Bowie Work In Progress

opaul said:
Bad karma. The ‘1070’ steel I got from The Metal Market’. Would not harden. Also as
I was sanding I noticed a few impurities in the steel.
I’m cutting my loses on this one. I’ll charge the hours to the learning curve for making a Bowie.
Right now i’m going to hang up my shop apron and open up a Blue Moon. Enough for today.
Click to expand...
I can understand the frustration OP and when you get over that, as you will in a day or two, then I would go ahead and finish the knife and hang it on the shop wall as a visual reminder of what it has taught you. That will be quite a lot of the process as well as some of the blade shaping detail, guard and handle fitting and the general style you have sought to bring to the table. Often it is the failures, and not always something that is not always something due to our input, that have an ongoing teachable element to them. The other thing is that, even with a plain handle wood, you will learn from the fitting of it and that will stand you in good stead for the next hidden tang knife whether it be a bowie or another design you try your hand at.
 
Von Gruff said:
I can understand the frustration OP and when you get over that, as you will in a day or two, then I would go ahead and finish the knife and hang it on the shop wall as a visual reminder of what it has taught you. That will be quite a lot of the process as well as some of the blade shaping detail, guard and handle fitting and the general style you have sought to bring to the table. Often it is the failures, and not always something that is not always something due to our input, that have an ongoing teachable element to them. The other thing is that, even with a plain handle wood, you will learn from the fitting of it and that will stand you in good stead for the next hidden tang knife whether it be a bowie or another design you try your hand at.
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Thanks! You are exactly right about the learning moments.
I am going to hang it in my shop but not in the finished state. I’ll post a picture a picture a little later of this work of art paper weight.
 
Ok, here we go. Here is a beautiful blade shape (to me) that has served me well but belongs on the wall of learned experiences. Hours well spent that will transition to the next blade. Just in case the photo isn't clear this blade is bent at 90% and the point is curled :)
 
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Here is the replacement Bowie blade WIP project. This blade is 30% smaller that the first one. I took my original sketch and reduced it on the copier!
This one is off the grinder. I haven't done any hand sanding. I still plan on fabricating a guard in similar style to the other one and will also quench for a Hamon. This steel is 1095 from AKS and I've always had success with their steel.
 
Opaul I would water quench that bowie to see what happens. If it does not harden then you know you have been had. Either way it would never leave my shop but at least I would know. If it hardens you can finish it and keep it. My hunch is that it is mild steel though. Did the sparks look normal when you ground it? On second thought, who pays attention to that when working “known” steel.
 
opaul said:
Bad karma. The ‘1070’ steel I got from The Metal Market’. Would not harden. Also as
I was sanding I noticed a few impurities in the steel.
I’m cutting my loses on this one. I’ll charge the hours to the learning curve for making a Bowie.
Right now i’m going to hang up my shop apron and open up a Blue Moon. Enough for today.
Click to expand...


I just heard of another maker that had huge trouble with Metal Supermarket so I don’t know it their going down the tubes or what……

Absolutely gorgeous knife!
 
opaul said:
Bad karma. The ‘1070’ steel I got from The Metal Market’. Would not harden. Also as
I was sanding I noticed a few impurities in the steel.
I’m cutting my loses on this one. I’ll charge the hours to the learning curve for making a Bowie.
Right now i’m going to hang up my shop apron and open up a Blue Moon. Enough for today.
Click to expand...

Paul, bummer on that, but aren't you glad you're doing your own HT'ing rather than shipping out somewhere? What did you quench in? Perhaps try brine water. I like the "Blue Moon" idea {g}

edit: a bunch of posts happened while I was making my post so much of it is already posted. The smaller Bowie sure looks good - you got that design nailed!
 
KenH said:
Paul, bummer on that, but aren't you glad you're doing your own HT'ing rather than shipping out somewhere? What did you quench in? Perhaps try brine water. I like the "Blue Moon" idea {g}

edit: a bunch of posts happened while I was making my post so much of it is already posted. The smaller Bowie sure looks good - you got that design nailed!
Click to expand...
Thank you.
I do my own heat treating - Evenheat/Parks 50.
Like I said - never had issues. I’m 100% sure it was the steel.
 
After normalizing for two cycles it's ready for the heat treat prior to quenching. I have applied the clay for the Hamon.
 
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