GKimmi's 2020 KITH

Gene Kimmi said:
I've heard good things about them. I went with the Coal Iron because of the opening on 3 sides.
Click to expand...
I do like that feature! But it wouldn't fit in my space easily! And my area is very small so the e ability to roll it out of the way is attractive to me too.
 
It will be exciting to watch you work through the KITH Gene - thanks for sharing your journey and your knowledge
 
A little more progress. I have 2 of the billets twisted and 2 of them still need another weld. I'm going to go with one of the twisted billets for this and set the other 2 aside as time is getting away from me. I'm hoping to get the blade and guard forged out this weekend.

 
Glad you are feeling good enough to work like that Gene. I just have to get off my butt and make a sheath for your knife then I can send it.
 
Chris Railey said:
Glad you are feeling good enough to work like that Gene. I just have to get off my butt and make a sheath for your knife then I can send it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris. No hurry on my end, although I'm excited to get it in my hands. I am feeling great, but twisting these was more than I thought it would be. I'm feeling it today. Getting back into shape may take a bit.
 
A little more progress made today. I forged the twisted billet down to 7/16" thick, and cleaned it up to check for delams.



No delams! I cut off a piece to make the blade and a piece for the guard. Here I rough forged the shape on the press.



From there, I cleaned up the tang and ricasso and forged the bevels in by hand. I didn't forge the point in as that would distort the twist pattern.



Here is the blade shape drawn out so I can cut it.



And here is a teaser of the pattern after rough grinding.

 
Getting a little more work done on this one. It's time to square the shoulders up with the file guide.



Checking to make sure everything that needs to be filed away is gone.



Here you can see that the shoulders are rounded, not square. If left square, this could cause the blade to crack in this area.



Next comes stamping my mark.

 
Next, I cut a t slot in the end of the tang to fit a bolt in to make this a through tang. I will use the female part of a corby bolt to tighten the handle up.



Here I have traced the shape of the ricasso and tang onto the guard. This will be the back side of the guard.



Next I square those lines across the guard and mark the centerline.



The first thing I do when milling a guard is to drill a hole completely through the guard at each end of where the slot will be.



Here I have milled a 1/4" slot most of the way through the guard. I leave about .060" unmilled.



Next, I mill the rest of the way through the guard with an end mill smaller than the thickness of the ricasso.



The guard doesn't fit yet. I'll leave it at this stage untill heat treating of the blade and guard are finished.

 
Now it's time to lay out the shape of the guard. I do this on the face of the guard. I start by marking where the spine and bottom of the ricasso will be.



Next is laying out the shape.



And the shape is ground.



And on the blade.




Tomorrow I will grind the lug on the guard and everything will be heat treated. I feel bad that I'm going to be pushing the limit on getting this one shipped out on time, but I'm going to do my best to meet the deadline.
 
Gene Kimmi said:
Now it's time to lay out the shape of the guard. I do this on the face of the guard. I start by marking where the spine and bottom of the ricasso will be.



Next is laying out the shape.



And the shape is ground.



And on the blade.




Tomorrow I will grind the lug on the guard and everything will be heat treated. I feel bad that I'm going to be pushing the limit on getting this one shipped out on time, but I'm going to do my best to meet the deadline.
Click to expand...
Don't rush, I am in no hurry to get that beautiful knife, would wait another year for it, lol.
 
Just an update as progress has slowed down. I have contacted scher68 and wanted to let you guys know, this one is going to be a little late as I have tested positive for the Covid bug. I’m going to try to have this one done and out before Christmas.
 
Gene Kimmi said:
Just an update as progress has slowed down. I have contacted scher68 and wanted to let you guys know, this one is going to be a little late as I have tested positive for the Covid bug. I’m going to try to have this one done and out before Christmas.
Click to expand...
Take care of yourself Gene.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top