steve m

Nice lookin with good lines. I like it Steve

nice job as usaual on your work. No forg marks is ok but don't abanden your own style.

great looking knife. love the gard and has real nice lines.

good idea Jerry I have ben a little conserned about that. I make shure to not leave the knife in the vise when not working on it. but things can happen so a gard is probabley wise.

Thanks I hope it gives you some ideas. I always enjoy when other people post pictures of homemade tools and tooling. Making your own tools allows you to customize them the way you like them and saves money. Mattie my red healer thanks you for asking me to give her a treat.

Here are some photos of my knife vise. The swivel set up as you can see in the photos is made in out of a trailer hitch ball. The vise is made out of aluminum and HTML plastic and I used bicycle quick releases to make clamping the blade or Tang fast and easy.

Way to go

Hi welcome to the forum and WA. I live in Everett you can allways stop by any time

Nice Job Sam. That is a great way to stay tunned up on your skills. I will have to try one Just to see if I can get close to what yours looks like.

I like it aloght. looks good and very usable. The sheath goes good with the knife. Great Job. I no your frend will be proud to carry it.

looks like you could kill a few hogs with that bad boy. great job.

looking good Geoff. You definitly haven't wasted any material. I also want to see the ring pommel when finished.

Awsom looks great together. How do you get the 1095 so dark? If you don,t mind telling. I have made a few san mai carbon stanless knives but never could get that mutch contrast.

I did a knife with 302 and 1080 I welded all the layers up tight all the way around so no air could enter the stack. then forge weldded as normal. This worked for me. I am shure there ar outher ways like welding in a box that would work also. Not shre of stanless to stanless though.

Grant was a great man. The amount of knowlage he had and the truely great Ideas he was willing to share with others will be missed. I can't think of what the NWBA blacksmith conferences will be like without him. I consider myself luckey to have met and talked to him over the past few years but wished I had known him longer. A sad day. and thoughts go out to his family

I have a champian #1 witch is a 65# hammer that I use a 1 1/2 hp moter that is 1750 rpm . the moter is a old heavey one that has more torque than my 2hp . Mine has a huge overhead Jack shaft and pully that act like a fly wheel. this set up runs mine just fine so I would say 1 1/2 to 2 hp should work ok . I run mine around 250 bpm any faster would seem to fast to me.

The one i have is finer than the 49 and 50 but cuts faster than eather one very uniform. It has way more teeth than the nicolsons and is wider with a longer taper to the point. I paid around $ 100,00 for it but it is my # 1 file when working on bows and finishing hawk handels. I was teaching kids to make bows at our state traditional archery gathering one year and it disapered out of my tool bag. Later I foud it on the ground in the wood shavings. Talk about being in a panick I thought I was going to cry in frunt of all the kids. Now I keep it locked in the car when I'm not using It.

Great and outstanding work. If the steel is frum wagon springs froum the turn of the century it is most likeley shear steel. I made knives out of a few buggie springs that came fum a site dated to 1880s to 1910s. It was great stuff to work with and had a real cool patern. made good knives that held a good edge. comparible to 1080.

I have one of there pattern maker files I use for making bows and I can say it is the best file I have ever used. I use nicolson 49 and 50s but they arn't neer as nice . I let a few bowyer frinds try it out and now I have to sleep with one eye open.

Hear In washington We see so many of Grants good ideas we pay them no mind.

I may have elk in that size

luke love your stuff I would cary that knife with pride. I am shure your frend will show it off and you will get sum real comisions out of it. Tell your frend not to mention what he paid for it when braging to peaple. I also think the socket knife is cool and may have to try one now it looks like a fun forging project.

This is a trickey thing for all knife makers. If you price your work to low it is hard to rais your prices later. Also if to low peaple tend to think that your work must not be any good. If your prices are to high compared to outhers of the same quality you can,t sell your knives. Look at what outhers knives are priced that compare to yours and price yours in a comparible manner. Also a master smith told me to never sell a knife I wasen't happy with just to get rid of it. He said it wold come back to bite you. If I don,t fill the knife is good I don,t sell it at all. Also put your name on all your knives you sell. It will force you to make better knives. If you sell knives that are junk or sell them to cheap you lower the reputation and market for all custum knifemakers. The best way to honer thoughs that have helped you is to make the best knives you can and price them fairly.

Good grinding has taken care of most all my weld flaws. I use my harber frate mini air press to set my welds and then draw out with my champion power hammer. also I have better luck with anihydrous borax than 20 muel team. also good to have the thickest steal on the outside of your stack.

Welcome to western Washingtion. I live in Everett witch about 40 miles north of Seattle in Snohomish co. Prices are a little lower the farther north or south of Seattle you get. but 1 to 2 hours drive should get you into areas you will like. Once you get out this way I would drive around to get a idea of routs and trafic. Like Geoff was saying geting aroud hear is a bit of a chalange do to the water and topographey. I would recomend the Northwest blacksmith asociation if your looking to meat bladesmiths and the like. Just search NWBA .