First two

T

Tectonic

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First one up is made from a railroad spike with a black paracord wrap. Since the picture was taken I cleaned up the grind some using 80 grit and switching to 120. I'll have updated pictures tomorrow.

The second is from an old file, and I used cheap dowel rod cut and shaped for the scales (the scales are un-finished in the pics, again, updated pictures coming tomorrow)

Today I made another railroad spike knife, this time trying to twist the square stock. I ran into a couple issues; and, I'm using an oxy/acet torch as my "forge" at the moment (I've got an old grill, some firebrick and coal coming on Tuesday, so I should have a better system by then)

For the second railroad knife I used the super quench instead of just water; pics of it tomorrow.

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I think I'm beginning to get the hang of things, but I'm always open to tips! Thus far I've got a pedestal grinder, and a 1x30" Dremel belt sander. Working with what I've got.
 
As you have proven, "Where there is a will, there is a way". Just keep at it and never settle for any piece being "good enough".
 
Indeed. There was an open-air festival of "old timey" living in my town (a rather oldschool town anyway) and I spoke with a couple blacksmiths there, one of which is going to give me a bag of coal (free and I'm very thankful). Hopefully I can find a good supplier of coal, and maybe learn a thing or two. I learned a lot just watching him. Oh, and I have an anvil - but I need to have some of it welded up with iconel (sp?) and machined down since it's got some divots (it's probably 100 years old, was my grandfathers and he restored Volkswagen's and Model Ts)

I'm also working on a very low budget, but I hope to get ahold of some decent steel and better handle material soon. Though I am thinking of buying an axe handle from lowe's (hickory) and cutting it up to use since a fairly large one is only about $9 - and hickory is a nice hard wood, but I'm not sure about it's application as a knife scale.

Anywho.. Appreciate the kind words. I'll be back at it again tomorrow. It's addicting.
 
Well, I spent the day building a forge. Got that out the way now, but it smokes a lot - need some ways to cut down on the smoke. So, tomorrow some more pics of knife making!

I also have a friend getting me some deer antler, gonna try that as handles on a few.. I've also got a shark spinal column (don't ask) maybe I'll incorporate it somehow..
 
If you want to use premade handles (axes and such) you can often find them for sale at flea markets. I have found them in several materials which displayed really nice curly figure for anywhere from $2-10. As for steel, check out Aldo's site. He has some really good prices on quality steel.

http://njsteelbaron.com/shop

Aldo has posted his prices for his newest steels.
 
I'll keep that link in mind Murph, but at the moment I'm flat broke so I'm working with what I've got or what's easily accessible to me. Hoping to get some money together to get some corby bolts and proper handle material.
 
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