practice for both sons, etc etc etc... I think I have a knack for this, and love doing this more than any other hobby I have pursued. I guess I need to set aside some time to get in the shop. Of course I already cut back my fly fishing to almost nil due to the above obligations and shop time, which gives me the itch... lol. I'm a bug chucking junkie... But, this community, along with the encouragement of Mr. Foster MS who is nearby, I can stay motivated to keep working toward a hopeful JS rating at least...

Sorry to get off on that tangent, however with the mention of forging that much stock down to that thin, I thought I would share my appreciation for this community for keeping me motivated to stay in the shop and keep working on the skills that set the ABS craftsmen apart from the rest.

Thank you all.

The man who introduced me to blacksmithing said "Retirement is when you finally have the time to do all the stuff you never had the time to do before".

|quoted:

Have you checked with Aldo (The New Jersey Steel Baron)?

Dale

That's what Burt suggested I do. I have never felt high enough up on the radar to call him personally. Guess I need to realize when the need is there, I must finally have requests that have risen above those normally fielded by the more traditional sources...

|quoted:

The man who introduced me to blacksmithing said "Retirement is when you finally have the time to do all the stuff you never had the time to do before".

In my day job, we spend an ever-increasing amount of time trying to find some hobby that isn't in some way tied to our work world, because that is what all the 'emotional survival' specialists tell us we should do. (i.e. ones that aren't in the shooting, driving, etc categories.) This and fly-fishing were supposed to take me away from cop related hobbies as I had already done the USPSA/IDPA competitive shooting thing, and all the other related activities. The funny thing was I thought fly-fishing and knifemaking would be cheap compared to the shooting hobbies.... (It's ok, I let you have a moment to stop laughing before reading on...)

I have discovered that you are so very right. I'm never going to have time to do any of them until retirement day finally arrives...

I thought I would share an AH-HA! moment with everyone in case anyone else has ever looked for it. I was lookimg for thin sheet stock of high carbon steel and it never occurred to me to look at shim stock. 1075/1095 shim stock is the ticket.

Yep, there it was. In any thickness, width and length anyone would ever need.

Carbon/copper mokume I hope in my near future.

|quoted:

I thought I would share an AH-HA! moment with everyone in case anyone else has ever looked for it. I was lookimg for thin sheet stock of high carbon steel and it never occurred to me to look at shim stock. 1075/1095 shim stock is the ticket.

Yep, there it was. In any thickness, width and length anyone would ever need.

Carbon/copper mokume I hope in my near future.

If you are planning on trying to make Mokume, I would suggest you get the book Mokume Gane by Ian Ferguson published by A & C Black, London. He covers not only the techniques, but all the data for a myriad of metal combinations including some stainless steels and titanium.

Thank you sir, I will check out that book for sure. My wife is pushing me to make more mokume 'cause its pretty...' lol. Happy wife, happy life...