Search the Community

I did a bit of forging today (Yay me!) and decided to try one of these. I had a RR spike that I had used for something a while back, so I decided to make a RR spike hawk. Many of you have been the object of my scorn when it comes to spikes as material for these kinds of projects, but this was mostly just boredom and a desire to hit some steel. This is a huge amount of work that could be done any number of better ways, particularly for something that I really can't charge more than $10 for. But fun in any case. Throws pretty well, in fact. Geoff

ok something that has really been bugging me is the different thoughts on RR spikes as knife steel i really want to make one but from what ive been hearing they are not very trustworthy due to spratic carbon content if this is the case should i just atempt to take the ones i have and trun them in to BBQ forks and steak turners or use them to make trial knives for hammer experiance?

The RR Spike knife: Who hasn't been enamored of the idea. But are they doomed to novelty status? My first RR Spike Knife (shaped object); No HC head stamp... Makes a good bread knife! Second RR Spike Knife (ish); HC head stamp, kept the spine a little thicker... So sharp I barely feel the paper I sliced to show it off, and it makes a good veggi prep knife, but doesn't hold an edge like a "real" chef's knife. RR Spike Knife WIP: HC head stamp; rough forged a blade from 5160; split the RR Spike point and inserted 5160 blade; forge welded the sandwich: So I have a bit of finish forging to true up and smooth out the blade bevels, I'm a bit obsessive about a forged blade needing only clean up with the belt grinder, not reshaping. When I started I spent hours at the forge to save seconds at the grinder, now I spend 30 min at the forge to save 30 min at the grinder. Maybe one of these days I will actually save a few minutes... I also want to try a pineapple twist on the handle, but I'm having a bit of trouble keeping the grooves centered without a third or fourth hand. I welcome any input you guys have, especially on how to get the pineapple twist. James

Here is a RR Spike Knife I forged a bunch of years ago and finally got cleaned up for a customer. Spike is from Southern Texas, was pretty rusty and marked HC. They harden surprisingly well for the amount of carbon in them but, high performance it is not. This twist is a copy of one used in a window grill by Samuel Yellin. ~Bruce~