Dha, willow leaf, jungle chopper, and bush cleaver

Stormcrow

Well-Known Member
More work to go to Atlanta: bush swords!

bushsword1.jpg


These are all forged from 5160 spring steel and given the triple normalization, triple hardening, triple tempering heat treatment I use for that alloy. All have integral socket handles, hemp cord wraps, cotton cord two-strand Turk's head knots on each end of the handle, and shellac sealer, with either natural amber or black. All shave hair. :)

The handles are oval in cross section and are aligned with with blade. Some are straight, some are curved to drop the chopping sweet spot below the level of the knuckles.

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The dha is based off of blades from Thailand and Burma. Its blade length is 15 1/4" and its overall length is 21 1/2".

bushsword2.jpg


The willow leaf is more Chinese in design. Its blade is 15 1/8" long and its overall length is 21 1/2". The top bevel is unsharpened.

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The jungle chopper is based on blunt-ended choppers found across Southeast Asia. Its blade length is 14 3/8" and its overall length is 20 1/2"

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The cleaver is also based on Southeast Asian blades. As another knifemaker put it, "This thing wants to take off a leg!" :D It's particularly fun to shave off a swath of leg hair with it, knowing what that edge would do when chopping. It's a bit too short to really fall into the "bush sword" category with a blade length of 11" and an overall length of 17 3/8", but the construction is the same.

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I have about half of the inventory for the Blade Show fully completed and will put up pictures as the rest of them get sharpened and sheaths made. I'm going to be a very busy boy!
 
Thank y'all! Not only is it my first time to go to Blade, it's my first time to have a table at a straight-up knife show. :)
 
James, in the fourth picture from the top, the blade is in line with the handle, but the kink in the transition area doesn't look right. On all of the traditional ones I've seen, there is no kink there. I didn't know how you were doing that part or I would have said something sooner. That spot is the most difficult part of the whole forging process.

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Aw, Tai, ain't nothin' I do traditional! :) It looks a wee bit odd, but not so much when the wrap is on, and it makes for a very comfortable grip; fills the hand nicely.

I keep playing and tweaking with how I do the sockets, so they will vary some from each other.
 
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