"Go Mai" Camp Chopper WIP

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antigoth24

Well-Known Member
I have recently been very inspired by the work of Claudio Sobral and his harpoon points in particular, if you haven't seen his work you need to check it out! This recent inspiration resulted in the idea for a "go mai" harpoon point, go mai being five layers (if I have that correct) as opposed to san mai which has three. I had some left over 700 layer PW billet put together from 15N20, 1084, and 1095; I thought this would be the perfect core for this camp chopper and decided to give it a go.


Here is the concept drawing:





In this drawing the blade is 1 3/4 inches wide and 7/34 inches long.


After getting the image in my head on paper I was able to tack a billet together. For the center core I cut the remaining PW billet in half and stacked it together to achieve the appropriate thickness for the core. I then placed a 1/8 inch piece of 15N20 on either side and placed two pieces of 1/4 inch W2 on either side of the 15N20. Because the PW billet is the same material being welded to its self I am treating it as "1" layer instead of two resulting in "five" layers.






I then welded the billet together and ground the edge to check for weld flaws:





A quick etch to see if everything is centered. (On one side of the billet there was a small portion of the original PW billet that had a heavy hammer mark in it. In this photo it looks like a weld flaw but is not and came out later on in the forging process.





I then drew out the billet, forged, and profiled the blade. (Sorry I didn't get any photos of the steps in between). :





I then rough ground the blade:





At this point I leave the plunge lines rough as I will refine them with files later on.


A quick dip in acid to see what is going on:







Then after much polishing (5 hours 37 minutes and 15 seconds of polishing) ;) I ended up with this:














I have been experimenting with this "grunge" look while etching. After polishing to 2000 grit and buff I etch it briefly and then scuff it with 320 grit in random places to let the acid eat in more deeply in those places. I know this look isn't everyone's cup of tea but I like it in certain styles, this effect worked better on one side then the other, but overall I am pleased with how this blade is coming out.


More photos to follow. Thanks for looking.


Robert
 
That is outstanding !! Please post some pics. when its finished. The etching looks awesome !! Also greetings from your neighbor 50 miles NW of the 'Burgh
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. Today was mostly about fitting the guard and would have taken up most of the day except I could sleep last night (up at 3:30 am) and so I was done fitting it by 7:30 :D


Thankfully though I was using bronze which is so wonderfully soft and not as much of a pain as filing stainless. I started with a 1/2 inch bar and cut away the excess then I started fitting it.


Initial fit:





Getting closer:





And when I'm just under 1/16 inch away I stop and start to make the shield. In this case it was textured copper:








I then "strippled" The bronze using my dremel and antiqued it using sulphur dioxide and a couple of pass with my propane torch.





Somehow I completely forgot to take pictures of the handle fitting, but I was able to get it on and shaped today. It's finally starting to look like a knife and a pretty decent one at that. There is still a good bit of clean up work on the handle, marking the blade, and the sheath but it's definitely getting closer. I will be working on the sheath tomorrow but for now I have to go clean the house for book club ;)
Thanks for looking!


 
Thanks for the comments guys. :) Okay so today was about finishing the handle and making the sheath. I ended up adding a pin (not recommended to ever do at this stage, but if you are careful you can do it.) and I finalized the finish on the handle.

First the sheath:


I decided I would do another fold form copper inlay so I started with a 12 inch x 4 inch sheet of 1/16 copper. This part is always fun because you can just go crazy with texture development. Once it is as textured and folded as I thought looked good I covered it in a thin layer of sulphur dioxide and exposed it to heat for about 30 seconds. This is the result.





Pretty ugly looking but it will get better. From this piece I will trim my inlay. But first I make a paper pattern over the the top layer of the sheath to determine size and pleasing shape. It's important when doing any inlay to remember to leave room for your stitching.





Then carve out the design in the leather to allow the copper to fit "flush" with the surface. (I am using 4 ounce leather on the top face of the sheath)





I then cut out an interesting section from the copper sheet to use as the inlay.





The leather is then dyed and the copper inlay is glued in and pressed flat with a weight.





I then punched all of the holes.



And then you just stitch everything together:





And the finished sheath:


Unfortunately not the best picture but better photos are to come.


 
Thanks! :) I lucked out on lighting at the end of the day and was able to snap some good photos showcasing the new camp chopper.



 
That's an amazing build! I really enjoyed your process. You nailed it! The harpoon tip really looks great. Claudio would definitely approve of it I'm sure. Fantastic work!
 
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