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Wip- Integral Hunter- Ray Kirk, Mastersmith

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Posts: 775
Noble Member Apprentice Bladesmith
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Recently I had the pleasure to spend some time with Ray Kirk in Oklahoma. He has created some dies for his press that make an integral much easier and thought that I would share with you. He has dies for both full & stick tangs. These pics will show the full tang version.

A few pics of his shop in Tahlequah:

[Note v-8 powered rolling mill in foreground <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> .]

For this hunter he started with some 1/2" 52100 round bar (his dies take 1/2", 5/8" & 3/4"). This is the first squeeze in his dies:

A close-up of the dies:

Forging out the blade & tang:

Using second set of dies to align blade & tang:

 
Posted : 06/03/2012 3:06 pm
Posts: 775
Noble Member Apprentice Bladesmith
Topic starter
 

Profiling the blade:

Removing scale w/ angle grinder:

 
Posted : 06/03/2012 3:17 pm
Posts: 775
Noble Member Apprentice Bladesmith
Topic starter
 

Grinding blade & tang w/ a small wheel attachment:

I wasn't with Ray long enough to see this knife to completion but here is one that was done the same way:

If you are interested in the dies used here, I'm sure that Ray could duplicate a set of them for you. I'm sure that part of it is that he a master smith but he sure makes it look simple.

Hope that you enjoyed this WIP as much as I did my time in his shop.

Gary

 
Posted : 06/03/2012 3:33 pm
Admin_DJC305
Posts: 1999
Member
 

Thank you Gary and Ray!

Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan

 
Posted : 06/03/2012 5:34 pm
Rick Baum
Posts: 148
Member
 

Thanks for posting Gary!

I think you're right in that he probably makes it look easier than it really is. It sure seems that pressing the steel in dies would be a lot less work than hammering... and hammering... and hammering... and hammering some more to form the bolsters.

By the way... your timing is impeccable. I just started my first integral. After all the work so far, I'd have to say that I'm a bit more than envious of how easy Ray's system makes it look.

I really like the small wheel platen setup for the radius transition from the blade to the integral bolster. I've been wondering how to create a nice clean radius. Unfortunately my shop is limited to round files and elbow grease.

Rick

 
Posted : 06/03/2012 5:41 pm
BrionTomberlin
Posts: 1675
Member
 

Ray has the integral thing down. He makes a lot of them in different styles and sizes. I have seen these dies in person and they are very cool and take a lot of the guesswork out of integrals. Thanks for posting this Gary and you have to love Ray's V-8 rolling mill. Seeing that beast in action is something else.

Brion

Brion Tomberlin

Anvil Top Custom Knives

ABS Mastersmith

 
Posted : 06/03/2012 10:09 pm
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