When I was a kid, a friend of my father wsed to take me fishing with him. We are still friends and I think of him as an older brother. So when he called me a few weeks ago and asked me to make him a hunting knife I was more than happy to forge one.
He gave me all the specs, and I just shaped a piece of steel and a piece of wood according to them.
The blade is forged from SHKH 15 (52100) steel. It is 150mm long, 30mm wide and 4 mm thick. I normalized the blade in the kiln and than grinded it. Before HT I left the cutting edge 1mm thick and the blade a little bit wider, than I wanted. I covered the blade with Condursal 1100 (great stuff) and than put it in the kiln at 840 C and let it soak for 15 minutes. Than quenched in Insa 5M oil (quenching oil). The tempering was one hour at 180C and another at 200 C. The hardness was ~58HRc. I wanted a slightly softer blade, than the optimal 61-63HRc for this steel, because it will be used in the forest and needs some toughness. After HT I removed the extra width in case there is any decarb and exposed the "fresh"steel.
The handle is wenge wood. I chose it, because this wood is light, tough and absorbs almost no moisture. Ususally I only glue my knives (the epoxy strenght is 170 kg/sm2 and this is more than enough), but this time I added a small 3mm brass pin in the middle of the handle just in case. The sheath is leather with some tooling and detachable dangler.
Here are the photos. Any crititqe on all processes is welcome.
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I am not lazy, I am on energy saving mode!
https://youtube.com/shorts/OgGeQdB3ZPU?feature=share
I am not lazy, I am on energy saving mode!
And some photos of the finished knife:
I am not lazy, I am on energy saving mode!
That's a very nice knife and a beautiful sheath. The hardness level is perfect for the intended use and size of the blade in my opinion. What is the white spacer made of?
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”
The white spacer is corian. Looks cool, shiny like bone, easy to work with and gives nice contrast with the dark wenge wood. Plis it gives a litle "extra" to the knife.
I am not lazy, I am on energy saving mode!
