Search results

I run my forge off my 250 gallon tank that runs my furnace. It has a regulator on the tank and another one where it enters the shop. The propane company told me to tee into the line before the second regulator and I would get 9 psi. I haven't had any trouble with it in 2 years of running.

I’m using 1/8” and under and do all my grinding after heat treat.

With carbon steels that have some decarb after heat treating, you can grind some off and test etch them to make sure the decarb is gone. Also, if I get a reading that I think is lower than it should be, I will grind a little more and retest. If it stays the same, I adjust my heat treat...

Here are some completed pictures.

It is done and ready to ship!! First some sheath making. I got ahead of myself and forgot to take pictures early on. For these knives, I’m making what I call a presentation sheath, or display sheath. No belt carry. First, I made a template and cut the parts out. Next is glueing the welt and...

Quick update. I have the sheath finished and hope to get the knife sharpened tonight. Then it will be ready to send out. Once I get it sharp, I'll get final pictures and get them uploaded. My wife had surgery on Monday, so that has kept me away from the knife shop.

If you listen to podcasts, check out Mark of the Maker. One of their early episodes was on William Scagel. Pretty sure they also have one on Bo Randall.

The Nuclayer wasn’t bad getting off. I hit it with a wire brush by hand and it came right off. When I’m heating for the quench, I let my oven run for 15 or 20 minutes to level out before I insert the blade. The in and out quench is called an interrupted quench. I’ve got an article on hamons...

MTBob, I used my Jen-Ken kiln for the heat treat. I did use foil for the normalizing and the thermal cycles. Here's the process steps. 1) Heat to 1975 for 10 minutes. Cool to black. The reason I used so high of a heat is that I've heard some of NJSB's W2 needs high heat to break...

This one is finished and ready for a sheath and sharpening. I also got the 2nd blade finish sanded and etched. The handle scales are roughed out and ready to profile.

That turned out nice!! I’m planning to make a kabar at some point with a stacked leather handle. I may have to get some pointers from you.

I normally just do the front of the scales, but on a damascus or a knife with a hamon, I do heirloom/museum fit scales, so wax the whole thing. This lets me finish and etch the tang of the blade without worry of sanding into it while finishing the scales. I've never had good luck re-etching...

Last night I got the tang and scales prepped for glue up. I always bump the scales on the disc sander with 60 grit and the tang on the 2 X 72 with 50 grit right before glue up. After that, I pre-assemble the scales to the tang and wax any areas that epoxy may squeeze out. All glued up...

I'm hoping to get it finished this weekend and get it on it's way to you.

Well, the blade is final sanded and etched. To say I’m pleased would be an understatement. The hamon turned out way better than I expected. Hopefully I can continue to get these results.

I haven’t. I’ve always kept koa at its natural color.

I’ve got the edges of the scales sanded to 1200 and the faces sanded to 800. I’ll stop here and tru-oil the fronts and edges. I’ll have to grind the corby bolts down once assembled, so no need to go further with the faces yet. I also have the inside corners of the scales rounded over. I do...

Looking good. No hurry on my end, take your time.

The scales are cut out and the fronts are shaped and sanded to 2000. When I’m ready to sand the profile to the pencil line, I shim the back of the scales so when I grind the edges, especially the butt of the scales, they will be ground square to the center of the blade. All profiled and...

Sure. Here’s a video I made a while back explaining how I drill the pin holes.