amsdadtodd
New Member
Hi All,
I'm Todd, and I'm new to the hobby. I started a few months ago by taking some cheap Chinese kitchen knives I had and the handles fell off. I figured it was a low risk way into the hobby since I was starting with trash, I would either create trash, or rescue trash back to utility. So, I bought a plank of bloodwood, a plank of purpleheart, and a plank of Brazilian Rosewood, and made some sharp looking handles. Now I have a set of cheap Chinese stainless kitchen knives with nice handles, and a lot of leftover exotic hardwood.
The bug is planted, I'm on to my next project. I picked up a low cost damascus full tang hunting blade from one of the web only dealers and I'm doing a handle and scabbard in bloodwood and brass. The dealer, by the way, Knifesupply.com was great to deal with, the product, well, you get what you pay for. I'll make the best of it. The damascus pattern is pretty sloppy, it's from Pakistan and only seven layers. I may just polish it up nice to downplay the striations. It is a rugged looking blade so it can make a nice knife.
Anyway, after seeing that pattern, I figure I must be able to do better, so I'm planning out a pit forge for when this darn snow melts off the yard. I figure I'll tray to forge my own damascus this summer, and if it doesn't work out, at least I will have a forge to use to harden blades for the foreseeable future. I know, that sounds like a lofty goal, to go from zero experience to forging damascus, but nothing ventured nothing gained. I'm an engineer, so I've been studying a lot of resources, it's time to go from book smart to trying it real world.
To wrap it up, I think I found a cool new hobby here, and it looks like neat community of folks involved in it. I'm starting out in it with 10 fingers, so I hope to keep it that way and have a lot of fun on the way!
Todd
I'm Todd, and I'm new to the hobby. I started a few months ago by taking some cheap Chinese kitchen knives I had and the handles fell off. I figured it was a low risk way into the hobby since I was starting with trash, I would either create trash, or rescue trash back to utility. So, I bought a plank of bloodwood, a plank of purpleheart, and a plank of Brazilian Rosewood, and made some sharp looking handles. Now I have a set of cheap Chinese stainless kitchen knives with nice handles, and a lot of leftover exotic hardwood.
The bug is planted, I'm on to my next project. I picked up a low cost damascus full tang hunting blade from one of the web only dealers and I'm doing a handle and scabbard in bloodwood and brass. The dealer, by the way, Knifesupply.com was great to deal with, the product, well, you get what you pay for. I'll make the best of it. The damascus pattern is pretty sloppy, it's from Pakistan and only seven layers. I may just polish it up nice to downplay the striations. It is a rugged looking blade so it can make a nice knife.
Anyway, after seeing that pattern, I figure I must be able to do better, so I'm planning out a pit forge for when this darn snow melts off the yard. I figure I'll tray to forge my own damascus this summer, and if it doesn't work out, at least I will have a forge to use to harden blades for the foreseeable future. I know, that sounds like a lofty goal, to go from zero experience to forging damascus, but nothing ventured nothing gained. I'm an engineer, so I've been studying a lot of resources, it's time to go from book smart to trying it real world.
To wrap it up, I think I found a cool new hobby here, and it looks like neat community of folks involved in it. I'm starting out in it with 10 fingers, so I hope to keep it that way and have a lot of fun on the way!
Todd