Couple more knives I am working on

[BobUrban]

Here are a few more I have been working on. I little more tinkering and they will be ready for handles.

Cable over 1080 San Mai

Wrought Iron over 1080 San Mai

A couple 15n20 and 1080 damascus

I just bought a new 2x72 grinder that is the "knife makers" go to tool that I pick up tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to start turning out some respectable blades once I get this thing dialed in and learn to use it well. Sure will be a big step up from the grinder I have been attempting to make knives with.

 

[Jags]

Wow - awesome. Just so I have this correct, the first two you actually overlay the 1080 with whatever and then hammer weld them together??

 

[BobUrban]

Jags - yes. The 1080 is just really nice tool steel that can be heat treated easily and takes a great knife edge so I put something over it(outside layers) and forge weld it together to get a nice look with a very consistant edge. Not to mention the transition looks cool between the two steels when finished and etched. After they are forge welded together it is actually one piece of steel on a molecular level but the etchant eats the steels differently so you can see the transition. The cable is actually good knife steel(probably 5160 or similar) and you can make a very good knife with it alone but I like the consistancy of the business edge being one steel - and the look. After I sand and polish(pre-etch) the knife just looks like one piece of shiny steel with no distinction between the different steels at all. It is the etch that makes them look like that. Basically controled rust!

The wrought is really cool and fun to work with. It came from a 100+ year old decomissioned bridge and has a very rustic/organic look after it is etched in acid. You can feel the texture like wood grain. Wrought would make a terrible knife edge but is great wrapped in a san mai.

Originally, think Japanese Samuri, the san mai was used so that the spine of the blade was softer and flexible while the business edge was hard to allow some flex without shatter when swords came together in battle. The same principle still holds true but I am not clanging to many knifes together or making many over 8-10" blades so it is realy just to look nice.

Bob Urban

 

[Jags]

Cool stuff

 

[BobUrban]

Jags - on the cable knife you can see what I am talking about regarding the etch. The cable is throughout the billet but you can only tell to the point where it was in the etchant - beyond that it just looks like ground steel. BTW - thanks for the Feric tip on my other post. I can get it at the radio shack in small bottles but am always looking for bulk and better pricing! I have so much tied up in my hobbies I have to go cheap anywhere possible!

 

[Jags]

Are you hand hammering all this, or do you have a power hammer??

 

[BobUrban]

All of the above - I have a 50lb power hammer, a 50 ton press, 5 anvils and ????# of hammers. Most of the welds are set with the press because it is so much more consistant than hammering and then most get worked a bit with the power 50 and then shaped on an anvil. My new grinder will really help me profile my blades more consistantly - especially with the long, thin kitchen knives. The smaller hunters are easy with simple tools but once you get past 5" or so in the blade all kinds of problems can arise. Steel can do funny things when you get it that hot. I have had long blades really take a "wow" bend when quenched.

 

[Jags]

When I was a young boy, we still had the town blacksmith. Old Skool. I could stand in the doorway for hours and watch him (we were not allowed inside without Dad). RIP Clint Strang.

I love this stuff.

 

[Crane Stoves]

Jags - yes. The 1080 is just really nice tool steel that can be heat treated easily and takes a great knife edge so I put something over it(outside layers) and forge weld it together to get a nice look with a very consistant edge. Not to mention the transition looks cool between the two steels when finished and etched. After they are forge welded together it is actually one piece of steel on a molecular level but the etchant eats the steels differently so you can see the transition. The cable is actually good knife steel(probably 5160 or similar) and you can make a very good knife with it alone but I like the consistancy of the business edge being one steel - and the look. After I sand and polish(pre-etch) the knife just looks like one piece of shiny steel with no distinction between the different steels at all. It is the etch that makes them look like that. Basically controled rust!

The wrought is really cool and fun to work with. It came from a 100+ year old decomissioned bridge and has a very rustic/organic look after it is etched in acid. You can feel the texture like wood grain. Wrought would make a terrible knife edge but is great wrapped in a san mai.

Originally, think Japanese Samuri, the san mai was used so that the spine of the blade was softer and flexible while the business edge was hard to allow some flex without shatter when swords came together in battle. The same principle still holds true but I am not clanging to many knifes together or making many over 8-10" blades so it is realy just to look nice.

Bob Urban

Yep...Samuri knew their stuff when it came to blades and their methods and technics are to this day the best!

Bob... im loving the look of that last pic with the zebra blade, try for 3 stripes on the next one! =P

 

[BobUrban]

Doug - I actually snapped the handle section off that one tweaking a wow out of it after heat treat. I was able to rescue it with the mig and all will be fine. I was happy to see the grains in my steel were very tiny and even. I know others who snap knives in half to see how their HT is going. Not me. I have too much time into one to break it on purpose.

Until we modify it our press has a rather small opening so it only allows me 9 layers of 1/8-16th" steel to begin with. I am really into the low count stuff lately anyway but I have one I folded 4 times I am working on. That will be close to 100 layers I think. Two more folds and you are pushing 400. I was into those for a while but like seeing the thicker layers lately.

Here is a way to take a perfectly good hammer and turn it into something you will rarely use(if ever) - Maybe a good kindling splitter?

 

[Crane Stoves]

View attachment 67437 Doug - I actually snapped the handle section off that one tweaking a wow out of it after heat treat. I was able to rescue it with the mig and all will be fine. I was happy to see the grains in my steel were very tiny and even. I know others who snap knives in half to see how their HT is going. Not me. I have too much time into one to break it on purpose.

Until we modify it our press has a rather small opening so it only allows me 9 layers of 1/8-16th" steel to begin with. I am really into the low count stuff lately anyway but I have one I folded 4 times I am working on. That will be close to 100 layers I think. Two more folds and you are pushing 400. I was into those for a while but like seeing the thicker layers lately.

Here is a way to take a perfectly good hammer and turn it into something you will rarely use(if ever) - Maybe a good kindling splitter?

wow... didn't i see Mel Gibson with that thing in one of his movies LOL (ummm, not braverheart but i forget the name of it now....someone chime in with it!), i think its main purpose was a skull splitter LOL, but we can think of something to re-purpose it for im sure =P

 

[Adios Pantalones]

SERIOUS cool stuff. I'm inspired

 

[fishingpol]

Yeah, I'm not a knife collector but I can appreciate that it is home made and took some skill and craft to make them. Really nice work. When I was young and in scouting, we liked pocket knifes and hatchets a lot, so I think that is why they are so attractive to me. There is something raw and gnarly about those Bob.

 

[fishingpol]

wow... didn't i see Mel Gibson with that thing in one of his movies LOL (ummm, not braverheart but i forget the name of it now....someone chime in with it!), i think its main purpose was a skull splitter LOL, but we can think of something to re-purpose it for im sure =P

"The Patriot" maybe? I seem to remember a hatchet flying into someone on that flick. Mad Max should have had one of those.

 

[BobUrban]

Well here it is - I could not be more pleased. I know it does not look like much but this is the Stihl O61mag with 3 bars and multiple chains for a knife maker. All that and I got a very good deal on it. In my basement right now but will be in the shop grinding blades this weekend

 

[Crane Stoves]

"The Patriot" maybe? I seem to remember a hatchet flying into someone on that flick. Mad Max should have had one of those.

OMG thats it! That axe is right outa mel's satchel in the patriot LOL

this will give Bob a great project!

 

[Jags]

Looks like a very well built and versatile belt sander. I'll bet you can hog some steel with it if you have the need.