Gary Mulkey

I managed to get the rest of the pieces cut for the canoe and welded today. Unfortunately my white-out had gotten old and only did a marginal job. I spent twice the normal amount of time removing the canoe from the billet. I was wearing out by the time that I got the billet free from the canoe and didn't take the time to surface grind the billet past a 36 grit. Here's a look at the pattern after a quick etch:

Today started off as a perfect day for making steel as it was cold & sunny. As we are forecast to get a snow storm soon, I'm going to knock off for the day. I got the basic 42 x 4 "W' pattern welded and drawn out for tile cutting. I got a start on cutting the tiles for the can (canoe) mosaic in what I am going to call a braided "W". I realize that there are some voids inside of the canoe by doing it this way but I don't expect any big problems. I'm sure that I will need to grind the top & bottom of the billet once welded though in order to get a symmetrical pattern. The tiles are 3/4" of an inch thick so I have plenty of material to work with. (I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo but I added two sacrificial wedges to the end of the canoe and painted them with whiteout. These are only to aid in the welding of the end of the billet and will get discarded.)

Little Rock Show 2019: (in the background you can see Nick Rossi & Tad Lynch)

I'll probably use 416.

If I use this ivory, I'll probably do a renaissance style hilt something like this:

After the Little Rock Show concluded this weekend, I was tired enough that I opted to spend one more night in Arkansas before driving home. Since I am now almost out of daggers, I spent some of my time in the motel room designing my next. Here's a rough sketch of a new damascus pattern that came to me at about 4 AM this morning. It's till very crude and may well segue into something different, but his gives me a direction to work toward. It will be made from pieces of 42 x 4 "W" pattern damascus separated by solid layers of 15N20. I'm thinking that I may call this pattern "Braided W". I picked up some great mastodon ivory while at the show but I'm still deciding on whether to use it on this one or to opt for another handle material. We'll see. The hilt design for this dagger is still TBD. Getting a new project like this to come together is the fun stuff! I love it!

Thank you gentlemen. We have some nasty winter weather forecast to start here later this morning so I may try to get an early start on the drive to Little Rock. I'll probably be offline one for a while so I'll say now, thank you for all of the kind words.

Looking good. Keep us updated.

I got this one ready just in time for this weekend's Arkansas Show: [1080 & 15N20 blade, ironwood scales, fossil walrus spacer & escutcheons, 416 fittings]

I guess that it's a good thing that I left myself a little extra time to finish this one before the Little Rock show. When I was ready to do the final handle assembly I decided that I didn't like the fit of the guard and made a new one. I had slotted the guard before doing the final grind on the blade and the slot ended up being too wide. One of those mistakes that I knew better but did it anyway. I'm sure that it wont be my last mistake.

Andrew, Let me double what Alan said. Always beware of cut rate tool outlets like Harbor Freight. Even some of the name brands manufacturers will make multiple grades of their tools and be assured that companies like Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, etc. will always carry the cheapest line of them. You'd be better off buying from dealers like Grainger. If in doubt, check with a local welding shop and ask what they would recommend. Even if you don't buy from them, you'll get a better idea of what you should invest in.

Here's the first dry fit-up: I'm not fully satisfied with the etch and I need to tweek some of the fit-up between parts but I'm getting close.

With the weather what it is and my only heat for the shop being the forge, I am doing much of the hand work in the house on this one. I'm settling in for an evening of hand sanding with some good tunes.

PM sent.

I have the ivory pinned (3/32" stainless) with one on each side of the tang & epoxied to the wooden handle. Between the ivory & stainless I will only epoxy it.