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I see all you responsible adults managed to avoid making the very obvious joke that goes with this thread title

I bought this

As the monsoons set in again here, I closed my public shop early which gave me some time at the forge and I got this one 4-wayed: Hopefully you can now see why I call it "The Lost Highway" pattern.

Some months ago I was contacted by a local restaurant (which is held in very high regard nationally) with a view to potentially supplying them with table knives. Its not something I would normally give consideration to, but the place is full of potential customers, and it seems it will be a great opportunity if the project goes ahead (and Im sad to admit, a bit of an ego boost as well). They are very into 'local' produce, suppliers etc. I found it amazingly difficult to work on small knives, as they basically just look 'wrong' to me. I also could not find any work to be (cough) 'inspired' by, so had to go from scratch with the design. The restaurant did not want classic 'steak knives' , and did not want them too 'pointy' Even if the project does not progress it was interesting being pushed outside my comfort zone ! Be interested in your thoughts on them, and would love to see any table knives members on here have made. These are the finished prototypes, they are all a bit different, a mm or so here and there makes a big difference to how the knife feels ! again I would be interested to hear if any of them look better (or less worse?) to your eye than the others ! - the F&F would be improved on the run of blades if it goes ahead, these were 'lashed up' !

Maybe there will be a Royal Warrant in this for you someday

I have a few pictures to add of the forge in action. Essentially I ended up making a coal rake for myself and then lantern hooks for our Flys and tents. I sold everything I made except the rake.

It looks like the bulgar style anvil from old world anvils. https://www.oldworldanvils.com/the-bulgar-anvilitalian-style

GO JAMES!!!!

I’m gonna take a play out of Clifford’s book and grab some popcorn and soda

That's really cool Gary!!!

I used to use birch bark for this, but have found leather is more consistent and generally easier. For some reason metal guards/bolsters with no spacer looks fine to me, maybe it's because antler and wood don't have as much contrast and need something to go between them. Anyways, here's some more progress: First step was to peen both tangs. The one on the larger knife will be completely covered by a wooden end cap, but this one needs to look at least somewhat presentable. Handle profiles marked out. While peening, I accidentally broke the tip of the big knife, so I also did a slight re-profile to fix that. The handle design I had for the carving knife would have put the rivet a bit too close to the edge of the butt-cap, so I modified it slightly. A coping saw, rasp, and files take the handles to the lines. Same for the other profile. There are a few wiggles I noticed here, which I worked out after taking the picture. I used a rasp and files to break all of the corners on the carving knife. Then I used the carving knife to shape the wooden section of the hunting knife handle. I will need to use a rasp/files on the antler. Shaping the wood with a knife is the way Bergman recommends to do it in his book. It felt a bit slower to me than using a rasp, but then again I use a rasp much more than I whittle, so it could just be me. It was also more fun and chips are a lot nicer than dust. Also, the leather kept the edge from hitting the antler which was nice. It also might set me up for an easier time shaping the antler, not having to worry about the wood as well. Anyways, that's it for now! Next step is to finish rough shaping then move on into sanding. Thanks for looking!

Wonderful! I Admire it! I believe it required a lot of patience! Congratulations!

This is my favourite of yours so far, the material combinations in that handle are gorgeous, and the damascus is great too. I can't wait to see what you do with an airgraver, they are amazing tools and i dearly wish to be able to afford one myself one day.

Stunning knife, I love the sheath too.

Sweet!

I am going to share my newest method for finish grinding that I think saves a lot of time. Mind you, I have a 9 inch reversible disc sander, So if you don't have one, this isn't going to work for you. I take the blade to 120 on the belt and then move to the disc at 150 this basically flattens the bevel and straightens the edge. Back to the belt at 220 and then to the disc at 220. Hand sand inline with the blade to 220 to remove all the 220 disc scratches. Disc at 320 to remove all the 220 hand sanding. Hand sand at 320. And so on back and forth from hand to disc upping the grit at the disc until I put the final hand sand at whatever grit I want my finish at.

Not today, but over the last couple of weekends, I made this: What does it do? Well, when you weld it to the top of an old oxygen tank and hang a disk of wood in it, it turns it into a bell. Then I needed something to hang it from, so yesterday I made this: You can't see it for some reason, but the whole bracket is forged from 3/8" x 1". and there's a sharp step at the base of the fleur-de-lis where I fullered in a groove and then flattened the bar out sideways to about 3/16" to get the width I wanted. I still need to clean it up and paint it.