WIP Ring guard Bowie

Brad Lilly

Moderator and Awards Boss
WIP Ring guard Bowie, done Pictures post 16

Knifedogs has been the biggest positive thing for me trying to become a knifemaker. I have made new friends and learned from some of the greatest knifemakers out there. The whole atmosphere here is one of trying to help knifemakers improve and push their limits. With that in mind I thought I would do a WIP thread of a knife wayyyyy out of my skill set, after all knifemaking is like exercise if you don’t push yourself you never get better. I’m a big fan of Bruce Bump and Steve Janick’s knives so if this knife looks heavily influenced (Cheap rip off) by them that is no surprise. :)



Here is the beginning a ¾” thick piece of mild steel for the handle. I thought I would try and make a ring guard Bowie with the frame, guard and pommel all out of one piece of steel

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I lucked into a mill cheep this spring, so I though this would be a good way to learn how to use it

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Time to get forging. I did not get any pictures of the forging action. Here is the blade ground out and ready for heat treating. The steel is 1084 and I edge quenched it in veterinarian grade mineral oil (Parks 50 is hard to get in Nova Scotia)

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At this point the blade is tempered and finished ground. The flats are sanded and I’m ready to cut the false edge in.

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This next photo is why the whole project has come to a halt. Never sand at 5:00 am on a Sunday before drinking ALL your coffee :)

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It is not as bad as it looks just a little poke at the base of my thumb, right in my sanding muscle.
 
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brad, that looks like a great project man! Very envious of your mill, not so envious of the hole in your hand! :D
 
Lookin good. The one piece handle is fun to do but does need a milling machine. Thanks for the mention, I do see some influence from the Bumpnik team. Take your time on the contouring of the guard and pommel. Yep keep the pictures coming.
 
Boy this one got me excited... then I see the boo boo, ouchy!!! OK, I may have started off there sounding disapponted and to a degree, I am, But! You gotta take care of that hand! You only have 1 of a matching set! Trust me the original equipment is the best made! The replacements SUCK!!!!! It's best to take a break and heal... that's so funny, me saying that... I should take my own advice!!! It's like the DT's or something like that when I can't get to the shop....or maybe I'm just sick in the head!!! Whichever, I AM in the right company here! Rex
 
I’m bad for not finishing things I start. The blade is edge quenched so that makes filing the back of the blade easy. I decided to draw file the false edge instead of using my grinder, yes I’m chicken.
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It may be hard to see, but I peaked the spine to be different.
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The blade is finished to 1000 grit right now, I’m thinking of going to 2000 and a quick buff. Now I’m down to the grunt work. I have cut out the frame for the tang, and determined how much lateral force an 1/8” end mill can not stand
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Most of the pros mill the guard slot very close to the tang size. I’m not that good so I do a lot of filing but I would rather go slowly instead of start over.
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I like to mark the tang with a black marker so I can see where the metal surfaces are touching.
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I’m a little over ½ ways there. I want to thank Steve Janik for the advice, I was stuck with some of the technical stuff and he got me back on track.

The hand is fine I have cut myself worse shaving, the picture is my warped sense of humour
 
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I got a bit more done this weekend. This is the finial nut, right now facing the top of a mild steel rod and drilling it. After drilling and tapping I use my redneck steel lathe
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The redneck steel lathe is my cordless drill and belt grinder. I clamp a bolt in the drill and thread the nut on that keeps things centered better. When I first tried this I was shocked how well it worked and it is fast!
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Once the nut is ground to rough shape I clamp the bolt in the mill and do my final shaping with chainsaw and flat files. It is also easy to sand and smooth up this way
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I wanted the final nut a little lower than where the middle of the tang hits so I had to grind the tang off centered. No big deal all that will be covered.
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3/16” to go and I’m back to my day job. More to come
 
I finally have the tang fitting the guard. I had to use a layer of painters tape on my file guide as a spacer so I could get the angle just right.
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I decided to use brass for the spacer, and liners.
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I picked up a pair of stabilized striped Indonesian Ebony from the Burl Source (Great place to do business with by the way). One of the nice things about a frame handled knife is not having the finished blade getting scratched up while grinding the handle. I have just gotten the scales fitted and the handle profiled.

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I ground as much steel as I could out of the handle and tang to try and lighten this knife up. The balance point is between the guard and where the ring meets the handle. Once the handle is shaped up the balance point should move forward a little. Oh happy Canada day to all the canucks out there.
 
Just BEAUTIFUL! Looking forward to seeing this one finished, but for some reason I had envisioned the handle being screwed on instead of being pinned, that was what I was seeing in my head for some reason. Did you ever have that idea? I love this construction, extremely solid and incredibly awesome! You know, you could push this one into a different level of awesomeness (...that is now a word!) with some engraving!?!?!? Have you given that any thought? There is a thread on the main forum about finding "inexpensive gravers", there was a guy on there that is a Knife Dog that was a student of someone else that is from what I understand an excellent engraver, it may have been Doug Sutherland that was the teacher, if it was he is AWESOME! I think the student is mainly wanting to get some more of his work out there to be seen, ya might want to look into, it could be worth your time, that is if it's something your interetsed in, just a thought. Of course if this one is already pinned and glued, it's probably too late for anything real extreme, but some work on the edges would look sweet, curious to see what your thougts are on this, Rex
 
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I stole the one piece frame handle idea from Steve Janik, I could not get the idea out of my head. Steve gave me a bunch of tips to help me get past a few road blocks.

Actually the scales are friction fit at this point. I have not locked it down yet. I never thought about holding the scales down with screws, maybe next time.

I would love to explore engraving some day but two things hold me back.
1 - I'm not sure my stuff is worth engraving (You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig:))

2 - I don't know any Canadians who engrave. Sending a knife to the US for engraving would result in me paying tax/duty both down and back. Here in Canada if you don't declare a package worth 200$ Canada post drags it to the destination behind the truck. So to sum it up I would get nailed for tax/duty on 400$ before I ever get shipping and the cost for the engraving. I love Canada and Nova Scotia, but it sure costs to play the knife making game here.

I’m glad you guys are enjoying my WIP, it sure has kept me honest. In that regard to that if the nut on the tang looks different that is because I ruined the first one, just a little too much torque. :)
 
Done!!
I will keep it short, and lots of pictures. 8” blade, 12 7/8” over all.
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I did cold blue the frame, guard and pommel, but it washed the wood out too much. Mild steel with a light buff looks alright.
I can find lots of stuff that I need to improve on, but I’m pleased with the way this one turned out. Who says you can’t teach a redneck new tricks. :)
Thanks for looking
Brad
 
Brad, It came out very nice. One thing I see is the ring could use some more contouring. It needs to lose some weight but so do I. :)
 
Thanks Bruce
You are right the ring is close to 1/8" thick, I should have cut it down more. Grinding the outside of a round ring like that was harder than I thought it would be. I stopped once I had the outside round.
 
actually I was talking about the guard could use some material removal to slim it down from both sides. As long as the hole is big enough to be comfy on the index finger the ring shape isnt a real issue. For example the trigger guard on most every gun isnt round but oval shaped and viewed from the bottom are not squared but contoured and shaped. Know what I'm sayin? But if you made everything the way I do I'd hire ya and put my name them. :)
Thanks Bruce
You are right the ring is close to 1/8" thick, I should have cut it down more. Grinding the outside of a round ring like that was harder than I thought it would be. I stopped once I had the outside round.
 
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I believe this is what Bruce is talking about.
Just make the side and bottom of the ring a little slimmer so your finger can slide right in.

Just an observation.
Steve
 
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