Pieter-Paul Derks

Really impressive forging!

Now that is a fantasy knife that I like!

Alright with the knife done, I think the time has come to post some WIP pictures I actually made two similar knives because I want to have one extra to sell and making two is almost as fast as making one. The carving is different because making two exactly the same is boring in my opinion. The person who draws my name will get to choose his favourite. I started by making a layout file in autocad, this made it a lot easier to get the pin placement right. Normally I design all my stuff freehand, but here some extra accuracy was beneficial. For the blades I made a san-mai (maybe ‘’go-mai’’because of the five layers?) billet with a 1095 core, 15n20 strips on either side and wrought iron sides. The wrought came from the wall anchors from a early 19th century farm. After surface grinding the steel I cut the blades and backspacers from this material. I chose not forge closer to shape because it is a lot easier, but also because the pattern looks better when ground deeply. They were heat treated and ground normally. Grinding such small blades was a lot more difficult as I expected, I burned my fingertips a lot. After the steel parts were done the real work was about to begin. The copper needed to be flattened, and because copper doesn’t stick to my surface grinder magnet it had to be done with sandpaper on a granite plate. I think this was the most time consuming part of the whole build. The flat copper gets super glued together and holes are drilled. I made some brass washers for the pivot and decorated them with a tiny hammer. I assembled the handle without the blade and shaped and polished it, after buffing most of the copper pins disappeared. The blade is etched and the pivot pin riveted. With everything assembled I could move on to the best part: engraving the handles. I mount the knife in pine rosin pitch and tap away with a tiny hammer and homemade engravers. After some testing of different ways to layout the design I eventually settled on using regular old whiteout, it sticks really good to metal, you can draw on it directly with a pencil and even erase pencil lines when careful. So now I could freehand the knotwork with pencil and just follow the lines with chisel. After carving and removing of very sticky pitch I patinated the handles with liver of sulphur. And Most of the patina rubbed from the high spots. With handling these knives are only getting prettier each day. Even scratches add to the antique look. I just got a new camera, so I made some high resolution pictures for you all to enjoy. Thanks for watching

Hello gentlemen, I have something new to sell and show you all. This full tang camp knife was forged from 80crv2, a very tough and hard wearing spring steel, on the spine and ricasso the texture from forging is still visible. The blade is antiqued to a matte grey for looks and a bit of rust protection. My makers mark is engraved and inlaid in copper on one side of the knife. The blade is razor sharp and this knife is an excellent cutter. The handle has an integral forged guard and is made of spalted beech scales with copper pins and lanyard tube. The scales have a ``heirloom fit´´ this means that they aren´t totally flush with the tang, when the wood shrinks with humidity or age there will be no ugly gaps between scales and tang. The lanyard/wrist loop is leather with a handmade copper bead. The sheath is hand sewn vegetable leather with a decorated belt loop. Steel: 80crv2 carbon spring steel Handle: spalted beech and copper pins Weight: 395grams Spine thickness: 5.5mm Height: 40mm Edge Length: 215mm Handle Length: 125mm Overall Length: 365mm €225 + Shipping I have also posted this in my Etsy shop, buying from there is convenient payment wise, but please feel free to contact me via PM or e-mail. https://www.etsy.com/nl/listing/732561861/hand-gesmeed-rustieke-camp-mes?ref=shop_home_active_1 Thanks for looking, -Pieter-Paul Derks- mefecit@outlook.com

Crazy good as always! I love how well the antique and new parts blend together. I also want to praise your photography, it really sets the tone while still being very clear on the subject matter.

I am done too, I'll have to do a little write up in my kith thread soon. The person who draws my name wil get to pick one of the damascus folders. I'm keeping the monosteel one for myself.

Thanks guys! A big part of my "artistic" carving is stealing designs from our viking forefathers, anyone can learn to do it. The hardest thing for me is sharpening the gravers. Joshua: I think the warncliffe is my favourite for edc, you get a nice sharp point for cutting boxes, garden stuff and picking out splinters.(the things I use a knife most for.) Warncliffe blades also look non-threatening, something that is becoming more important in western Europe where I live.

It seems like it is about time to start my folder for this kith. I initially wanted to do one of those cool slipjoints, but after some testing and broken drill bits I decided to stick to a friction folder, that will be hard enough for me. I have been working on a prototype, and it is now good enough to show here. This one is 1095 with copper scales, and I´ve done some carving on the handle. The hinge pin is steel, and the rest of the pins are copper, that didn’t blend in as nicely as I wanted. I’m thinking of going for brass pins on the “real’’ version, brass might also be a bit more durable. The knotwork is hand (hammer and chisel) engraved, something I really need to practise more. I think I will keep this one for myself, and I took the opportunity to test some belt finishes, I just got some of the trizact gator belts and I don´t know how I lived so long without them. I did some antiquing on the copper, this makes the engraving stand out, and also just adds some character, I think this little knife will look a lot better after some months in my pocket. The actual kith knife will be Damascus, as a stock removal monosteel blade just doesn´t compare to those awesome slipjoints people are building. So here Is a little teaser of how my Kith will look:

So amazing! I always love the collabs between you two, and I think this is your best yet.

That was a great listen. I am a complete novice to poetry, but I find myself liking it more and more lately. Your voice is very pleasant, and I really aprecciate that you talk about the poem and the beauty it holds inside itself, instead of making it about the author, religion or politics. In the literature lessons that I´ve had I´ve always been dissapointed that they were so analytical, and so little about meaning and beauty.

Yeah, unfortunately the thinner the belt the worse the belt bump gets. The absolute best belts for finishing are the trizact DC ``gator`` belts, these have no belt bump at all and leave beautiful finish. unfortunately they are expensive and hard to get, even when living in europe.

When quenching long blades I clamp them between two heavy pieces of square tubing, this seems to press out any small warps. on a 6mm thick blade I seem to have enough time to fumble with the clamps, I haven´t broken a blade yet with this method.

I use VSM ceramics for grinding and I think they are just as good as the 3m belts. I haven´t used the flexible belts so I can´t really say anything meaningful, but I suspect they will be fine

That is some really impressive handle shaping. That carved guard is amazing, I wish I had antler as solid like that.(and as much patience as you when sanding all those tight curves)

Great stuff, I need to experiment with techniques like this some more, not so much because I hate the filing and more because I Like those "inlet'' shoulders in the guard itself.