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Bully

My Newest Project...

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So, I built a kit knife which was a lot of fun. A little folder from Texas Knife Supply. While I was on there for the second go-'round, I decided to get some steel and take a shot at doing my own fixed blade. So an order went in for 01 steel.

I like beefy knives so the steel is fairly thick. Close to a quarter inch if I am remembering correctly. I have a really cool little knife that I got in New Mexico on vacation a couple of years ago at a "Mountain Man" festival in Santa Fe. Something so very cool about meeting with and shaking the hand of the guy that makes what one buys. Plus the story about the handle material was cool as well. So, I am using that knife as a loose pattern.

As for tools, I have a nice Hitachi grinder, a Grizzly bench mounted belt sander that is proving to be hopelessly underpowered, and a bunch of files and sandpaper. I will be sending the blade out to be heat treated off site as I don't have the time nor inclination to attempt that myself.

So far it looks ok. I am NOT a pro by any stretch, but I feel that this knife will be pretty special.

Oh, I also took a bunch of old jeans and made my own handle material.

Christopher

 

PS  A quick pic of the inspiration, the pattern, the steel, the blank I ground, and the denim micarta.

 

post-4086-0-71027900-1373680383_thumb.jpg
 

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It's a slow go.  I got a little more done this evening but it's nothing all that exciting.  Mostly just smoothing spots that need smoothing and refining the shape where it needs refinement.  Hopefully this week I will start grinding the blade.  Gonna watch some more tutorials and then give'er a go.  I'll post pics when I get to where I want to be. 

 

C

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So, it's official...

 

I am going to go to a semi-local custom knife maker to learn how to grind an edge on this knife.  I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to get the opportunity to do this.  I will share the pics when I get back.  I am heading over there on Sunday to spend the day in his shop so look to this thread for updates.

 

C

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So, I have made some decent progress. 
 
Went to Shawn's house/shop yesterday.  I must say that in addition to him being a hell of a knife maker, he's one hell of a gentleman as well.  I spent roughly eight hours there and he taught and guided me thru every step.  Including heat treat.  So generous with his time and resources.  So cool. 
 
All that's left are to shape and attach the scales and do a little finish work on the blade and handle.  I can't wait to get this done.  That being said, I do NOT want to rush it.  It's how I've screwed up in the past. 
 
Now, let's see if I can post pics...

 

post-4086-0-60159400-1375705704_thumb.jpg

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post-4086-0-20135200-1375705731.jpg

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Looking good. That's gonna be a nice slicer when your done. You going kydex or leather for the sheath? Is that a flat grind?

 

You've gone way farther than my project. I got a raw piece of steel with a sketch on it and buffalo horn. Not much progress since then other than collecting dust.

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It is a flat ground blade.  The guy that taught me the little I learned yesterday is AMAZING at it.  I gave you his name a month or so ago.  Super nice guy with some really great stuff. 

 

As to the sheath, I'm thinking leather if I can find a source for a small enough piece at a reasonable price.  I'm not opposed to kydex, but I do prefer leather. Then I have to learn how to do that as well.  I've seen a couple of tutorials on it and am pretty sure I can redneck something together. 

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Best.

 

C

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ok that's it you just made me order some more blade blanks and I have some exotic hardwoods lying around fore some scales. I will probably make some 1911 grips too. I hate you, you just snatched up what little free time I have left LOL

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ok that's it you just made me order some more blade blanks and I have some exotic hardwoods lying around fore some scales. I will probably make some 1911 grips too. I hate you, you just snatched up what little free time I have left LOL

 

Get in line!  :maninlove:

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Made some progress this evening.

I got home from work early due to a cancelling client. Always a double edged sword as it gets me home early, but with less money in my pocket. Eh, I'll take it.

Anyway, got the scales 80% done. Got the blade prepped as I'm going to blue it. Nothing too crazy as there are some imperfections in the steel that I really don't mind. Anyway, we're getting there. Lots of dust, some minor sparkage, and a healthy dose of "???" means I'm on my way. Too tired to take any pics. Thanks for following along.

C

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Texas Knife is good as is Alpha Knife Supply.  For steel, since they're close and a Jersey company, I'll most likely go to New Jersey Steel Baron in Hawthorne for the next bit that I need.  I'm doing one-sy~two-sy pieces so nothing too serious.  And, no rush.

 

Post pics here if you get started OR of anything you've done.  I love to see others stuff to get inspired.

 

C

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9464522351_8ae259828d_c.jpg

 

This is where I'm at now. Haven't had a chance to work on it in a bit. It WAS supposed to be a spear point, but the way the dremel cut the bottom, I turned it into a tanto profile. I'm still hand filing the grind, and once thats done, I'm going to send it back to Texas Knife for heat treatment.

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This is where I'm at now. Haven't had a chance to work on it in a bit. It WAS supposed to be a spear point, but the way the dremel cut the bottom, I turned it into a tanto profile. I'm still hand filing the grind, and once thats done, I'm going to send it back to Texas Knife for heat treatment.

When you buy blanks from a distributor, do they come annealed? I figure if they came pre-hardened, they would reek havoc on the files.

 

Since I don't have a belt grinder, I've been considering using a belt sander to do the initial grind. Very DIY garage way of doing it.

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When you buy blanks from a distributor, do they come annealed? I figure if they came pre-hardened, they would reek havoc on the files.

 

Since I don't have a belt grinder, I've been considering using a belt sander to do the initial grind. Very DIY garage way of doing it.

Just plain blanks, with the shape already cut out, come normalized. No heat treating, no annealing. Its just plain steel, be it carbon or stainless. 

 

If you get a blank that already has an edge, it comes hardened and annealed. Then all you have to do is shape a handle. 

 

If you're going to do one from scratch, you can do what topher and I did and buy a piece of steel and make one from that. You would have to draw the profile, cut it out, shape it, smooth it, and then but the bevel on it. Most of that you can do with a belt sander. Look up a guy on youtube, name's trollskyy. Makes some good knives, and he's Polish so you know he's a solid builder. 

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Since this is my first time too, I just bought some cheap steel from Home Depot to play with. I don't expect it to hold an edge, but it's a good starter steel to screw up on. I've cut the length I wanted and drew out the profile. That project has been sitting on my desk for a couple years now. I should finish it one of these days. I think the profile is quite unique except to Southest Asian folks. I'm just taking their profile a step further to fix what I feel are unsafe flaws in their design.

 

I do have a very small furnace that I tried hardening cheap import damascus. Let's say it was as hard coming as it was going in. Oil quench, water quench, air. Nothing even brought it to the point of being brittle. I left it as is.

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Tim, As far as what steel comes how, I would ask the distributor at time of ordering.  If it's been hardened, a file won't touch it.  It's really pretty amazing.  The Home Depot steel won't hold much of an edge.  My thing would be to practice grinding on it, they throw it away.  To me it's a waste of loot to send something like that off to get heat treated.  Get a piece of 01 tool steel from Alpha, Texas, or Steel Baron and have a go with that when you feel more confident on your grinds.  That way it won't be just a project for the sake of doing a project, but you'll have something usable.  The steel blanks are reasonably priced and Alpha's shipping is actual, which is pretty cool.  Steel Baron is in Hawthorne, I believe.  So it can be picked up.

 

Recon, very cool shape.  I like it a lot.  Should be a good, solid utility knife.  Please keep us updated on progress.

 

And yes, Trollsky is awesome.  He is actually the knife maker that inspired me.  He's obviously more skilled than me, but I figured that if he can do it with a small selection of mostly manual tools, I should be able to make something come together. 

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The interesting thing about the blacksmiths that make the knives forge steel from old truck leaf springs. From my sketch, the blade length is going to be roughly 10" long. 3/16" thick at the spine.

 

If successful, this will be the stencil fir making future knives with better quality steel. You are correct that this Home Depot steel will not amount to much in edge retention, but it'll be forgiving to the sanding belts. It's an experimental profile. We'll see.

 

I've been re-inspired to continue this project to the next stage. :)

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So this is what I'm trying to modernize.

 

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c279/eskimoboy1/Hmongknifes005.jpg

 

From the original age old design, I can see that it's really meant for swinging and chopping with the butt flared out like an axe handle, but I don't like the fact it doesn't have a finger guard forward of the grip. You'll get a nasty cut if you don't cut off your fingers first.

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Is that a Kukri?

 

Regardless, awesome design.  And yes, spring steel is routinely used in the making of knives.  It has a much higher carbon content that the off the rack, step up from pot metal, weldable steel sold at HD.  However, for a big blade that needs to be sharpened a lot and can't be too brittle, it might just work for a bit.  And, it'll be yours and cool. 

 

Post pics, please.

 

C

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Basically, she's a done. The "knife" is there. Needs to be sharpened and a sheath made, but I'm callin' it.

Brownells bluing cream was applied to get the finish. Pins are stainless. Handles are homemade "Deni-Micarta" Steel is 0-1.

All in all this was a very fun project and an amazing learning experience. Thanks to all for following along.

C

 

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