Recent content by busted knuckles

I used to make knives full time and began to hate it because I could never make what I wanted, I spent all my time filling orders. It's a luxury problem, to be sure, but a problem none the less. I tired of bladesmithing, and as a result, went into other work and quit making knives for a few...

Jason, I'm going to try your vertical technique, I can see that working well in some situations.

It sounds like the problem is that the wood is grinding away faster than the metal? When I'm experiencing that problem I ignore the wood and focus on grinding the metal, the wood will follow. I'll keep a slight angle away from the wood, just a bit. Don't know if I'm explaining this very well...

It takes a while to teach you off hand to grind. It doesn't have the fine motor control your dominant hand does. I started out doing the off hand bevel first, get the hard part over with. After a while my hands became equal for the most part. Just keep practicing and challenging your self...

Nice work Ben, looking forward to getting my greasy mitts on a couple of those. No table for me this year, didn't save anything to show. But I will be there to see what the locals have been up to.

Yep, that second one reminds me of one of my all time favorite knives. The original Gerber folding hunter.

What I like about those situations, where your come up with a nice blade but didn't really have a plan for it, is there's always a special piece of wood or sambar you have sitting around waiting for that one project. This is what it's been waiting for!

I have two! Love them both. They're not the economy ones, but paragon makes a great product.

Got a link? I do know what wootz is. I'm wondering, if it's from India, it could just be mystery damascus. Edit: I'm just cautioning you, I don't think anyone knows how to make true wootz steel anymore. India is notorious for mystery damascus made out of manhole covers and junk.

Not totally sure about brass, I use copper, but hard silver will do the trick. You'll need Flux too. Brazing with hard silver takes a little practice, I recommend that you try a few practice joints first. Good luck, have fun!

I know a lot of guys use them, I did when I started out, but the last thing I need in my shop is a buffer! Haven't used one in years. But, that motor would make a great disc grinder. I use my disc grinder every day. You can find a good disc from a number of manufacturers. Baumont makes a good...

You can try this type of sheath. I've been making them for years, for all kinds of knives.

You can grind your blade to exact thickness with a flat platen and a half decent set of dial or digital calipers. Just keep the thickness to within a couple thousandths (.002) or so. With a bit of practice you can easily do this by hand on your belt grinder, no surface grinder necessary! Maybe...

I believe The tester that you posted is Chinese knock off of an ames model #1. I own an ames#1 and can attest to the accuracy and precision of this tester. Not sure of the knock off, I'd be interested to find out as they're selling for about %25 of the cost of an ames. I'd recommend finding...

Hey guys, Haven't been on KD for a long while, like years! But just though I'd drop my $.02. I haven't tried Danish oil, but if Ed and Tracy use it I may give it a try. I've had great results with lin seed oil and 0000 steel wool, it really brings out the depth of the wood. Good luck with...