Samurai Stu

amazing

This weekend I am attending the Knifemakers Guild of South Africa annual show. Here are the knives I will be presenting. Enjoy

Thanks JD. Means a lot coming from you. I love your work.

Handle is forged wrought iron and bronze with buck eye burl wood.

With croc skin sheath

Damascus Chakram (Sikh throwing disc) forged from ladder W's damascus. This blade is less than a third of what I started with. There was some creative blacksmithing which Tiaan Burger helped me with and some creative engineering from another friend. While it appears to be a simple damascus disc I assure you the process to get it there was a challenge

The clip is sharp with a zero degree bevel. The main edge is a Moran apple seed edge (slightly convex at the cutting part)

The iron comes from ox wagon wheels pre 1900 before they started casting them. The whale rib was found on the west coast of Cape Provence in South Africa (Where I am from ). That is the natural colour as it has been infested with fungus that had long since dried out. I filled it with casting resin which sealed up most of the gaps. The guy who found it picked up some for himself and reconed it had been sitting there for a few years.

This is my Pirate Bowie made specially for an anonymous party. 12 "Blade is forged from 5160/K600 dark star damascus. Handle is chock full of rare materials. Guard, ferrule and pommel 100yr old wrought iron with great figuring. Handle is an old whale rib from a beached southern right whale. I filled it with resin and sealed it as best I could but I think the slight mottling compliments the iron nicely.

Pretty much

Short Stock Damascus Bowie Blade forged from random 5160/K600 damascus. Handle from white tail Stag, african blackwood and bronze. OAL - 345mm Blade - 220mm x 40mm x 5mm Handle - 125mm x 20mm x 30mm Sheath is tooled cow hide with a viking helm bead.

Blade forged from K600/5160 random damascus Handle from Arizona desert iron wood with blackwood and hippo tooth inlays. OAL 195mm Blade 80mm x 25mm x 4mm Handle 115 mm x 29mm x 17mm Comes with hand carved wooden sheath from African Blackwood with desert iron wood and hippo inlay

Thanks for the tips Bruce. You are correct, hardening is touchy and I temper very low to keep the hardness. 52100 is only available in Bearing form in SA. I would use silver steel but that only comes in round bar. I think my best bet would be to get some 1080 shim.

I make my own damascus in 5160 and Bohler K600 high nickel tool steel. I fully harden and selectively temper the blades so I get an even etch. I etch a polished blade (1200grit) in a saturated ferric chloride solution for about 5 minute. I clean the blade with a neutraliser then place it back in the solution for another 5 minutes. If the solution is weaker it needs to stay in longer. As soon as I can feel the relief of the layers in the damascus I stop etching. I then re polish the high spots and buff. I do this on my knives so that they can be used without fear of losing the damscus pattern when the blade gets tarnished. Also it looks really cool.

I went through every page with baited breath. You truly did a masterful and inspirational job. excellent work.