Erin Burke
Well-Known Member
This is a bit different profile than what I've been making lately... more dirk, less Bowie/fighter. I wanted to try something new, so will be trying a 1-piece bolster/frame. I'm guessing it might be entertaining to watch me struggle through that milling operation. :biggrin:
PHOTO 1
First, here's the original sketch. The knife will be fairly narrow, and I'm not planning a hamon, so I grabbed a tiny bar of 3/16" 1080 out of the rack.
PHOTO 2
Here I have started profiling on the belt grinder. The edges of this bar of 1080 were a bit rounded, so I squared up the back edge of the bar... then I ground in the belly of the blade. The fresh grinds (colored with Dykem) will give me a nice clean canvas for marking my center-lines with the height gauge.
And would somebody sweep my floor already!?!
Photo 3
You'll notice that I didn't grind the spine of the blade down to the tip. I won't do this, nor will I grind the tang to shape until after HT. I'm hoping all of this will minimize warping out of the quench. (Note from the future: It didn't help. :les::sad![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Photo 4
Remember the thing I said earlier about a one-piece frame and bolster. Assuming I can pull it off, I'll mill it from my trusty bar of salvage steel... as seen in previous WIPs. :9:
Little did my grandpa know -- when I grabbed this bar of steel from his yard-pile -- how many knives it would show up on. :thumbup:
Photo 5
They may not look it... but the blade steel and the block are blazing hot it this picture.
I was normalizing/thermo-cycling the blade, and figure I'd throw the frame block in for a few rounds. I'm assuming that it's a fairly mild steel, but ran into some hard spots while cutting on the bandsaw... so I figure a few heat cycles might not hurt.
These ceramic racks from USAKnifemaker.com are da bomb... though the pins are fairly fragile. :shush:
PHOTO 1
First, here's the original sketch. The knife will be fairly narrow, and I'm not planning a hamon, so I grabbed a tiny bar of 3/16" 1080 out of the rack.
![17619621823_d8ac3b0131_c.jpg](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8897/17619621823_d8ac3b0131_c.jpg)
PHOTO 2
Here I have started profiling on the belt grinder. The edges of this bar of 1080 were a bit rounded, so I squared up the back edge of the bar... then I ground in the belly of the blade. The fresh grinds (colored with Dykem) will give me a nice clean canvas for marking my center-lines with the height gauge.
![18213842926_e2af4a8a66_c.jpg](https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7791/18213842926_e2af4a8a66_c.jpg)
And would somebody sweep my floor already!?!
Photo 3
You'll notice that I didn't grind the spine of the blade down to the tip. I won't do this, nor will I grind the tang to shape until after HT. I'm hoping all of this will minimize warping out of the quench. (Note from the future: It didn't help. :les::sad
![17624973524_7ce2b9a98d_c.jpg](https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7728/17624973524_7ce2b9a98d_c.jpg)
Photo 4
Remember the thing I said earlier about a one-piece frame and bolster. Assuming I can pull it off, I'll mill it from my trusty bar of salvage steel... as seen in previous WIPs. :9:
Little did my grandpa know -- when I grabbed this bar of steel from his yard-pile -- how many knives it would show up on. :thumbup:
![17628840954_8630330b91_c.jpg](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/455/17628840954_8630330b91_c.jpg)
Photo 5
They may not look it... but the blade steel and the block are blazing hot it this picture.
I was normalizing/thermo-cycling the blade, and figure I'd throw the frame block in for a few rounds. I'm assuming that it's a fairly mild steel, but ran into some hard spots while cutting on the bandsaw... so I figure a few heat cycles might not hurt.
![18067246638_517dd186d1_c.jpg](https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7739/18067246638_517dd186d1_c.jpg)
These ceramic racks from USAKnifemaker.com are da bomb... though the pins are fairly fragile. :shush: