Gary Mulkey

Thanks, JJ. I'm not sure what you would like to know. The damascus is a "W" pattern mosaic that was tile cut. The hilt has a frame tang. The domed pins are 1/16" through pins with 3/16" domed heads that I turned on the lathe. The handle is attached with a through pin which is hidden under the escutcheons.

This one has a mosaic blade of 1084 & 15N20. The dogbone handle is of blackwood with 416 fittings and some brass accents and a Damascus guard. The domed pins & escutcheon are N/S.

I've gotten this Dogbone Bowie about ready for the final handle glue-up. I'm thinking that once glued up that I will add an escutcheon to the middle of the hilt. The blade of this one is a mosaic from a modified "W" pattern. The handle is of blackwood with stainless & brass fittings and a Damascus guard. The domed pins are N/S. I'll try to post a photo of the finished knife when completed. Hope you like it.

I've been putting together another historical. This one being a Dogbone Bowie. The blade is a "W" mosaic. The handle is blackwood. You can see the turned domed pin heads in the foreground. I've still to do some clean-up on the hilt before applying the handle pins which will be through pinned and peened over the domed heads. Eventually it will get a rectangular escutcheon overlay in the middle of the handle.

I mounted mine permanently. I drilled a hole on the side of the forge for the thermocouple and welded a bracket on the front of the forge legs for the pyrometer.

Here's the thermocouple/pyrometer that I use. I prefer the analog type display. http://www.vulcankilns.com/KilnAccessories.html

Aaron, 1095 isn't a good steel for beginners. I would recommend either 5160 or 1084.

I don't do a lot of twisting but I re-purposed an old blacksmith's drill for my twisting jig. It works reasonably well for up to 1/2" x 1/2". Larger than that is a stretch. I use sockets for an impact wrench which are made for square bolt heads on each end of the jig. As you can see, I added a coil spring to one end to make it easier to fit the hot pieces in place. Alan is right on in saying that the key to twisting is temperature control. The best tool that I've seen for this was one made by Jerry Rados who in my opinion is the "King of Turkish". He built a tip for his oxy/acet torch which was split with two tips bent like calipers so that they aimed their flames toward each other so that they could heat both sides of the piece being twisted at the same time. "A TOOL FOR THE JOB."

Thanks, Chris. I appreciate it.

This is a dry fit-up of my Hunting Sword/Confederate Bowie: I hope you enjoyed the trip through the progress on this one. If I still have it at The Central States Hammer-In in six weeks, I'll have Chuck Ward do some professional photos.

Chris, That appears to be the same knife as what is on the cover of the book "Confederate Bowie knives" by Melton, Phillips & Sexton.

I don't believe that I would like to carry something this size on my belt all day while marching either. I've never heard just why the Southern troops carried larger knives than the Union troops did but that seems to have been the norm. Alan--I agree that it has more the look & feel of a hunting sword though most European hunting swords had a straight guard rather than a D-Guard. It's kind of a compilation of several styles which is the direction that I seem to have gone on many of my knives recently.

The wire is wrapped around each end as well as being glued.

Thanks, Brian. Part of the fun of doing a WIP this way is when others can pick up a technique or two. I know that everyone has their own way of doing things and I'm sure that mine are a little different than others but I'm glad to share how I go about getting there.

Inlay complete. Now on to blade work.