R.W. Deavers
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Everything posted by R.W. Deavers
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I know it's been a while since I've been on, but I just finished this commission piece. The customer wanted Bowie and instead of making just a regular one, I opted for something a tad bit different. I wanted to do a piece that paid homage to the original, but slightly updated. I came across a few pictures of one that was used during the battle of San Jacinto, Texas. The lines, shape and overall coolness sealed the deal. What you see here is my take on that blade, with some subtle changes. Instead of having 6 to 8 pins for the handle scales, I used 4, along with a brass guard and walnut scales. The blade is forged from leaf spring.
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For any of you interested, they are casting for season 4 of Forged in Fire on the History Channel. The contact for information is: Natalie.Sgro@leftfieldpictures.com.
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I agree with Geoff, a railroad spike would work perfectly for this, as long as it's a high carbon spike. The way to tell is to look for HC on the spike head. The reason I said high carbon is for cutting through roots, and if the heat treat is done right, the edges should last a good while.
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Yeah Austin, that maple did come out pretty nice. That maple came out of a hundred year old butcher's block, so I never really what kinds of maple are in it, but all I do know is that all the blocks used in it are maple.
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Yeah, your patience will be tested on these. lol
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Go for it Gabriel. One of the trickiest things about making these is the fitting. Not only fitting the locking spring to the blade, but also the spring saddle to the spring and handle. It's tedious, but worth it. Oh, one more thing, The rivet through the handle for spring saddle goes all the way through, which is why it sits so high on the handle and it also acts as a blade stop. If the blade is heat treated correctly, the contact is irrelevant. Also, for the that rivet, try not to use something soft like brass or bronze for obvious reasons.
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Thanks guys, I appreciate it. And to keep everyone updated, I have two more ordered. Like I said before, I have been looking for something old and different than the average modern folding knife, then I finally stumbled upon this design. I think the cool thing is that everyone can carry and use a piece of history like they were intended.
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By now, I'm sure most of you have seen the colonial folding knives I've done. Since then, I have started making more because of orders and I still have more to make after that. In the first picture is my first folder along with the walnut handle with silver work and inlays, which everyone has seen. The next two knives were custom ordered. In the third picture, the folder has mahogany scales with the customer's initials wood burned in. The last picture shows the latest one with quilted? maple and a stainless steel spring saddle.
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Again, I want to thank everyone. I will be starting a limited production run of this style, but until I get a feel for making these during production, prices won't be posted.
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It has simplistic lines, but they are done perfectly! Awesome job! By the way, what wood did you use for the inner scales?
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Originally, the wood choice was going to be Purple Heart, but due to shipping issues, walnut was the next option. I think the walnut worked beautifully, plus it matches the rest of my friend's collection.
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You know Gabriel, I thought about that too after I finished it and took a long look at it, a club and spade would have been pretty cool. And thank you. I think the time invested will payoff rather quickly and it was well worth it.
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Agreed, but it was a good learning experience though.
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And now, she's all finished. With a total of 37 logged hours, I am utterly pleased with this one. There where a few firsts for me on this project. The biggest first was working with silver, including casting. Another first was doing an inlay. I have been wanting to do an inlay project, but nothing really worked. Okay so here's the materials break-down: spring steel for the blade and spring; non-magnetized stainless steel for the inner handle scales and pull-ring; bronze rivets and pins; walnut (finished with boiled linseed oil) for the handle scales; sterling silver for the diamond rosette washers, heart inlays, and spring saddle; cast silver for the pommel scales, and brass for the blade pivot bushing. It photographed pretty well, but as usual, the picture doesn't do it justice.
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Almost there. I do have to make another scale though. The side pictured in the last photo shows the slight gap between the wood and silver. Hopefully, this one should be finished by Tuesday.
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A question for you all... how many have cast their own materials for knife making? What you see here is an ingot of silver cast today for a few more parts left to make. The ingot is about 2 1/4" long by 13/16" wide by 5/16" thick. My friend and I used silver from old silver contacts and some sterling scraps. After using a worn 80 grit belt on the sander, the ingot was polished. After two quick passes, all of the scratch marks are gone and the luster and shine is phenomenal, so we're both thinking the grade of silver is at least .900 or higher.
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The silver work has begun. I got the heart inlays and the diamond rosettes cut and shaped. I also carved out the handle scales for the inlays, but I still have some fine tuning to do. As for the spring saddle, hopefully that will be tomorrow.
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Some more progress made today. The spring was formed and fit, tempered, and polished and work has begun on the walnut scales. Hopefully tomorrow, the silver work shall begin.
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Today's progress... The blade was heat treated, sanded, then polished. The bushing was set and drilled, the finger-pull rivet was made, fit, and set, the inner scales were filed for final shape, the pull ring was made from stainless steel, and the spring now has its defining shape. As for the Purple Heart wood scales, that plan has changed due to shipping issues, so we're going to use walnut.
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After my first folding knife was made, a good friend stopped by to see it. After about a half hour of him trying to buy mine, he decided he wanted one with some 'subtle' differences. So, here's the current run-down of the touches he wants: Purple Heart for the scales, polished blade and spring, silver spring saddle, silver diamond pin rosettes, silver heart inlaid in the wood, silver pommel scales with blind silver pins, bronze pivot pin, bronze finger-pull rivet on the blade, bronze spring saddle rivets, and stainless steel inner scales and pull-ring. Yeah, he's not asking much. lol Everything on this knife is going to be polished, including the Purple Heart scales. What you see below is the progress made so far.
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Thanks guys. I must say, I am impressed by this one. I decided to keep this one for myself as my own personal carry piece and as a working show piece. I do have an order for another with some 'subtle' differences and I will be starting a new thread for it.
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Here's two more build progress pics. The second one shows final mock-up before final assembly. I had some aging to do on the steel pieces and some final prep work for the handle scales before I would call it finished. In the last two, the finished piece. All sharpened and cleaned up. This design has been rather interesting as like I said before, this is my first folding knife. I actually do hope to make a few more in the very near future.
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Gary, as for the pin placement for the spring saddle and end strap, I'll be working on that today.
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Josh, I already have a detailed drawing done for this. I may end up making a few of these, but we'll see how this one goes.
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I have been asked from time to time if I have ever made a folding knife. Up until now, the answer was always 'no'. It wasn't because I didn't want to, I just wanted to find a design that was different than most of the ones I have seen. Off and on, I chased the idea but nothing decent came along. I knew I wanted to do something along the lines of what would have possibly been around during the American Colonial era. I finally came upon the knife made by Steve Nowacki. His knife was exactly what I was looking for. What you see here is the beginning. The blade is forged from a piece of coil spring, along with the spring. I still have a little ways to go yet, but the progress is being made.
