Dave Stephens

The milling machine is gone. Everything else is still available. I'll keep it exclusively to this group for a week. If no interest after a week I'll offer them to the local school shop program.

Sorry man.

All: I am selling my home in Florida and need to get rid of my bladesmithing equipment. I thought about selling this stuff, but I'd rather see it go to a Bladesmith that will use the equipment well. I have four large pieces of equipment that any bladesmith can have if they come to my house in Florida and haul it away. You have to have a truck and the ability to load the equipment. I'll help, but some of this stuff will require at least three guys. I will have an engine block lifter for the milling machine. Please DM me if you can get to Lake Mary, Florida i

It's a great looking EDC. If it was me, I would shorten the ricasso, or grind a finger grip with a small wheel into the long ricasso. Also, the plunge cut might be cleaned up a bit. Consider cutting it in with a round file before grinding. Another tip with plunge cuts is to cut a half round notch into the profile at the meeting point between the ricasso and the edge. This removes the gradual transition between the edge and the "bar" of the ricasso and creates a binary (either sharp edge or blunt ricasso). Just minor points that are mostly personal prefere

Been watching this on FB. Luck in the cast, Jul! Looking forward to seeing it whole and complete! Dave

Nice twists in the inner bars!

Great to see you and everyone else still in the fight. I've been so tangled up in keeping the company afloat due to Covid I haven't put hammer to anvil in a very long time. Feel like I'm losing a part of my soul. Thanks for the inspiration.

Beautiful. The curve of the forward bolster is really nice. Non makers might not appreciate the difference between a flat bolster and a curved one w/ multiple spacers, but every bladesmith looks at that and goes . . . wow, that a lot of fiddly work to ensure no gaps. Impressive. Dave

Awesome work! Love the fuller. Looking forward to seeing it done!

Really nice lines. Love the curved bolsters w/ the thin spacers. That wood is a trip. When I first saw it I thought it was fossilized bone of some kind. Thanks for posting.

Post a video of it at work! Thanks for sharing.

Looks great!

Pro tip: If you cook your brussel sprouts in coconut oil it makes it easier to slide them off of your plate and into the garbage. Really nice looking knife, Austin. I like the curve of the base of the blade near the bolster. Also, the sweeping curve of the butt of the grip is elegant. Well done.

Good looking W's. As Brian pointed out (and I'm sure you already know this) the end grain is the interesting bit, so the question is how will you get those W's on the surface of the blade and not just a tiny little mosaic at the end of the tang? If you don't want to to the mosaic route, twisting is a good choice. Twist up two bars of this in opposite directions and use them as the center bars for a sword or dagger. It'll produce a nice explosion pattern like this (if you grind into it)

Welcome, Bill! This forum has a ton of info on it. It's been going for years, so you can find nearly anything you're interested in. However, the search engine built into this thing stinks. So here's the trick. Go to google and type site:bladesmithsforum.com "the thing you're looking for" That way Google will search the site for you. Way better results. Omit the quotation marks if you don't want to look for the exact phrase. Luck in the quest! Dave