For this project I chose to give it a mosaic blade, a snakewood handle with 416 fittings. The Damascus will be a "W" pattern that will be 4-wayed twice. The hilt will get eight lengthwise convex flutes separated by twisted silver wire and 416 fittings.
Here's the billet after folding it once (40 layers) and then giving it 16 layers of "W' squeeze, squared on the bias & 4-wayed twice:
Here's the blade during normalizing and after being cut off of the initial billet:
Here's the blade shortly before H/T:
I made the guard from some 1/2" round 416:
The pommel is from some 1" 416 round:
The blade is now in the tempering oven. I'll try to keep you updated as I progress with it.
Gary
I look forward to seeing it Gary.
This is a cool project Gary. I like how you turned a piece on the lathe, then forged it out. That is a really neat process.
|quoted:
I like how you turned a piece on the lathe, then forged it out. That is a really neat process.
It's much easier to make a ball-tip guard this way. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
Very cool Gary!
I've got the snakewood roughed out. Time to do some handle carving:
This was done with a small half-round hand chisel. The snakewood was so hard that most of this was done by scraping rather than cutting with the chisel.
With inlayed wire:
(The groove for the twisted wire was cut with a hacksaw.)
I've still another day or two of handle work but it's getting to where I can see the end of the tunnel. {There will be a spacer of 416 between the guard & the snakewood.] I'm still undecided on whether to curve the guard forward or leave it straight.
Here's the completed dagger:
Gary
Very nice. Thank you for sharing the photos of your work as you progressed throughout the construction of this sweet dagger.
Anthony
