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I always send them off to be stabilized plenty thick and wide: Cut out the handle profile and check for size: Now get out a dedicated 1/2" carbide end mill: And get this thing squared up: The way I assemble a knife, it's important that all four sides be flat and perpendicular...

Repeat for the spacer: Good to go. I draw every knife on a manila folder and keep the handle patterns: Then I make a new drawing and cut it out for the handle material, saving each one for reference and to facilitate later drawings. Check out the stabilized Walnut box for the...

If you look closely, you'll see where the guard lightly scratched the sides of the blade on both sides: Now take the knife to the surface plate and lightly sand off the sides of the knife: No scratch marks: And try the fit again: Scratch and sand one more time and tap: And she's...

So, this is the fit of the guard RIGHT OFF THE MILL!!! See? I went to a lot of work earlier to get things flat and parallel, etc., and some folks might think that's too much of a time investment, but look at the time necessary to make the guard fit - very little. Both sides: It's been a...

I've got a bit of a philosophy - the more time I take up front getting things to be right and fit right, the less time I need to take LATER to make things be right and fit right. Just the way I am. I've built so many high end houses in my life, I learned that if things are to fit right when...

Sorry about the time lag on this project. I just finished file size reduction and uploading 72 more picture to Photo bucket. :what!: Here is the direction we're headed on this one.

That can be a fairly effective way of dealing with some forge issues. I don't have my heat directed any where near the one I see here. As a person creates better forges where heat can be controlled, this becomes less and less of a problem. I've been tempted to try that on some smaller knives...

Josh, I use an Evenheat as well on my 5160. I haven't done it yet, but I've heard of guys sticking a piece of coal - not charcoal - in with the knife and as it comes up to heat and burns some, it consumes what oxygen is in the oven. It should help with decarb, but I wonder about the soot getting...

The advantage of the stairstep is that it only requires one piece of tooling that does all the work. It takes very little time and seems to be very efficient. If it ain't broke - don't fix it. It works quite well for me. I take my blades to 95% finish before hardening, which I do in my forge...

Tracy - it has some quirks! And it took a while for me to get consistent with it, like, two years? Now that I've got the bugs figured out the way I do it, it's really not all that difficult. Time, temperature, oxygen free forge atmosphere, clean flat materials and BIG PRESS!!!! :60:

I'll just do the exact same thing for the collar behind the guard.

Now, over to the mill vise. Lock it in on parallels and find the center of the piece: Set dial indicator on edge of table and set to zero: Now do stair-step from line to line in just the center: Reverse in other direction to create void slot: Now some basic math. :les: Ricasso is...

Sorry about the delay, guys. I'm swamped. I've been that way for months and I don't see it letting up in about, well, I don't know. So, back to this knife waiting patiently on my bench: I got my guard, collar and butt cap cap forged, milled and surface ground: I like to take my fittings to...

I think it may only crumble if one was to get it way too hot. It does NOT! like to move, in my experience. I'm guessing people try to get it too hot to overcome its difficulty in forging. A good strong press will spank it into submission. :nothing:

I forgot - after the mill, I toss the pieces on my surface grinder to clean them up a bit. Then, check opposite corners on the comparator for consistency. I think I'm good to go, eh?

I've been a traditional bow hunter since I was 14 in 1968. I will use my mill to cut the slot.

Slow progress today, and maybe tomorrow as well. Got two knives mailed out and had a flat while I was out scouting some new grouse hunting territory. And then seriously jammed a finger while changing the flat!! :sad: So, got the 416 flattened out and spherodized. Cut to approximate guard...

Now, let's knock some 416 down for fittings:

I'm in the process of getting three sheaths done so I can get some knives shipped out, but I was able to get the "Alaskan" hardened and tempered yesterday. This is a shot of the post-tempering clean-up without any etching. I will wait until the knife is completely built before I etch the blade...

Saturday morning: Got the new lengthened forge lined and coated yesterday. Did a trail run this morning. After figuring out a few things, I hardened the "Alaskan" with a clay induced hamon and she's in the first temper now. After drying out all the moisture yesterday and this morning, I gave...