CTaylorJr
Well-Known Member
The 2 knives I am displaying below are for family members that will be delivered this weekend at a family get together. These knives are made from an old file that used to belong to my great-great-uncle John. He was a carpenter in the Clarksville, TX area until he retired in the early 70s.
My uncle (mom's brother) gave me a bag of Uncle JOhn's tools quite a few years ago since I am into wood work also. Well, I took the bag of tools and put them aside since I didn't want to use things that are the ONLY heirlooms we have for John. Speed up to 2010...
While organizing the garage a couple of months ago I came across the bag of tools. I opened it up and found that ALL tools were just like I had left them, wrapped in oily dishrags to prevent rust... All except one that is... Th BIG bas tard file was unwrapped and a bit rusty.
I knew that Uncle Doug was not doing as well as I would like him to be (may be his last deer season), and I knew that my mother had asked me several times in the past to recreate the soapstone carving of a knife she has, so I went to work on the file.
I annealed it in my little home brew propane forge, traced out what I wanted on it, and then went to the saw to cut it all out.
After cutting out, grinding, and all of the other prep work to 400, I did a heat treat in my forge. After normalizing 2 times, I took them to non-magnetic once again, let them sit a bit in the fire and then quenched in canola oil. Tempered them in the oven at ~400 degrees before final sanding and scaling...
Here are the results...
A drop point skinner for my uncle and a CLOSE representation of the soapstone carving my mother has from Sweden.
The skinner (shown before here)
The knife modeled after the carving mom has...
The skinner is scaled with mesquite. The little scandi type has a handle of dymondwood, antler, copper, hickory, and leather.
Both have been sharpened to where they need to be and I hope that the recipients this weekend will be as happy with them as I have been!
Charlie
My uncle (mom's brother) gave me a bag of Uncle JOhn's tools quite a few years ago since I am into wood work also. Well, I took the bag of tools and put them aside since I didn't want to use things that are the ONLY heirlooms we have for John. Speed up to 2010...
While organizing the garage a couple of months ago I came across the bag of tools. I opened it up and found that ALL tools were just like I had left them, wrapped in oily dishrags to prevent rust... All except one that is... Th BIG bas tard file was unwrapped and a bit rusty.
I knew that Uncle Doug was not doing as well as I would like him to be (may be his last deer season), and I knew that my mother had asked me several times in the past to recreate the soapstone carving of a knife she has, so I went to work on the file.
I annealed it in my little home brew propane forge, traced out what I wanted on it, and then went to the saw to cut it all out.
After cutting out, grinding, and all of the other prep work to 400, I did a heat treat in my forge. After normalizing 2 times, I took them to non-magnetic once again, let them sit a bit in the fire and then quenched in canola oil. Tempered them in the oven at ~400 degrees before final sanding and scaling...
Here are the results...
A drop point skinner for my uncle and a CLOSE representation of the soapstone carving my mother has from Sweden.
The skinner (shown before here)
The knife modeled after the carving mom has...
The skinner is scaled with mesquite. The little scandi type has a handle of dymondwood, antler, copper, hickory, and leather.
Both have been sharpened to where they need to be and I hope that the recipients this weekend will be as happy with them as I have been!
Charlie
