I did a WIP over in another forum but never posted pictures here because it wasn't a forged blade. It was some of Randy Haas ladder damascus with an ivory dog bone handle. But... this is mine. forged W2 double edged bowie that will (as of now) have a stainless guard and frame, brass liners, and a koa coffin handle. As of now it's heat treated and I'm in the process of working the bevels flat but blew the last set of wheel bearings out of my grinder. For those of you not familiar with me, I work slow and take lots of pictures. I learned from those that were willing to document how they make things and this is my way to give back even as a lowly apprentice. Follow along if you like. Sometimes there may be a week or two with no updates because I have another project to work through as well. Thanks for looking.
Great Mark! Thank you for doing this. It will be a major benefit for our members. Great looking blade.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
Thank you Mark!
Thanks Mark!!
Mark
Take your time Mark. Good things are worth the wait.
I'm looking forward to this!
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“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.â€
Beautiful blade! I checked out your Facebook page as well. Super nice work.
Look forward to the WIP pics.
Thanks for taking the time to post them.
Now, this part of the game is going to look like a lot of the same thing. The blade looked ground before, but that was just roughed in. Pictures can be deceiving. The bevels weren't entirely as flat as I wanted them. So here, I've started by truing up the centerline long ways down the platen. This is also where you see how flexible the tip is. As you can see in the pictures, the line wanders some. I love these dagger/cutlass grinds, but they can be a booger to get straight without being wavy. If you chase them one way and then back and forth, eventually you'll have a low spot in the bevel. Key here is flat. When it's flat, and straight, then it's right. Also note in the last picture that the upper plunge has an arch to it. That'll have to come out as well. Pictures are one of my tricks to finding things that are sometimes missed when you've been looking at it over the grinder for a while.
Moving into hand sanding the ricasso and I find this little low dimple in it. Pulled the belt off the platen and here lies the problem. a buildup on the glass face was making an arch that you'd only see when hand sanding with a flat bar. I use Ed Braun's sanding backers a lot but I also like these small DMT DiaSharp hones. They have zero flex and show any and every low or high spot. I see lots of guys using soft backers to blend stuff like this instead of actually flattening it. But you lose the crispness of all your lines doing it that way.
I like where this is going! Thanks for posting!
Chris
I'm working really really slowly for some reason. Part of me thinks it's listening to the air conditioners running and it irritates me. I like cold weather. That combined with working on two knives at once (which I almost never do for this reason) has me crawling along. I'm a slow maker anyway.
But here's just a little bit of my guard shoulder filing setup. Bruce Bump file guide. I made the extension to clamp into my vise that can hang off the edge of the bench for when I'm doing longer blades. Two slabs of walnut with a spacer at the vise and two 5/16 bolts. I grind the basic shape of the tang first and then file in the radiuses at the top and bottom of the ricasso. Then I file a ledge around the sides of the ricasso. when everything is where I want it, I smooth up the sides of the tang and round all the corners. I uses the small Nicholson files in the picture to finish making sure that everything is down dead even with the file guide.
First question I ask people that are having trouble with fitting guards is "do you have a file guide?". I'm sure it can and has been done without one, but its a whole lot easier with one.
And here we come to the end of the road. This one is in a drawer in my shop collecting dust. After hours of looking at it, the whole ricasso and plunge area just seems too blocky to suit me. There’s a big difference between just a well finished knife and one that flows like it should. This one didn’t make the cut. I’ll start over with another WIP before long and you guys can use whatever useful info you can find here if there’s anything that will help you in the beginning stages.
