WIP Sami

[tattoozach]

Thought I'd have a go at a bigger knife.
Someone gave me a huge saw blade and this will be the first knife from it.
Maybe L6 steel, lets hope for the best on the heat treat
So far I've just got it flattened down and the grind put on
hope you like



and a pic with the dog for more size comparison.



She doesn't care what I'm doing as long as she's in the middle of it!

[Fjellräv]

Promising Leuku blade you made there. Looking forward to the finished knife!

[corinkayaker]

Great start! can't wait to see it finished! Nice looking dog by the way! She is very puzzled by what you are doing.... My wife looks at me that way every time I start a new project! hmmm

[Albert E]

That blade promises a nice strong leuku!!
Looking forward to see the final result!!
Albert

[tattoozach]

Well, I screwed up the heat treat, guess I'll be normalizing and trying again next weekend, my propane forge isn't big enough and I didn't have enough charcoal to get the fire big enough in the other forge but my impatience got the best of me and I tried any way. Lesson learned, PATIENCE,
This is gonna be a heavy knife, it's about 6 mm thick

Meanwhile I've been working on the knife for the guy that brought me the saw blade, He wanted a neck knife, nothing fancy, here's some pics







No fit and finish on this one, hence the scratches on the handle still, just made to work, and another chance to use some of the white oak burl(well more of a knot really) I found in the woods

[bwildered]

A nice leuku shape on the big blade.

Nothing wrong with the finish of the other knife and sheath - looks like a comfy user.

[tattoozach]

OK, well bad news
tried to do a quick edge quench in warm water, wasn't quick enough!



tell me that's not an impressive crack, I almost cried! So nothing left to do but try again, so I decided to use a thinner saw blade I just found, 3mm, the one that cracked was about 6mm, probably to heavy anyway(that's what I keep telling myself)



cut out two others while I was at it, here it is cut out



This thinner saw blade is pitted with rust so I'm going for the rustic look.
after an hour or more of hand filing the edge I'm ready for the heat treat, and very nervous.



thinner blade, quenched in very thin warmed oil seemed to be the trick.



didn't crack didn't warp Now to temper. I tempered this one in the forge slowly, mainly cause it doesn't fit in my toaster oven. Propane Torch on the spine to soften.



tempered, spine softened, ready for bolster fitting.



bolsters fit and we're back to the same railroad tie where this story began, minus the dog.
I decided to try my hand at a stacked leather handle, so there's still a pretty good chance I may mess this knife yet.
Now to test fit the leather



everything looks good so far, however I think I need to temper it again just a touch softer since this is going to doing some hard chopping type work, and I like to get the spine softened down just a little further.
TO BE CONTINUED....

[bwildered]

Nice pictorial, great work. Thanks for sharing & good luck with the rest of the work - keep us updated

[Dogoak]

Nice, looking forward to seeing the finished article so please keep us updated

[Scoutmaster]

Pity about the first balde but this ones looking good.

[fluffy]

looks like it can become a habit

[parbajtor]

Nice pictorial, looking forward to the end product. I couldn't really tell from the picture, but is your dog a Vizsla?

[luresalive]

looks very promising, cant wait to see the end result..

[tattoozach]

Nice pictorial, looking forward to the end product. I couldn't really tell from the picture, but is your dog a Vizsla?

full blooded Red Nose Pit Bull

[parbajtor]

Slight difference.