Back in January of 2014, I joined the American Bladesmith Society. Back in July of 2014, I finally built a gas forge. Back in November, I fired it up at a hammer-in with our local knife club and forged out three blades. This is one of those blades, forged from a portion of leaf spring from a 1958 Ford. There are people out there who will say, "leaf springs ARE such and such steel" based on a chart they found somewhere. I say hogwash on that. This steel IS 1958 Ford leaf spring, and it IS hardened to 59 Rockwell. Without precise testing, spectroscopy, or whatever, that's all I can tell you for certain. While I've not forged maybe 15 blades, it's all grinding in the end. With an eye to the International Custom Cutlery Expo in September, and journeyman smith testing in 2017, I consider this a good practice effort for meeting the guild and JS fit and finish standards. All that said, here are the specs: The knife is 8 3/4 long with a 4 1/8 blade. The blade is 3/16 thick at the ricasso with distal taper. The 600 grit satin finish is clean. The guard is 416 stainless, fit up tight, with a fiber and a 416 spacer. The handle is natural sheoak with an oil finish. Kind of in keeping with the "oak" theme, the right hand sheath is tooled in an oak leaf and acorns pattern. I've done basketweave a whole bunch, but this is my first effort at picture tooling on a sheath.
Mark side
back side
Handle contour and distal taper
guard fitup and plunge finish
fancy sheath!
