Finally getting started on my KITH

J

jonathan creason

Well-Known Member
I spent a good 2.5 hours Friday working on a socket handle, only to look at it and say "there's no way in hell I'm sending that to anybody else." I don't think it's awful, it's just not very good. I'll probably make a quick and dirty knife out of it to use around the house, but that'll be it.

I needed to get to work on something though, so I grabbed one I had started a little while ago and finished forging it out.

fighter.jpg


It's 1084 steel, and I guess I'd call it a recurve fighter style knife. I started draw filing it over the weekend, but I've still got a ways to go with that. I'll post some more update pics as I make progress.
 
Thanks guys. I had originally planned on a handle wrap, but I think I've decided to add scales instead. The tang is a little chunky, so I think I'm going to cut some off and reforge into a tapered tang.
 
Thanks guys. I got a chance to work on this one a little while over the weekend. Cut some off the handle and reforged, cleaned up the profile and ground the bevels. Got the bevels hand sanded up to to 120. Probably gonna sand to 220 or so and heat treat.

kith2.jpg

kith1.jpg
 
Still not crazy about the handle, and my ADD is kicking in like crazy. Thinking about forging it down to a through tang and making a Bowie out of it.
 
Got a little time over the weekend to do a little more work on the blade. Re-forged the handle into a through tang, and heat treated it. After the heat treat I put a "quick and dirty" edge on it just to test it out. I chopped through a piece of pine with ease, and then took several hacks out of a chunk of dogwood. The edge still looked good after that, with no rolling or chipping. Now it's time to get to my least favorite part, the sanding.

I've got a piece of elk antler picked out for the handle, but I'm not sure what I want to do about the guard. I've got some 1/4" thick copper barstock, but for some reason that look awful thin. How thick do ya'll usually make your guards?

kithupdate1.jpg
 
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I tried my first interrupted quench on this blade. 3 count in water, then into the canola oil. Seems to have done the trick.
 
For a Bowie a 1/4 guard would look good. I've made several with 1/4 brass and copper....sometimes even wrought iron.
 
Got a little done on the blade over the weekend, but not as much as I had hoped. The guard is fit and epoxied in place, as are the washers behind it. Put some epoxy filler in the elk antler and am just waiting for it to cure now.

I had hoped I would get it completely assembled this weekend, but a friend of mine called about getting a knife for his son that's graduating from basic this coming weekend. I spent pretty much all of Sunday and Monday working on that.
 
Well guys, looks like I'm out. I was doing the final assembly on mine tonight, andwhile peening over the tang I bent the tip. I'm a bit frustrated as everything checked out ok after heat treating. I had it penned most of the way, but wanted to get that last little bit, so I put it on the anvil with some padding underneath. The peen worked great, but then I found the bend. I don't think there's any way I'll have another one done in time for the drawing. Oh well I guess that means we wont have to outsource the actual name drawing.
 
Jonathan,
If it is just the tip you could possibly regrind that area but be sure to keep it cool. Also the way I peen my tang is to wrap the blade with heavy leather and secure it in the vise. You may already do it this way, just trying to help. I know sometimes we do things we know we are not suppose to and more times than not it backfires on us.:sad: Sorry for your loss. Wade
 
Yeah, after I posted that last night I went out and reground the tip. I constantly dipped it in my water bucket to keep things cool. I managed to get it looking decent without loosing too much length. My main concern now is if I enter this one will I be sending someone an inferior blade?
 
sending someone an inferior blade?
Click to expand...
The difference between a craftsman and a great craftsman is being able to hide the flaws......or call it CHARACTER!!!!
Even our blades with character are nowhere near as inferior as what you pick out at the local mass-produced store.
It is hand made ..from the heart...
Or in my case...let it rust....
 
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I reworked the tip some more last night, and did some more work on the bevels. Afterward I put and edge on it and went to town chopping on a chunk of birch. Got through the board and the edge held just fine, so maybe all is not lost afterall. Here's where I'm at now:

kithupdate.jpg
 
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