Man, I sure took my time posting this picture. But here is the finished knife that I gave my parents for Christmas. 52100 steel with a black linen micarta handle. The pins are brass from a rod that my dad picked up somewhere. I really like the micarta for handle material, although there is something to be said for using natural materials. But the micarta didn’t need any kind of finish and is absolutely waterproof.
This micarta handle is hell on sandpaper! I’ve been going through more than I normally would with a wood handle, but it will be nice not having to put a finish on it. I really like the way it’s shaping up. I think I’ll use micarta again in the future.
Here I have pinned and glued the handle on. I used a piece of brass rod that my dad gave me for the pins and Loctite Epoxy weld for the adhesive. The handle is linen micarta that I got from Jantz. It looks rough in the picture but it finishes up real nice and you don’t have to put any stain, seal, or finish on it. I’ll post more pictures of the handle later.
Here I’ve hardened my kitchen knife after drilling the holes for the handle. I heated it up to critical, and then edge quenched it in motor oil. Then I sanded it to shiny and tempered it in the oven at about 400 – 450F. Unfortunately, my oven thermometer was on the fritz, so I was having trouble keeping the temperature steady. I’ve since replaced it. This knife is made from 52100 steel. The handle is made of black linen micarta, I’ll post pictures of that soon.
WordPress sent me an annual report for my blog. I thought it was most interesting to see where visitors came from, especially from those not in the U.S. It’s great to see that there is this much interest in charcoal forging and knifemaking. Take a look if you’re interested.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,800 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 47 trips to carry that many people.
Here is a picture from November of the knife I made for my parents Christmas present. I didn’t post pictures earlier as I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. It’s made from 52100 steel. In this picture it’s pretty much shaped and I’ve been putting the bevel on. I’m finding that it is easier to do this with my four inch sander. When I use my one inch sander, I end up with lines on the blade as you can see here. Probably wouldn’t be a problem if I was a little more careful. I’ll post some more pictures soon.
It’s that time of year when I can’t post photos of what I’m working on, as I don’t want to ruin the surprise on Christmas. I have been doing some knifemaking, and thought I’d post a picture of my hand-crank charcoal forge. In this photo I’m annealing a file for future use as a blade. My forge is made from a wash-basin lined with clay that I’ve inserted a steel pipe through with holes drilled for air. The airflow is provided by a hand-cranked blower from an old cavalry forge. Previously I had used a hair-dryer which worked quite well, but this is definitely more authenic to the charcoal forging process.
