The bluish tinge is a play of the light. The Damascus is black from the 1095. None of the metal has been blued. Thanks Matt!

The problem is in that curved back as it is a continuos surface around the entire perimiter. That leaves you no way to keep the satin "scratches" cont...

It certainly catches my attention. I think it doesn't matter what you call it. Sometimes I call knives in that size and shape a "field knife" or a "hi...

That's very pretty. Beutiful work.

I had this same discussion with another smith not too long ago. He claimed that both the notched choil and the flush choil must be stock removal becau...

Ethan, I always referred to that point where the edge meets the tang or ricasso as the choil (pronounced CHoll) and most knife aficionados call that...

That's a good looking knife.Every one of the 5 knives in my JS set had handle pins. Some were domed, others were ground flat, some were peened flat, b...

The second best was one of my successful attempts at making steel using the Brescian method. This little hunter has an edge hardness of 58 HRC, which ...

Matt, I don't remember seeing that huntig sword before. Really top notch work sir!Ryan, that is a beauty. What made you think of using cholla? That st...

I had cut a coupon off the tang to check for carbide formations. This got bevels grond in, hardened, tempered, and polished to 800 grit, Then a couple...

Blade profiled, bevels ground in, and finished to 400 grit in preparation for HT.  Rough-grind.jpg

It really bugs me that the "edit post" function doesn't work for me to correct my spelling errors. It just spins a circle and never allows me to edit,...

Just to clarify the effect that even minor chemistry changes cause, there wer tow pucks in the post above from 12/19. They had different alloying elem...

Basically yes, but it's more of a "diffusion" heat treatment, where you are attempting to diffuse the alloys throughout the steel.Pendray talks about ...