Recent content by KenH

With no maker's mark you're going to have a really hard time ID'ing the maker of those knives. As far as value, anybody's guess. Posting to a "Mountain Man" type of forum would be best bet. Rendezvous type settings would be the ideal market for those.

You did yourself proud there - the way the lines flow, the spacer in the handle, bolster..... It's all very nice.

Here's a quote from the other side on the knife: "Not issued, but not junk either. A fancier version of the issued knife. Nice piece, use and enjoy it." Sounds like it was never issued to military, but is a good copy of the issued KA-BAR knife. Use it and be proud of it.

I posted this knife into to another forum and got these photos. That's for sure the knife. Now, was that actually issued to military? OR, was it a knife made for civilian use? Notice it doesn't have KA-BAR on it that I see. edit: A comment was made that it was for sure civilian, NOT military.

Thanks Bob, that's good knowledge from an AI source. I went to Gemini and asked a question: " Conversation with Gemini I asked: "did the Ka-Bar USMC knife have COMBAT on the blade?" Gemini replied: The blade of a authentic, modern Ka-Bar USMC knife does not have "COMBAT" on the blade...

Welcome aboard - - yep it does "look" original, but think it's the first time I've seen "COMBAT" on the blade so I don't know. I'll let the other much more knowledgeable folks comment on that.

A 30# propane tank makes a good forge - usually the local propane company has several old decommissioned tanks (20 mostly which will work) just laying around to give away to make a forge from. That's what I used.

What part of the world are you in? You can see where I am in my profile - if you're anywhere close I might have a spare venturi burner laying around - at least I've got a bell type tee that's good to use for the burner. I know I've got a spare forced air burner I used on an old forge.

I seriously doubt a pizza stone will work. Remember the forge will be well above 2,000°F, I suspect the pizza stone will break - won't hurt anything, just remove the broken pieces. What type of forge burner are you planning - venturi or forced air? I've used both types and MUCH prefer the...

For the low RPM bronze bushings I'll bet the bedding epoxy will work just fine. I remember this thread from last yr - Glad you updated the thread and hope you get the photo posting resolved.

Oops, I missed the question until this morning. I've got a Gweike G2 Pro fiber laser. Seems to work pretty good, I did this to play with color a bit (sorry it's so big). I did a challenge coin also.

Those lasers are simply amazing for sure. I've had a 10 watt diode laser for a couple yr, and it "works" to make nice marks on the blade. Just slow compared to the 30 watt fiber I got a couple months ago. Now, that laser I'm impressed with.

Those keyhole bolster/scales have always impressed me with the looks, and amount of skill required to do them. I've looked at the idea, but never tried it. Good luck and be sure to post results when you do try it. Perhaps even a build thread?

I agree with both of ya'll, Edwards and Karl - the best mirror finish is the one done after hand sanding with a hard block, up to at least 1200 grit. Then it doesn't take much buffing to get that nice shine. Back when I did it that way I used a 1/4 hp, 1750 rpm buffer which was all that was...

You're right Jim. The one I built was a bit longer with supports for the blade at each end. Without that support anything thinner than a thick blade would surely flex too much, and I do think it would be hard to provide manual support that would hold stable.