forged bowie

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Well yet another project on the go, decided to make a knife for my father inlaw for this christmas who is an avid hunter/trapper, ive made a few knives over the years my favorite is forging Damascus however it is a long process, I enjoy the craftsmanship that goes into them and its a nice "relaxing?" project. This time I decided to go with a baltoa farrier rasp knife (great steel). Started out by annealing the file in the forge, grinding down all rasp points, and then into the forge and anvil to shape everything including cutting the tang. I make it a goal to never use a grinder on these projects (other than taking down rasp points). Once the shape of the knife was the way I liked it, it was into the various files needed to shape the knife, a lot of guys tend to take the blade further up the knife thus taking out some of the character when it comes to a file knife in my opinion. I still have to do the vine file work on the spine of the knife and then shes good for heat treat!, taken from 100 grit upto 600 to take out the major file scratches, but not much point going further until after heat treating/tempering. I have an elk shed that iam using for the handle, and working on a brass finger guard also. Lots of work, but fun to see it come to life! Attached Images
Reply:Belota rasp. I've got a few I wore out. Unless that's a new name. Excellent steel in the Belota, BigHoof.Arcon Workhorse 300MSPowcon 400SMTPowcon SM400 x 2Powcon SM3001968 SA200 Redface1978 SA250 DieselMiller Super 32P FeederPre 1927 American 14" High Duty LatheK&T Milwaukee 2H Horizontal MillBryan
Reply:yes sorry! I cant believe I messed that up, had a completely different brand of something on the brain!
Reply:i never saw a file knife before. very interesting. nice work.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:haha i dont know about that 7A, i just enjoy dabbling in cool new things. When i was apprenticing under whom i consider the best pressure welder/fitter ive ever encountered in my life, who was absolutely ridiculious when it comes to fabrication of unique things (taught me everything i know) He told me one day when we were flipping through a magazine i said wow! that would be cool if you could make that out of steel ! and he told me "you can make anything you want, lets do it." those were probably the most influential words i was given at that young age! I finished the vine work today so ill post pictures of that this evening, thanks for the kind comments fellows!
Reply:Phenominal PW! My friend made one recently out of a file as well and really got it to look like Damascus steel. He is the sickest blacksmith I personally know. He got about as far as you did so far and he dropped it and it broke before he could anneal it. What a bummer. Just figured I would give you a heads up so you don't wind up with a boner before its finished. Looking awesome man, can't wait to see it finished!I hate being bi-polar it's awsomeMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Reply:Pressure, can’t wait to see it finished. I love rasp bowies, here is one that I profiled out over 20 years ago and had a friend finish on his KMG last year.LarryMiller XMT 304 CC/CVSyncrowave 180 SDLincoln PowerMig 255XTTermalDynamics 52Lincoln 305GComlpete machine shop to back it up
Reply:Just to one more thing, I wish I had you patience and skill for forging, beautiful work. I have an 1800’s era coal forge that I used to play around with but there is a black art to building a proper fire! I would wind up setting the whole damn pan of coal on fire. Now I understand how to build a coke ring in the tray to maintain your working coal.LarryMiller XMT 304 CC/CVSyncrowave 180 SDLincoln PowerMig 255XTTermalDynamics 52Lincoln 305GComlpete machine shop to back it up
Reply:Nice. Looking forward to the handle. This is on the Garage Journal site. You may have to join to see pictures. More Blacksmith work. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...=200204&page=9
Reply:I dont understand where the "into the forge and anvil" is here?  it looks like an undisturbed file ground to profile.  all the teeth are still lined up in even rows, so what got smooshed, and to where?  Did you smoosh the entire edge area down thinner and somehow maintain the tooth look?it is really cool looking leaving so much origional toothLast edited by dsergison; 12-05-2013 at 01:29 PM.
Reply:very nice knife larry I to love the character of a rasp knife, definatly very cool, almost as cool as Damascus! I really have to get on making another billet of that, however it is definatly a longer process in my situation as I do not have a trip hammer, all done by hand unfortunately. That sheath is also very nice!dsergison -  May look like this, but imagine the file being put into the forge as a whole, and me having hamered out the entire shape including the tang, I have a special cutting tool for making cuts on hot material. I used the horn of the anvil to shape the tip, and also hammered out the beginning of the blade edge to take out some file work. as you can tell the difference my blade edge is much shallower than larrys. As larrys knife blade was likely put on with a belt sander which is a great method! but (personally) I enjoy doing everything with hand tools, just to try and get back to the bare bones of fabrication.... even though I don't even have a 100th of the talent of the old school black smithers. I wanted to save as much file characteristic as possible so their was literally almost zero forming on the flat face of the file other than file work/sanding.I was able to heat treat today, let it rest over night and now I have just finished the temper in our brand new Lincoln hydro rod oven " good for 600* " pre heat to 350, let soak for 1.5 hrs, and then just finished another 1.5hr soak at 425. As you can see I was able to attain some nice color. Also before all this I added some vine work to the spine. Now onto the sand papers! Attached Images
Reply:Your file work on the back bone is sweeeet!Miller XMT 304 CC/CVSyncrowave 180 SDLincoln PowerMig 255XTTermalDynamics 52Lincoln 305GComlpete machine shop to back it up
Reply:Originally Posted by 7A749Frigging awesome PW!The table was pretty cool too
Reply:Nicely forged! Great execution on its style and details are fantastic! Sweet job!PlasmaCam CNC cutterLathe and Band SawClamps
Reply:Over 35 years ago when I was in Thailand, I watched Thai and Hmong blacksmiths forge machetes from pieces of truck springs using a charcoal forge.  All were forged to net shape from a slug hot-cut from the spring using a chisel.  What little finishing that was required was done with a draw knife (yes - a poor man's mill) and files.  Final sharpening was done using a natural stone (a rock).  Some could do beautiful work and a good smith could forge out his particular style knife with amazing regularity, even if the result was slightly larger or smaller.  Here are some rather pedestrian knives I picked up for maybe $3. - $4. each on a more recent trip.  I'm sure some more modern tools were used, like a grinder.  The "bellows" (hollowed out logs) and mud forge are just like the ones used by my Thai farmer buddy.  I used to work the bellows for him."USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:WOW ! That's a couple of big a$$ wheels. Wonder what those suckers gotta cost.
Reply:those are some huge wheels! those would be great for getting a nice true edge! sorry It took me a while to get back to you fellas, but finished up the knife today, here are some pictures. Elk shed handle, bronze pin, along with bronze finger guard. Hand sanded to 2000 grit, and then polished. Also for those that are interested, the elk shed was weather worn to bleech white basically so I took some dark walnut stain I had left over to coat it, just a quick wipe on/off immediately step as that antler soaks it up like a sponge! leave it on too long and it will come out extremely dark. I used some lepage 2 part fast drying epoxy. "good for 3200psi" it says... let it dry over night and peened the pin along with sanded it down. Just putting the last seal coat on the handle now. As for sharp.... well believe it or not I actually shaved one side of my face with it just for ****s and giggles and it worked better than my Gillette! however it took 6 different sets of wet stones to get it to that point.... also I must say at this point my hands are raw with a couple severely deep cuts! one of which needed two stitches.... its a lot of blade! hahaha anyways hope the father inlaw enjoys it, onto the next project! Attached Images
Reply:couple more Attached Images
Reply:thanks bud! I have definatly been blessed throughout my career to have as many opportunities to do the things I have! and learn from who I have. Owe everything to the amazing pressure welders ive worked under.
Reply:Very nice.Miller XMT 304 CC/CVSyncrowave 180 SDLincoln PowerMig 255XTTermalDynamics 52Lincoln 305GComlpete machine shop to back it up
Reply:A knife that make Mr.Bowie proudGreat workSent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2Backed my CATMA over your CARMA oops clusmy me  What would SATAN do ?? Miller Trailblazer 302 AirPakMiller Digital Elite  Optrel Welding HatArcair K4000Suitcase 12RC / 12 VSHypertherm PM-45Rage 3 sawRusty old Truck
Reply:Blood, sweat & tears. Beautiful results, I want one! City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:thanks guys!
Reply:All I can say is just WOW! And I mean WOW! Great job man, and I'm sure the father inlaw will be doing cartwheels when he sees it! Just take the knife away from him first! I hate being bi-polar it's awsomeMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Reply:haha thanks mikey! hope all is well and merry Christmas to you!Very nice big knife mate.I once had a knife made from an old blade out of a power hacksaw. Man that thing was sharp. But unfortunately like other things they go away.It's good to see peoples work especially when they put the time in and take so much care.Keep up the good work. Love it.
Reply:Nice looking knife. I really like the proportions. Can you give us the length, thickness, etc?ChrisAuction Addict
Reply:thanks fellas!thickness is a touch under 3/16", length of blade is 8-1/2" long, and width of the blade is 1-1/2" long