My First knife

[Kisu]

The title may be a bit misleading - the blade was made with the assistance of Heather and Kevin Harvey (a very talented pair of South African makers) while I was on one of their courses. It is a butterfly pattern damascus made from 1070 and K600 (L6??).



The next image is the blade as completed in SA last year:



I had been waiting for something 'special' to use to finish the knife and the piece of mokume that I pinched from the easter hammerin - thanks to Mark and Doc!! - seemed appropriate. Along with a warthog tusk given to me by and old friend.



After a lot of messing around and several near fatal errors this was the end result (finished yesterday evening):



I learnt two valuable lessons - don't rush to finish anything (hence the small gap between the handle and guard) and I have an allergy to nickel!

I also had a really hard time trying to solder the guard to the blade - if anyone can point me in the direction of a tutorial it would be a great help.

Grateful for any comments and suggestions as to what category of knife this might fit into - I have pigsticker on the brain at the moment because of the wathog tusk handle
And any general comments.....

The satisfaction and sense of accomplishment at having finally completed a knife are beyond description and I am nnow boring my friends and colleagues to death by insisting that everyone look, fondle, stroke and gasp in awe at it

Thanks for looking.

James

[narsil]

Very nice indeed

You should be very proud

[jhobson]

Good job! Fantastic blade. How many hours did that take
You're in trouble now though - you got to keep improving but you aren't leaving much room.
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...ht=solder+tang

[Underhay]

Excellent work.
I remember you mentioning warthog tusk at the hammerin.

I have to admit that I am too cowardly to solder on guards. I don't fancy having to re-do the heat treatment! It does work well, but I have had good results by trial fitting and filing carefully until the guard is a tight push fit. The handle is then fitted to that and pinned so there is no movement, and the final epoxy is just used as a sealent to prevent corrosion of the tang.

Keep up the good work, but such a spectacular first blade does make number 2 more difficult

Regards
Duncan

[kniv-per]

Nice piece of work..
Great blade....
Good going...
kniv-per

[shing]

Nice work. Soldering a guard is straight forward. Make sure the guard and blade is a tight fit without any large gaps. Clean the area of the guard and blade to be soldered carefully with methylated spirits or acetone. Wrap the blade with very damp kitchen roll, about 3-4 layers and hold it to the blade by wraping it with copper wire, I get mine from stripping electrical wiring. Get some ordinary lead free plumber's solder and flux from Home base or B&Q. Hammer the solder flat and cut it into 2mm wide strips. Place the strips 5 mm apart on the underside of the guard, i.e. at the tang end with the blade cramped downwards. Apply a generous amout of flux all round the join. Use a blow torch, heat the guard and tang eveningly all round, don't heat the solder directly. The solder will melt and flow through the join. Use a pointed nail to spread the solder into any gaps in the join if necessary. After the solder has flowed and while it is still molten, use some fine steel wool to quickly wipe the join to get rid of excess solder, wear leather gloves! Use a chisel made from a brass rod to carefully remove the excess solder. A good solder join should have a thin ring of solder all round the join on the blade side and the tang side. If the join is a tight fit, the solder should be almost impossible to see after clean up. The guard should be finished on the blade side prior to soldering. Let the whole thing cool in air, don't dunk it in water! This works with brass guards, I haven't tried it on copper, nickel silver or stainless.

[Kisu]

Good job! Fantastic blade. How many hours did that take
You're in trouble now though - you got to keep improving but you aren't leaving much room.
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...ht=solder+tang

Hi jack - thanks for the complements, although you can't see all the mistakes in the photos

Thanks also for the link to the soldering info.

[Kisu]

Hi Shing,

Thanks for the advice - I assume that I hadn't cleaned the tang / guard area properly. Each time I tried the solder would melt and pool on the guard even trying to push the solder into the joint didn't work (I was using a soft solder with a 7% silver content). I used a cucumber out of the fridge instead of wet kitchen towel.

Thanks again,

james

[Kisu]

Thanks all for the comments and advice. I would still like to know what category you think this falls into - I don't think you call it a hunter or a bowie so what is it

[manofthewood]

Fannytastic..nice work.

[Iron_Heinie]

Awsome work there, and I think that the cucumber is a right clever idea too!
Looking forward to the next knife of yours,

[Colin KC]

Well done James, it's beautiful

[Guycep]

Beautiful work mate, love that damascus. I wouldn't need any persuation to fondle her!

[Danzo]

Blimey, I missed this one! That is a fantastic piece of work, well done indeed. The simple clean flowing lines of the handle complements the damascus wonderfully.



Danzo

[Kisu]

Thanks for the comments one and all - I have just finished forging a bowie style blade from a piece of silver steel bought from Mr. Bond at the easter Hammerin and am half way through the initial grinding of a 12C27 biltong knife. looking forward to posting the pics when finished.

Thanks for all the encouragement