Dave Stephens

"Shaved Ape" LOL. That's classic Sam. Love it. Guys, please don't let Sam's "enthusiastic" rhetoric make you think he's being deliberately provocative. He really does know what he's talking about. He's just very, shall we say, emphatic about it. I think it has to do with being on TV all the time. Celebrity ego . . . you know. Grins, Dave

Beautiful! Tell us more of this mysterious coffee etch. I have not heard of this! Dave

Awesome work! Love this. Thanks for the WIP pics. I have a special affinity for leaf blades. Elegant shape you've hit.

Mark: I really respect the standard you are holding yourself to in terms of fit, finish and craftsmanship. Yes, non-makers will ooh and ah over the big picture, and it's easy to swept along in that, but it takes discipline to take a magnifying glass to your finished or nearly finished work and see it with the critical eye of a maker. This is something I struggle with all the time. Beautiful work, man. Dave

Really enjoy the layer contrast between body and edge. Awesome work as always, brother! Dave

Wow. That is such a neat guard design! I love it. Thanks for sharing this. Beautiful work. Dave

What a wonderful WIP! Thank you for posting this. Learned a lot from it! Dave

Really nice work!

I would think a "fold over" style scabbard would be the easiest. If you have a copy of the Complete Bladesmith, Jim has a good photo-tutorial in it on how to make those. Since you mold the leather wet, it accomodates different handle sizes. You will need glue, however. Leatherworking is a great craft for scouting. So many things for them to make, and they learn how to ornament useful objects.

Very cool, Gary. I like your twisting jig. Did you build it yourself?

Another old thread with broken image links updated. Thanks, Charles du Preez for pointing this out.

Photos were gone. At the request of a member, here they are. Cheers!

Awesome knife. Love the integral bolster and, as Chris already pointed out, the transition from the bolster to the handle with the convex grooves is elegant. Thanks for keeping this thread about the knife and not about the politics associated with the donation guys! Dave

You can order it off of Amazon, believe it or not. https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Ferric-Chloride-Liquid/dp/B008UH3SAE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492289092&sr=8-1&keywords=ferric+chloride Mix this stuff 4:1 with distilled water. Works great. In terms of polish: I go to 220 grit on a random orbit sander (the regular electric kind you get from Lowes or Home Depot). You can get an even etch if it's random. I etch pretty deeply (3-4 soaks at 15-20 minutes, scrubbing oxides off between soaks) then a light buffing with pink scratchless rouge to bring out the contrast. Luck.

Oh god . . . this thing. If you made the knife with a belt grinder, it's not a "real" knife. If you used a power hammer or a hydraulic press it's not a "real" sword. People who have spent ZERO time studying this thing we have dedicated a huge portion of our lives to want to give us a lecture on authenticity. If you want a laugh, you should hear Peter Johnsson (Peter . . . Effing . . . Johnsson) tell stories about people coming to his booth lecturing him on what a "real" sword is. (insert head exploding emoticon here) I often go to the absurd with this: Well, I wanted this to be a "real" sword, so I could not use electric tools, so I had to use files and stones. But I didn't make my files nor mine my stones myself, so I had to start making files and mining stones, but I couldn't just buy a forge, so I had to make my forge, but I couldn't just buy the coal so I had to mine my coal. And then I needed ore, so I had to start mining ore. In the end, I just decided to walk naked into the forest and come out with a completed sword. Because, if I didn't do that . . . then it wasn't a REAL sword. Was this a rant? It felt like a rant. I'm sorry. This is a rant free zone, right? Okay, my bad. And special apologies to Vernon (the starter of this thread). Dude . . . Sorry. I know you didn't mean to kick a hornet's nest with this very reasonable initial question. It's just a sore spot for a few of us . . . (okay, like most of us). Welcome to the forum! We're really nice, honest! Grins, Dave