My brazed art

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The guard is brazed to the blade and an acetylene torch was used for the heat treat.
Reply:Nice looking knive Did you get Bob warner to help you out. He has produced some exceptional knives. My favorite of his is the folded metal formed into shape of railroad spikeCo-Own CNC shop:Miller :1251 plasma cutter, MaxStar 700 TIG/Stick, & XMT 456 Multiprocess Welder.&  2 Hypertherm HPR260's Plasma CutterSorry I had a bad stroke but now I am back.
Reply:Fantastic knife.Or is that a braze dart?A butterfly without wings, is just an ugly bug
Reply:or maybe one of those leaf springs folks have been using for thingsCo-Own CNC shop:Miller :1251 plasma cutter, MaxStar 700 TIG/Stick, & XMT 456 Multiprocess Welder.&  2 Hypertherm HPR260's Plasma CutterSorry I had a bad stroke but now I am back.
Reply:Oldtimer:Nice work. Not knowing a thing about knife building: there are 4 small rivets (?), and two larger ones. Do all 6 go through the blade, do ANY go through the blade? How do you drill something that hard? The four small rivets look to be wide enough to straddle a 'tang', if that's what inserts into the handle. If nothing goes through the blade, what keeps it in the handle? 9-11-2001......We Will Never ForgetRetired desk jockey. Hobby weldor with a little training. Craftsman O/A---Flat, Vert, Ovhd, Horz. Miller Syncrowave 250
Reply:Craig, it is a full tang knife. You can't see it in the picture but the tang is the same size as the wood. All the "rivets" go completely thru the handle. None of the six are really rivets, just pins. THe small ones are just 1/8" brazing rod and the large ones are called mosaic pins. They are just various sizes and shapes of brass and aluminum tube and rod that will fit together and make a decorative pattern and are filled with epoxy. You can purchase a lot of different sizes and patterns of mosaic pins but they are expensive so I make my own. All these pins do very little holding the wood scales on the tang. They add some shear strength but that is about it. The  small pins do serve to keep everything in position while gluing and the epoxy is curing. The wood scales are actually held to the metal with a series of internal epoxy rivets that are formed when everything is epoxied together.The blade is made from 1095 steel and all the shaping and drilling is done before it is heat treated. Only the cutting edge of the blade is heat treated. The handle and the spine of the blade are still pretty soft. In fact I didn't drill for the mosaic pins until after the handles were glued on and ready to be shaped.
Reply:Is that 1095 steel oil hardened,water hardened, or air hardened?Can you explain the hardening process? Thanks-DonAWS certified welding inspectorAWS certified welder
Reply:Oldtimer:Wow, you made those mosaic pins (my new word for today)?!?! That's some very intricate work. I would have never guessed that the small pins are brazing rod and I just took that class a year ago. "a series of internal epoxy rivets"Hmmmmm; I wonder what else I don't know about the universe. Thanks for the answers and keep the pics coming.9-11-2001......We Will Never ForgetRetired desk jockey. Hobby weldor with a little training. Craftsman O/A---Flat, Vert, Ovhd, Horz. Miller Syncrowave 250
Reply:Another beauty"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Another beautiful knife. I envy your skill in making those knifes. I have a book on knife making and an old cross cut saw I have thought about using to make some, but I know I could never make one as pretty as yours. I don't know if the old saw blade would make a good knife or not - it was probably made before 1920 because the barn I found it in was that old. I think it would be very interesting if you could post some pictures when you make another and show the different stages and explain what your are doing. I guess that would be a lot of trouble for you though. We use to go to the mountains every year and when we did, we always went  on the other side of  Severville to Smokey Mountain Knife Works. I would always buy a couple of knifes since the trip was a treat for me. I have two shoe boxes full of knifes but none as pretty as some I have seen you make.
Reply:When you have a piece of art like that one - do you ever actually use it as a knife?I'd put it in a glass case.A butterfly without wings, is just an ugly bug
Reply:Nice knife! Do you use lime in the anealing process?Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.                                         -Cree Indian ProverbSA 200 LincolnVictor Torches
Reply:Donald, I use oil, water is a little severe and and sometimes the blade will crack. I just stays soft in air.  I do two different types of quench, one a full blade quench and the other is a edge quench. I use a stainless pot that is about 10" in diameter and 12" deep with a lid for the full blade deal. It has a mix of motor oil and diesel that is about the same as 15 wt. oil would be. I heat the blade only, not the tang or handle, to a bright orange with an acetylene torch. I use a #7 tip. I do it inside out of the direct sunlight. Most instructions will tell you bright cherry red but I am tone blind and as I see colors that isn't hot enough to harden the blade. I plunge the blade straight down in the oil and hold it until it quits bubbling. If the flames don't go out when I remove the blade I put the lid on the pot. The edge quench is basically the same only I use a pan about 2" deep and only submerge the cutting edge and hold for a 20 count ot so or until the blade is dark again and then lay the blade down in the pan and leave it for a little bit. You get a lot more flame this way and I cover the pan with a piece of 14 guage that I keep just for that. The edge should be hard enough that a sharp file just slides on it. I wire brush all the scale and carbon off the blade and place it in a toaster oven at 420-25 degrees for an hour. This gives a blade that is harder on the edge than most factory knives but still has a softer spine.Craig, the pins aren't hard to make at all. If they were, I couldn't do it.MM, I make them to be used. But I haven't found anyone that has one that uses it. They just tell me they don't want to mess them up.Thanks. Sam.Gizzardgutz, The 1095 is dead soft when purchased. I also use Nicholson and Simons files. A friend owns a large machine shop and and he saves his worn out files for me. I heat them bright orange and stick them down in a bucket of sand to anneal them.Last edited by Oldtimer; 03-05-2009 at 11:08 AM.