Recent content by dswait

Very nice looking knife! I like the bolster dovetail you did there.

I enjoy the show and find it interesting to watch. I don't think the time constraints are too unreasonable, as I'm sure any master blade smith could forge out a completely functional knife with handle & guard within 6 hours without any sweat. I attended the intro to blade smithing class last...

You want to start with a slightly lower temper the first go around, then check the edge with a sharp new file. If it still skates across the edge because it's still too hard, then you want to increase the temperature a little more to temper the edge back some more to get a little more soft. If...

Commissioned from me by a coworker for him mom's birthday. Made from 1095 and purple heart for the handle and stand. I forgot to measure this one, but I believe it would be between 4 and 5" of blade length. My first attempt at a knife stand.

I was wondering if there would be one this year as well.

Both very beautiful knife and sheath. Very nice.

I saw this while it was wip. The finished product looks even more amazing, that's one heck of a sheath George. Very nice.

I have cracked knife handle material twice before while Peening. Now I use corby screws with lock tite and this method seems easier and safer. In the end all you can do is grind away the material and start over to recover.

Another one I made from a file. This one was a test to see how quickly I could make a blade from start to finish. Took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to forge, grind, heat treat with torch, clean, temper with torch, clean, stamp mark, and sharpen. Then later the same day attached handle made out of...

I normalized it twice first, then heated the whole thing to critical and quench into peanut oil. Temper in the oven at 450 degrees for two 1.5 hour cycle. Air cool in between. I was doing 400 degrees 1 hour cycles, but after testing a file knife, found it to be more on the brittle side...

I have an arbor press laying around I might do this to. Thanks for the WIP, very nice.

Very Beautiful knife! I like it.

Forged this one from a very large file I found at an antique show. This is my first attempt at a swedge. Used black palm for the handle with a lanyard. Blade has a 12" edge with a 5" handle, making it 17" OAL. Mirror polished. I call this one Sparrow because its very long, narrow, and pointy.

This one I forged from a file I found at an antique show. It's about a 4.5" blade with a 4" handle, handle material is black and white ebony. This wood was very easy to sand to my surprise and feels like the smoothest I've done so far. Feels really great in the hand. Standard leather sheath to...

All wood has some level of toxicity I suppose, but the danger lies when working the wood to the maker and inhaling the saw dust. This handle and sheath has been sealed with several thick coats of varnish and therefore shouldn't pose any risk to the user or food. As a finished product I believe...