2 hunter WIP

[Ty Adams]

Today was a good day for working out in the shop. It was snowing off and on, and we are closed at work. So I started working on a couple of hunters.

I made a template to keep the knives as close to the same as possible. The dental pick gets in nice and close for a good scribe.

Rough cut cut on the porta band.

For profiling the 10" contact wheel and a 60 grit belt make short work of profiling. I cut up to the line, not past. The contact wheel leaves a concave edge. I'll take the profile up to a 400 grit finish on the flat platen.

For the inside radius of the handle a 1/2" small wheel is used. I put a couple of dabs of grease on the bearing to keep the wheel from falling out during belt changes.

I know we all get the dreaded belt bump while profiling. This an extreme case, but it's still an easy fix.

I use a half round file at a 45 degree angle. If you try to cut straight acrossed the file bites in and leaves an uneven finish.

All cleaned up and ready for the small wheel with a A65 gator belt.

Not perfect but good enough for pre-heat treat.

While drilling the main pin holes I take the time to knock the burr off the exit side before drilling the next hole. Having the holes straight now will save time later.

Reducing some weight with a 1-1/4" small wheel. This is where I call it quits for today.

 

[Jason Volkert]

Cool stuff!! Thanks for sharing

 

[Kevin Zito]

This is great, Ty! Thank you for posting. Btw, I love the shape on those.... very eye-catching.

 

[Sean Jones]

Very nice...and I like your tip about using the half-round file. I'll file that one in my memory bank (no pun intended)

 

[Ty Adams]

Seeing how it's Christmas work on these is coming to a stop. I have decided what handle material to use.

One will have curly maple with a black and green canvas micarta bolster. The other one will be Koa with a blue liner.
Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Ty Adams]

This is great, Ty! Thank you for posting. Btw, I love the shape on those.... very eye-catching.

Thanks Kevin.

 

[opaul]

Nice WORK!! Keep the WIP pics and commentary coming!!

Merry Christmas!

 

[Von Gruff]

Excellent shape and size for a hunter.

 

[Ty Adams]

Nice dork. Keep the WIP pics and commentary coming!!

Merry Christmas!

LOL!

 

[opaul]

LOL!

Opps. I am embarrassed! Good thing for EDIT.

 

[Kevin Zito]

LOL!

PAHAHAHA funniest thing I’ve seen in a while!!! It’s even funnier bec it’s OP! Lol

 

[opaul]

PAHAHAHA funniest thing I’ve seen in a while!!! It’s even funnier bec it’s OP! Lol

Well ..... what can I says??

 

[Merle]

Looking great! I like your method for pulling weight out of the full tang handle. Good idea.

I have a very similar shaped template for a DPH that I plan to work on over the holiday. What steel and thickness are you using?

andy

 

[Ty Adams]

Looking great! I like your method for pulling weight out of the full tang handle. Good idea.

I have a very similar shaped template for a DPH that I plan to work on over the holiday. What steel and thickness are you using?

andy

Post pictures as you go, I like seeing other people's work. The steel is 1075 3/16" thick.

 

[Ty Adams]

Not much of an update. I realized that all the 1/8" holes were drilled with an 1/8" bit. That doesn't go well when you're trying to get everything too fit right after heat treat. I reamed the holes and added some 1/16" pin holes. I think that this ones going to have domed pins. It's going too be my first attempt at a domed pin handle.



Two scribe lines for grinding. I also scribe lines down the spine of the blade. I found out the hard way you can be centered on the edge and not on spine. The blades warp all crazy too one side when the bevels not even.

 

[Ty Adams]

Slowly getting around to working on these.


Rough ground and thermo-cycling done. I use foil wrap to keep decarb at a minimum.

After grinding off what little decarb is on the blade, make sure everything is nice and flat with 220 grit sand paper.

After getting everything flat I wash the blades with hot soapy water to degrease, and get rid of any other contaminants.

I'm going to try a couple of different clay layouts, hoping for some good hamon action.

 

[Chris Railey]

I really want to see the hamon on the right I will be stalking this thread.

 

[Ty Adams]

And we have heat treat success.

I have no idea how accurate these files are. In my testing if the 65rc file scratches but doesn't bite everything went well.

I use a piece of aluminum angle for a back gauge on the porta band.

I cut all of my scales at 3/8" thick. This Koa block was over an inch thick, that won't effect any thing in the final shaping of the handle. The pencil is a prismacolor in metallic silver. This is a must use tool for me in the shop. It doesn't stain wood, and is visible on dark wood as well as light color wood.

Getting the scales flat with some 60 grit paper. This as far as I'm going today, more updates tomorrow.

 

[bladegrinder]

Great write up and photos Ty, I'm looking forward to seeing how your hamons come out, I'm trying my first this Sat.

 

[Justin Presson]

Looking good!