http://www.britishblades.com/forums/ en Thu, 23 May 2013 09:43:08 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.britishblades.com/forums/images/styles/HighlightOrange/misc/rss.png http://www.britishblades.com/forums/ http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167203-Finished-one-for-a-friend&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 19:06:13 GMT Jim Shaver and I started making knives at the same time. We met in Columbus at Koval knives, when there was an Ohio Knife Makers Org. Jim lived 20 minutes south of me along Spider Ridge, which was what Jim named his knife making operation. We spent a lot of time at each others shops learning from... Jim Shaver and I started making knives at the same time. We met in Columbus at Koval knives, when there was an Ohio Knife Makers Org. Jim lived 20 minutes south of me along Spider Ridge, which was what Jim named his knife making operation. We spent a lot of time at each others shops learning from each other. The man loved to share with others.
Sadly, he died a couple years back. His wife sold off his shop and machines. I didn't buy anything.
His wife Jan, asked if I might finish his last forged blade; She handed me a nicely ground dagger and a long piece of ossic. ; I told her I would be happy to. It took me a while to get to it. I had to be in the right mood to work on it.

When I finish ground the blade I was smiling, Jim had not lost his touch right to the end; it was well done. As I worked on the knife I thought over all the time we had spent together forging and learning and sharing.
I miss Jim; he was one of the good ones.

I hope you like it my friend; I figure if you were here you could give me some pointers.

Best regards, Fred



]]> Members Projects... Fred Rowe http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167203-Finished-one-for-a-friend http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167202-Anodizing-line-ready-for-first-run&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 18:59:01 GMT We set up an anodizing line in what was a dog kennel 10 years ago. I don't raise dogs any more, but I did want a way to anodize aluminum and titanium parts.

On the left are the acid baths. There are two 18 gallon tanks contained inside the vented enclosure. We currently have three colors which are contained in the red 5 gallon coolers. Each one has its own bubblier and digital thermometer so we can keep track of the temp.
The stainless pots contain the heated sealer, cleaner, detox and etching solutions. We picked up a used vibratory tumbler last year; its the round blue thing in the front.
The cold water rinse sink is in the corner.

We will be making the first run this afternoon.

The Bubble Jigs will be coming out in color a little latter this year. We are also just about ready to put our new adjustable, pocket sized, carbide knife sharpener on the market. It will be out later this year.


I'll post pics of the results of our first attempts when I get pictures.

Happy to answer any questions, Fred



]]> Members Projects... Fred Rowe http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167202-Anodizing-line-ready-for-first-run http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167196-Enzo-Necker&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 16:57:47 GMT Just finished my first Enzo Necker - I have another on order. Scales are 5mm White Corian (a 12mm slab laboriously sliced in two), stainless Corby bolt and nickel silver pins. Image: http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q558/gregwalton42/EnzoNeckerWhiteCorian_zpsc04ae7e0.jpg Scales are... Just finished my first Enzo Necker - I have another on order. Scales are 5mm White Corian (a 12mm slab laboriously sliced in two), stainless Corby bolt and nickel silver pins.



Scales are finished to 320 grit to leave a matt finish and it is reasonably grippy. It is actually more grippy when wet - with dry, dusty hands it is not so good. The scales were attached directly to the steel with polyurethane glue, no liners. This was surprisingly successful.

The idea of the knife was to make something I could use in sandy, wet conditions. I was sick of cleaning folders of grit so I wanted a cheap, small fixed blade. I'm considering making a sheath with a zip or poppers so it doesn't get scratched any more than necessary. ]]> Members Projects... Badgie http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167196-Enzo-Necker http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167189-simple-and-cheap-resto&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 14:23:28 GMT Got myself a cheap little project from Kiri the other day:

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...highlight=Boot

Was'nt going to start it for a while but found an hour at lunchtime so i got it started:


As he described, a bit beaten and worn. The paint coming off the handle.


The blade is scratched quite a bit on both sides,


and yes, as he said 'Its as sharp as a spoon!'


Into the beadblaster at work and we have a flat(ish) surface to start with.


a little masking tape to protect the bead blasted handle,


and some basic finishing with 100MX Micromesh to get a good, even base to start the fettling!



Thats all i had time for today. I'll get weaving with the 100MX some more before going onto the 180MX then progress through the grades. I want to keep it blunt whilst i working the finish but before i do the final polish, i'll try to get some edges on it. When the blades finished, a lick of paint on the handle and a Para-cord wrap i think.

I'll keep you posted! ]]> Members Projects... Jedidiah http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167189-simple-and-cheap-resto http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167166-Just-finished-a-soldier-s-knife-plus-a-making-of-video!&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 03:23:17 GMT Hey guys!
This is the knife I've been working up to making for a while! The knife will be traveling to Afghanistan in June with a US Army Infantryman. Because of the hard service it will see I wanted to make sure he got the best knife possible, and a lot of testing went into reassuring myself of that!





The blade is 5/32" O1 heat-treated to ~61 HRC, then acid etched in Ferric Chloride.
The handle is coyote brown G10
The sheath is coyote brown Kydex

The handle is epoxied to the tang (after sandblasting both), and then the handle pins are peened into the counter-bores while the epoxy is still wet. During testing a handle constructed this way survived the obliteration of the blade by bending, so I'm quite confident those scales aren't going anywhere!

I also took a video of the entire process of making this knife! 6+ hours of footage, edited down to a 12 minute highlight reel, with some basic info included about the steps:



I'm very, very, happy with how it turned out. There were a few lessons learned during construction and testing though:

1) Epoxy really, REALLY, is not enough to ensure a durable handle by itself. I disbelieved this in the past but it's totally true.

2) Handle to tang glue surfaces that are prepared by roughing with sandpaper (on a grinder or by hand) will fail with only moderate pressure. The mode of glue failure in a knife handle is akin to that of crack propagation... When the blade and tang is flexed, all the strain gets concentrated initially on the area of the glue joint near the ricasso, as that are fails the glue joint just unzips very fast toward the butt.

3) Sand-blasting the tang and scales before the glue-up HUGELY improves the strength of the bond.

4) The only way to ensure a 100% reliable handle attachment is with mechanical fasteners. Peening handle pins while the epoxy is wet seems to work very well!

5) Peening pins into darker colors of G10 can cause crazing (whitening) around the pin holes.

Hope you like the video, any feedback on the tests, video, or knife is warmly welcomed!
-Aaron ]]> Members Projects... aarongough http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167166-Just-finished-a-soldier-s-knife-plus-a-making-of-video! http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167157-Blue-Beast-just-completed&goto=newpost Tue, 21 May 2013 19:56:18 GMT Just finished this one for a friend. Here are the specs: 1095 High Carbon, clay quenched in water Tested HRC60 Etched in ferric chloride then blued Overall length 9 1/4 in. Blade cutting edge 5 3/8 in. Height 1 5/8 in. Acrylic Stabilized Spalted box Elder Burl with black spacers Just finished this one for a friend. Here are the specs:

1095 High Carbon, clay quenched in water
Tested HRC60
Etched in ferric chloride then blued
Overall length 9 1/4 in.
Blade cutting edge 5 3/8 in.
Height 1 5/8 in.
Acrylic Stabilized
Spalted box Elder Burl with black spacers
Delrin pins and a Graphite tube
Handmade leather sheath



]]> Members Projects... Dan308 http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167157-Blue-Beast-just-completed http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167138-Something-A-Bit-Special-Stone-Tomahawk-(Native-American-Style)&goto=newpost Tue, 21 May 2013 14:37:13 GMT Been off work today with man flu, so decided to make this.

The head is made from flint, the handle spalted beech, and artificial sinew to wrap it all together (it's also been epoxied to keep it solid).

Also decided to add the arrowhead on the pommel as something a bit extra, and the feathers to make it too more authentic.







]]> Members Projects... deej http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167138-Something-A-Bit-Special-Stone-Tomahawk-(Native-American-Style) http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167100-The-Sherpa&goto=newpost Mon, 20 May 2013 19:48:54 GMT Hi Guys,

I've just finished this knife. The blade is forged from 5160, blade length is 120mm, width is 30mm by 5mm thick. I've also filed the the spine of the blade, overall length is 240mm including the forged finial on the back of the handle.
The handle scales are made from snake wood with red liners. The knife is held in a pouch sheath dyed mahogany brown.
I hope you like it. All comments welcome.

All the best Steve.


















]]> Members Projects... white tiger http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167100-The-Sherpa http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167097-new-saks-from-the-bench&goto=newpost Mon, 20 May 2013 19:10:19 GMT Been working on a few between commisiions - a chance to mess around and see what i can come up with:) not sure on all the models off the top of my head - will find out when i list these in classifieds this week thanks for looking, and comments welcome Spartan, Sculpted orange G10 Image:... Been working on a few between commisiions - a chance to mess around and see what i can come up with:)
not sure on all the models off the top of my head - will find out when i list these in classifieds this week
thanks for looking, and comments welcome
Spartan, Sculpted orange G10


Spartan, patchwork wood and buffalo horn


My First Victorinox, sculpted pink G10 with yellow liner


Huntsman, dyed stablised birch


Spartan, sculpted jade G10 and carbon fibre


Spartan, quartz corian with silver steel pins


Pocket Pal, Curly Koa with mosaic pins


Super Tinker, Kingwood and Ash Burl with leather spacer


Parachutist, black and white Corian with steel GITD pins


Spartan, Bocote with brass pins


Alpineer, cocobolo with mother of pearl inlays, converted to non locking edc

]]> Members Projects... gorilla http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167097-new-saks-from-the-bench http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167033-a-couple-of-seaxes-WIP&goto=newpost Sun, 19 May 2013 07:19:50 GMT A fellow here ordered 2 seax blades, one carbon, one patternwelded. I thought some of you might enjoy a work-in-progress thread. First pic, the billet for the patternwelded blade, and how it looked before welding... the twisted bars are 11 layers 15n20 and 1084, the edge bar is 1095. The line... A fellow here ordered 2 seax blades, one carbon, one patternwelded. I thought some of you might enjoy a work-in-progress thread.

First pic, the billet for the patternwelded blade, and how it looked before welding... the twisted bars are 11 layers 15n20 and 1084, the edge bar is 1095. The line drawn on the welded billet shows where it will be cut into 2 blades, one for the commission, one just because...


The billet is cut, the blades forged, rough ground, and etched to see how the pattern is looking...


The w2 blade is forged out and rough ground to the same shape. Since this pic was taken I've 'adjusted' it a bit, the blade needed more profile taper IMO. 2mm makes a world of difference...


And last up, the 3 resulting blades ready to be heat-treated... Blades are 5 1/2" long and 8 3/4" long, and .23" thick at this point. I plan to heat-treat them this weekend and finish them up next week.



I'm very happy with my twists, nice and tight this time...

Thanks for looking. ]]> Members Projects... GHEzell http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167033-a-couple-of-seaxes-WIP http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167032-Sheep-foot-folder&goto=newpost Sun, 19 May 2013 01:43:35 GMT got to work in the shop today with a Sheep Foot pattern I have been tinkering with. didn't turn out too bad for the first copy off it.

boy is the carbon fiber messy to work with. glad I have a good respirator.

Erik

steel O1 r59
scales Carbon Black, carbon fiber
410 ss liners
5 3/4 open
2 1/4 closed

Erik

[IMG][/IMG]

]]> Members Projects... cnccutter http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167032-Sheep-foot-folder http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167014-SAK-Mod-RWL34-replacement-blade&goto=newpost Sat, 18 May 2013 17:45:28 GMT The edge holding on my battered old farmer alox was not very great. The blade on my electrician is much better. Takes a keener edge faster and stays sharper longer. Dunno why maybe the farmers blade was in a non optimal spot at the HT oven. So I decided to give it an upgrade with a rwl34 blade. ... The edge holding on my battered old farmer alox was not very great. The blade on my electrician is much better. Takes a keener edge faster and stays sharper longer.
Dunno why maybe the farmers blade was in a non optimal spot at the HT oven.
So I decided to give it an upgrade with a rwl34 blade.
As this is my first SAK mod I was not sure how it would turn out, my thinking was that the already dinged up farmer would not be such a great loss if it does not go well. In retrospect the new blade would look much better on a less battered frame but I am happy none the less.

After thorough inspection I found that getting the clearance for the awl would be the trickiest part. As you can see in the pic the blade on a closed SAK is pretty much straight on the left and most of the clearance is on the right. The disassembled blade lies flat with only a minimal gap on one side and is bent/tapered on the other side.
I achieved the proper clearance by grinding a distal taper towards the tip on one side of the blank first before establishing the flats. Grinding this way was a little bit tricky but I managed in the end and had to add only a very minor bend into the blade. I started with a 3mm rwl blank. the tang was thinned to 2,8mm after HT.








A blade blank, the ground blade before HT and at the bottom the original blade:




The blade was heat treated at 1050°C for 15min and quenched with foil into oil. double temper at 200°C .Quench plates will not work because you need a small bend in the blade. I did not have some dry ice at hands so I forego the cryo treatment but according what I have read here, even without cryo it will easily outperform the original blade.
Optimum would have been with cryo treatment but for such a small blade I did not want to drive for an hour to get some dry ice (sadly its no more avaliable locally)
For future small projects like this I thought about getting a CO2 fire extinguisher and then making a small amount of dry ice with this on demand.

After assembling the blade alignment is near perfect, clearance on both sides without scraping or touching the other parts. I decided to scrap the bottle and can opener layer because I find almost no use for these. I dont eat can food , most screws I encounter are either torx ,inbus or phillips and I know about more than 20 ways to open a bottle without proper opener without even thinking hard... :rolleyes:
The awl and the sawblade are essential. I guess I have now something called a lumberjack or bushcrafter configuration.








The alox scales were pretty dinged up before so I did not really care when peening and battered happily away with the hammer. A trick I used was inserting two pieces of razorblade as a shim to prevent it from getting too tight. I yanked these out after peening with pliers and the action is now smooth without blade play.

Two questions remain:

1.When peening something like this together and you care about marring the scales what would be the proper technique? Are there some special tools for this? Or is it only try an try and try until you get good at this? One misplaced hammer blow would be all it takes to leave an noticeable impression on the scales...:yuck:

2.The nail nick was ground with a cutoff wheel in the dremel, its functional but does not look as nice as the original. I dont have a mill or a lathe only an belt grinder and a drill press. What are my low-tec options for grinding a nice looking nail nick besides a dremel? Any tips on this?

Thanks for looking!
Regards
Ralph ]]> Members Projects... Ralph G http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?167014-SAK-Mod-RWL34-replacement-blade http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?166989-The-cook-s-knife-project&goto=newpost Fri, 17 May 2013 22:37:29 GMT So after tackling razors, a spear and big and small knives I made myself a chef's knife, or as you would call it in GB, a cook's knife. I love cooking, would even regard it as a hobby. My first attempt at a cook's knife was far from perfect, there's a pro cook on our airrifle forum and he kindly pointed my knife's shortcomings out to me. He illustrated how the 'high speed chopping' is done in a pro kitchen and I realised I would have to go back to the drawing board with my cook's knife.

My first attempt, looks nice, works well and keeps an edge but has a lot of shortcomings:


I hit the internet and did some serious research on what a professional cook would like his knife to do and I listened to Miles, my pro cook friend:
High speed chopping is done on a board with the left hand knuckles 'guiding' the knife blade, the blade side slides against the knuckles of the fingers holding the food on the chopping board. For this we need a WIDE blade. (I'll elaborate with photo's when the project is done)

For above operation to be possible the handle must be high enough above the cutting edge for the knuckles to clear the board surface.

Then for delicate cutting chores the cook pinches the knife between his fingers, gripping it by the spine just in front of the handle.

The already cut slices must fall away from the blade, a convex grind will help.

Cutting edge must be robust enough to handle bone and the accidental contact with frying pans/grids.

Since I've had quite a few requests for good cook's knives I decided to design a 'signature knife' that I can offer in future.

The Ken Onion/Jay Fisher designs jump to mind as modern alternative to the age old traditional Japanese designs. I would aim for something in between. After numerous drawings and templates I decided on a 9inch blade. Then while sitting looking at the template I thought to myself; "This is going to be one mother of a blade, why not make it so I could also take it out of the kitchen when camping?"


So I cut a finger hole in the blade and added a lanyard hole. Thinking that I might now have weakened the blade I decided to go for 4mm steel instead of 3mm. As for steel choice, stainless obviously since it's going to see a lot of water and acidic foodstuffs. Sandvik discontinued their well proven 12C27 and replaced it with 14C28n which they claim to be superior steel for large knives. I decided on the new Sandvik steel.


The bolster must facilitate the 'spine grip' so it needs a groove, not unlike KO's design, only, my hole in the blade will index the thumb instinctively, even if you want to cook in the dark:C


The final template after I moved the handle in over the cutting edge to shorten the OAL without shortening the cutting edge. The actual cutting edge curve was also thoroughly planned to get the "rocking action" right on the cutting board:


By now I had 5 orders for the cook's knife so I ordered the steel and handle material. All were happy with "Dymondwood" scales, highly epoxy stabilised layered wood with a lot of colour choices. This stuff will hold up against the moisture in a kitchen. The bolsters will be brass.
Some Dymondwood samples ( I know they spell it all weird):


The materials arrive and the work starts: :)


Rough profiling with angle grinder keeping well clear of the lines to prevent over heating of the blade edges:


Then on to the belt grinder with a fresh 60grit ceramic belt, handfuls of metal removed to get to the final profiles:


The finger hole is cut using a holesaw with tungsten teeth and cutting fluid, then deburred with a round file:


All tang holes are drilled, for tang lightening and for the rivets and pins:


Back to the grinder for the main bevels. The convex grind is a time consuming thing, you cannot "lean into the grinder to rip steel away" like with hollow or flat grinds. Since it's a convex grind getting done on a flat grinding surface a LOT of passes are made, each only taking away a thin line of steel to make up the eventual curve.

The main bevels rough ground, serial numbers are stamped on:



The blades are finally ready for heat treating:


To be continued soon, thanks for looking :) ]]> Members Projects... Merwe knives http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?166989-The-cook-s-knife-project http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?166980-Return-of-the-Ninja-This-Time-it-s-Rattan&goto=newpost Fri, 17 May 2013 17:57:43 GMT It is the first third of an *original* 80ies ninja sword blade wrought from the best 440 stainless steel that I could afford at the time.;) When I outgrew the ninja craze, I made the first 2/3 into a kind of seax and the rest that you see here, I made into what I called an Abuseax (abuse+seax),... It is the first third of an original 80ies ninja sword blade wrought from the best 440 stainless steel that I could afford at the time.;) When I outgrew the ninja craze, I made the first 2/3 into a kind of seax and the rest that you see here, I made into what I called an Abuseax (abuse+seax), since I wanted a knife that I wouldn't mind breaking for punishing tasks.

At first I just ground the tip into a reverse tanto and put on a decent relief + sharpened the edge. For the handle I used a simple cord-wrap. The knife has been modified since; I added a swedge over the whole length of the blade and ground the main bevel into a full convex with an itty-bitty microbevel. So now it is basically a shinogi-zukuri type blade.

I am pretty satisfied with the blade geometry now, but I never liked the cord-wrap. I tried differend cords, heat-shrink tubing (some of which i left on to give more grip for the rattan), traction coating (similar to Plasti Dip), and bandages (similar to CamoForm). Also, it never had a half-decent sheath.

Now I tried a rattan-wrap, which turned out very grippy and tough. I soaked and actually cooked the rattan in water to make it pliable. Then I wrapped it around the handle and let it dry. Now the rattan is rigid again and won't come off on its own. Although I had shaved the rattan down to a more elliptic profile it cracked on me in a few places, especially the tight turns on the underside of the handle. I sanded the rattan down, until the cracks were gone, so it didn't turn out to be much of a problem. Final finish is a few coats of tung oil.

The sheath is also a recycling project - it's from a pair of old boots the GF discarded.

Knife:


Sheath:


Back of the Sheath:



Ookami ]]> Members Projects... Ookami http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?166980-Return-of-the-Ninja-This-Time-it-s-Rattan http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?166969-Bushcrafter-in-buffalo-with-a-little-WIP&goto=newpost Fri, 17 May 2013 14:09:02 GMT After a practice on a smaller knife a short while back, I am proud to announce you that I have just finished my first full-size knife that is one hundred percent my own work! Well, apart from making steel from raw materials of course :) This is something I've been looking forward to very much and I had never expected that I could actually achieve this. Of course it's for keeps :P

The blade is 4 mm O1, scandi grind, 21 cm long of which 12 is the handle, with a very simple filework pattern (it was actually the first blade for me to make myself so I wanted to keep it safe for HT). The handle is made from a natural piece of buffalo horn, vulcanised fibre and peened brass pins. I chose to give it a rather standard bushcrafty profile. For the sheath I used an insanely thick piece of vegetable tanned leather (roughly 5 mm thick) and tooled it all over. I mirror polished the edge of the knife but I left some of the scratches from grinding in on purpose. I couldn't resist using it so please ignore spots, specks of dust and greasy fingerprints :D

















A little work in progress below. I did most of the work by hand except bulk removal of the horn (stinky!) an the grinding the bevel. For that I sort of freehanded on my 1x30 belt. This rather sucked as I had only one belt with grit 240 so it took me hours. Good thing is that an 'oops' can be fixed easily!

The blade, just polished up a bit after HT:


The piece of horn, which was only just large enough:


Finally through, sawing is hell but shaping and polishing is easy! There's a nice pattern on the inside, luckily it's solid:


After a bit of flattening the liners were stuck on. Nice and red :)


Polishing the fronts, PITA afterwards:




That was one hell of a crack. Sizing the pins before peening:


Fast forward to after the shaping of the handle:


Before final finishing:


Finished! :D


Although I can still see a lot of room for improvement I am very happy with it. The welt of the sheath is a little too sloppy to my taste, the grind is not totally even at the tip and the ricasso isn't either, the peening could have been better, the filework could have been neater, the fitting of the liner and the buffalo horn could have been tighter... But it's scary sharp and I love it :D

Feel free to leave any kind of comment! As always I'm open to criticism as long as it's constructive, but it can be about your personal taste too. ]]> Members Projects... Frederiek http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?166969-Bushcrafter-in-buffalo-with-a-little-WIP