Help with forged bowie/fighter mistake

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
So I want to do some more forging and decided to make a big blade since most of my stuff I make are hunters and edc.

I forged it out and as you can tell didn't quite get what I had drawn up but was still happy with it.

I took a 36 grit belt and started cleaning up the profile, tang and stuff which was fine but then I was starting to flatten out the tang and flats but I did not realize my platen on top was sitting lower than my wheel and before I knew it the wheel had eaten into my ricasso area.
My question is what now? Am I just up creek without a paddle or can I modify it somehow to work into some type of a sharp pointy object. I was pretty mad at myself and it has been sitting on my bench mocking me ever since.
Here are some pics for reference, might be hard to make out.

Any help is appreciated.

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Thanks
JP
 
OUCH! Thats one of those things where your choices are very limited. Now where the blade should be it's thickest.....its thin. Personally I would start over, but you could also cut it down to a hunter sized blade and possibly get away with it.

That's one of those mistakes we make when we get excited about what we're doing......and forget things like the wheel sticking out more then the platen. :)
 
I'm with Ed. The only really good way to fix it is grind your ricasso area down till you get rid of the scale. Then, like Ed said, that has to be your thickest spot. So you might have a really thin bowie, which is okay. A lot of older knives, even big ones were a lot thinner than many folks realize.
 
Justin

To be honest, I did this one time also. I learned not to do that, again. Shorter knives fit on the platen. Longer ones do not. My KMG has the top wheel offset ever so slightly above the platen.

Thinking out loud. What about a surface grinder and taking the whole knife all down to a set thickness. It would even up the whole knife blank, possible. I just don't know how much you would have left to work with . . .

DeMo
 
I think it could be salvaged. It really depends on how hefty you want it. I would do a near full flat grind, then go back and clean up your ricasso area on the platen with the tip down holding the tang. The grind will take the meat out of the blade leaving you with the ricasso being thicker. Then after heat treat dial everything in
 
Thanks guys for the insight. I'm not sure what I will do. I appreciate the comments. I'm going to look it over and think about it. I will keep ya all posted.
 
I like the idea of flattening it to the thickness of the low portion. You'll still have plenty to do a full height flat grind that will make a heck of a good slicer for the kitchen. I'd grind that curve off of the tang to make a rat tail shape and put a Wa style handle on it.


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I'm with Ed on this one. I would change my design concept to use the most of the metal as possible. Then make the one you want.

Heck, put it in your I'll do it later bucket and start the one you want again. I've got a few put away like that which when I got back to them made very nice knives.
 
I feel the mocking pain your feeling, I was working on a hidden tang knife and was cleaning the plunge lines up and managed to break the spine of the knife.

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Thinning it down doesn't sound too bad of an Idea.
 
TacticallySharp said:
I'm with Ed on this one. I would change my design concept to use the most of the metal as possible. Then make the one you want.

Heck, put it in your I'll do it later bucket and start the one you want again. I've got a few put away like that which when I got back to them made very nice knives.
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Yeah like you and Ed said, I might set this one aside and try again for the one I want instead of fighting an up hill battle. Also I got a little more knowledge on how to form it to want I want with this one so maybe I will have a better shot of getting it right the second time.
Thanks everyone alsways good to get others opinions and not get a critical judgment that's why I like knifedogs the best.
JP
 
Well, Justin, I for one am glad to see you mess up! You keep putting out gorgeous knives and making me feel like a slacker. You just made me feel a little better about myself, thanks. :biggrin:
 
I wouldn't be afraid to go do a full flat grind on any knife, ever. It does make them better slicers and after all.....that's what these are for right?

Some of my 8"-9" blade bowies are only 3/16" thick or less at the ricasso with a full flat grind and full distal taper.

And I bet most of the old time mountian men with 12"-15" blades would think mine was a thick heavy club. ;)
 
Self Made Knives said:
Well, Justin, I for one am glad to see you mess up! You keep putting out gorgeous knives and making me feel like a slacker. You just made me feel a little better about myself, thanks.
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Lol...no problem. Here's another oops I glued two knives up at the same time the other day and one of them I had only finished the front of the scales to 120 grit...about 3 hours later I realized it...ugh in about the 40 knives I have made that is the first time I have done that. This happened the same day i messed this one up I was not on my game.
 
J. Doyle said:
I wouldn't be afraid to go do a full flat grind on any knife, ever. It does make them better slicers and after all.....that's what these are for right?

Some of my 8"-9" blade bowies are only 3/16" thick or less at the ricasso with a full flat grind and full distal taper.

And I bet most of the old time mountian men with 12"-15" blades would think mine was a thick heavy club. ;)
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OK you have talked me into it. I will try grinding in my pre heat treat bevels and see where it lands and if I can make it work.
 
Nicest thing I found to do when I screwed up a large blade was cut it in half and forge two smaller ones. Works every time.
 
Mr Doyle is right do a full flat grind and adapt the design.I hate making bowies because they seem to be forever fighting me, the end product however is worth the struggle (to me at least) but I have learnt that you should expect a few changes to your plan along the way.

Regards:
Shaun

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Have done the same thing. You can waste alot of time trying to fix it. Make a smaller, thinner blade out of it. It's nice that so many of us make the same mistakes. It adds to the brotherhood.
 
I believe my good friend Ed Caffrey told me once, "There are no mistakes, just opportunities for design changes." :)
 
J. Doyle said:
I believe my good friend Ed Caffrey told me once, "There are no mistakes, just opportunities for design changes." :)
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It's amazing what you learn from really botching up a blade. For instance, I discovered all on my own that drop points are awesome because.... when you grind off the tip of your blade you can simply lay the spine on the flat platen, point down, and roll down til the spine at the tip is flat on the platen and... voila... New tip! (Yes, this is a teeny SNAFU, but happiness is made up of tiny victories. I take them when I can.)
 
Sounds like a fine opportunity to thin the whole thing down and make it a kitchen knife. It's a good size for general prep work or meat processing and uses what you have with very little design change.
 
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