First comissioned knives

The knives are all finished now so I just have to hot wax the sheaths, give everything a final going over and they will be ready for delivery.



There was another two that needed the finish to the handles so they were attended to as well.

 
I have a can of parrafin wax that I melt and when it is heated through I dip the sheath in it for a few seconds and when you take it out you can see the heat open the pores of the leather and suck the hot wax in. This heat allows you to then bone the leather to the knife shape and when it is cool it hardens the leather to an almost kydex like firmness. Hard and weatherproof with a shape that will hold the knife firmly but allow for easy withdrawl.
 
that's good to know. I just finished my first sheath a week ago...I loved working with the leather...but much to learn...as usual...lol.
 
A count of between 4 and 5 seems to be about the best time to have the sheath in the hot wax. Remove the sheath and shake the few drips off and give it a wipe with a coarse cloth then dip the other end. After it is cool and hard it will buff up to a really nice shine. I am sure you will like the result.
 
Beautiful work! What is your heat treat process? And the vise with the opposing horizontal metal plates? I use a two brick propane forge and quench in canola oil and my blades look like they have been baked in 100 year old motor oil when they are finished....yours are so clean!!
 
Beautiful work! What is your heat treat process? And the vise with the opposing horizontal metal plates? I use a two brick propane forge and quench in canola oil and my blades look like they have been baked in 100 year old motor oil when they are finished....yours are so clean!!

I take the blade to non magnetic (only working with carbon steels for now) and quench in 130 degree canola oil for 8 10 10 seconds which I have seen is long enough to bring the blade down under critical temp and then give it a quick wipe to get rid of the oil which also removes some of the scale as it is still soft at this stage, then put it on the bottom plate in the vice and drop the top plate and tighten the vice to ensure there is no warp as the blade is still movable at this stage. There has not been a warp so far but this is just an extra precaution and makes sure there is no pulling as the blade does the final cooling to room temp. I do the tempering as soon as all the blades in the batch are heat treated at 185degrees (C) for 2 hrs.

I had been HT in the kitchen fire but am building a gas forge at the moment and will do all future HT (and a bit of forging probably of cable blades) in that.
http://knifedogs.com/showthread.php?45959-WIP-Gas-forge
 
Good for you, Sir !
It helps to get a little fire in the belly once in a while ! A pat on the back can do a lot for a knife maker !
Frank
 
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