WIP Bowie knife
- Thread starter Dennis Morland
- Start date
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
I started the final grinding and shaping on the blade. You can kind of follow the process in the three pictures. 36 grit, 60 grit, 120 grit. At this point, everything is looking good and I'm very pleased with the results.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
Here you can see how the spine has developed through the 36 grit, 60 grit, 120 grit sequence. Again, looking good.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
And now the bad news. I put it in a quick dip to check the hamon. FAILURE!!!! I think I know what I did wrong. I will heat treat it again and skip the hamon. Kind of bummed out...
Sean Jones
Well-Known Member
Nice design Dennis. A bummer on the Hamon.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
When I quenched it, I did not have enough room in my quench tank (old crockpot) to completely get it under the fluid. This is the biggest blade that I have ever made. Normally I make hunters and edc knives. Bowies are much longer and I did not check this before the quench. So in my panic, I just edge quenched it as deep as I could get it. Good enough was not good enough. Lesson learned.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
Back in the saddle. Re heat treat turned out well. Blade will skate a file. Love my oven. Saved my butt. Here is a picture out of the oven after the second temper. It will get cleaned up and I can move on to the guard. Fingers crossed.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
Starting clean up No. 2.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
Machine cleaned up, final ground, squared and tapered. Time to hand sand. Yay!!! Going to be an awesome knife.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
A couple of hours of hand sanding with a few distractions. Got the signature side down to 320 grit. I am getting excited...
Sean Jones
Well-Known Member
That's looking really good Dennis!
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
Got the opposite side to 320 grit. My thumbs hurt! Bowie knifes have a lot of real estate to hand sand.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
Yes.
opaul
KNIFE MAKER
Good idea. I haven’t seen that before. I like that detail.
Dennis Morland
KNIFE MAKER
I am at the point in the build that always scares the bejeezus out of me. The swedge. For whatever reason it just freaks me out. I marked the spine and chucked the blank into my Bruce Bump file guide.
