Knife with an inclusion

[Brad Lilly]

I think there is an slag inclusion in the blade so I'm going to pound the tar out of this one and see how it holds up. Since I have been playing around with cord wrapped handles a bit I thought this would be a good one to play with. The blade is forged from 1084 with a wrought iron guard and pommel. The handle is full tang built up with leather, wrapped in cotton cord with cotton ribbon on the outside. The whole handle is soaked in epoxy so it wont undo. The tang extends through the pommel and is hot pinned.

 

[McClellan Made Blades]

Brad,
Could you take a close- up pic of the slag inclusion? I don't think I've ever seen one myself, I would hope one of them would announce their presence with a bull horn! But, I'm sure it's not that obvious, as most things like that aren't.

Another question, could you have attempted to grind it out? I know doing that could have ruined the blade, but isn't it already ruined with the inclusion? To me it looks like a re-design is called for, just in an attempt to save whatever steel is salvageable.

BTW, LOVE THE EPOXY SOAKED CORD WRAP!!! I recently saw one that had a 550 soaked cord on it, I just never thought of how well that works, the maker says he soaked and massaged the epoxy into the cord before tying it on to the tang, then gave it a good (lite coat) brushing with some as well. It looked a lot like yours, GREAT! And felt incredible in hand! Thanks Bud, Rex

I thought to add this as well, did you etch the blade? If not, and you're planning on doing some testing, shouldn't you etch and polish it out? I know that's a lot of work, but to get an accurate test, shouldn't the knife be as you would normally sell it?

 

[Brad Lilly]

I made a thread on it here
http://knifedogs.com/showthread.php?30415-Nasty-spot-on-my-blade
When I hand sanded the blade it looked like a smudge or finger print I could not get rid of. I went back at it with the grinder on the sides and also added the clip because there was another spot on the spine. The clip grind cut one out but the spot next to the plunge came back out in the etch.

I did etch the knife heavy sort of a controlled patina along with the guard and pommel. My goal at the beginning was to try to make a tough use knife that will hide some of the scratches and scuffs. Since the spot scares me a little I don't think I should let it go. I'm not 100% sure it is an inclusion but I would rather keep a knife then sell something that comes back broken. So far I have chopped an old 2x4 a couple times and done a little flexing to see if anything pops out or cracks. The blade has held up to everything I done to it so far, if it did not I never would have finished the handle.

Rick Marchand moved into Nova Scotia so I stopped by to steal as much information as I could (Kidding Rick sort of) and I was stunned by his handles. I never thought a cord wrapped handle could look and feel so good. Soaking the handle in epoxy makes one tough handle. I like the feel of the cord it sort of grips the hand.