Ted Stocksdale 31 Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 (edited) Yesterday, I was sanding out file marks and scratches from coarser grit sandpapers. Today... <checks schedule> ... oh yeah: sanding out file marks and scratches from coarser grit sandpapers. Edited March 24 by Ted Stocksdale 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh joel 38 Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Last night... But fit and finish is the bane of my existence. It's an unknown piece of wood that was given to me, but its dark like walnut, hard, has some cool grain and figuring... but sands with a red dust. Hmm... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Ted Stocksdale 31 Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Sanded all the way to 1500, then a hit on the buffing wheel with green compound, and now it's shiny. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Gerhard Gerber 358 Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 Shared a table at a local market with a fellow maker from the coast, actually sold 2 older knives that I thought would end up being gifted to somebody. Got myself in the workshop yesterday, and turns out I shouldn't have bothered.... Tried to make a kydex sheath for a gutthook, frustrating learning experience ........and broke the spring of folder #4, taking me from 33% failure rate up to 50% 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh joel 38 Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 (edited) Spent the day yesterday in the shed with a young lady who wanted to make a knife... her first ever. She made two! I didnt get into forging with her- just stock removal with a good sized saw blade steel. She designed two kiradashi style blades, cut them out, ground, and finished handles on both blades- with my coaching and help... but did most of her own work. Two completed, sharp blades in about 6-7 hours. Was a cool day. Don't mind my mess... been working on, and in the shed a bit. Edited March 29 by Welsh joel 4 Link to post Share on other sites
Garry Keown 1,015 Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 Nice one Joel. Always very rewarding to have someone come in and make something for themselves. I have a friend of my wife and me who has been coming in most monday mornings for about 12 months now. At the start she just wanted to see how a knife was made but it wasnt long before it changed and so far she has made 3 or 4 for hersef and one each for her sons. Still has a way to go in finish bevel grinding but has paitence and is slowly learning. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh joel 38 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Today I wired up a 220v circuit, outlet, and cord for the belt sander. Got the motor rewired, and finished up a handle on my little blade. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,821 Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 Yesterday, and not my shop. 9 Link to post Share on other sites
Garry Keown 1,015 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Have had an interesting day with the first pair of blades done with a hamon and while it is not as good as some I have seen it is on 1075 just to see if the process worked, so was quite pleased with the result. It was an experiment as there is a knife to do with a better steel for hamons but for a test blade I could alwas sand it off if it wasn't well defined enough but in this case I will leave them as is. In future I will not feather the edge of the coating as much as I did and try for a more wave like pattern but all in all I was pleased with the result. Also got a few more ground and ready for handsanding with the two already shown, a PH EDC and an officers knife, another pair of the same with out the hamon then a pair of skinners and a 7 and 5 in chef blades Have these to do to complete the present batch that are hardened and ready for the grinder. A generalpurpose kitchen, bird and trout the 4 pair of steak knives although 3 pair will go in the ready drawer. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Alex Middleton 564 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Congratulations Josh! I had a feeling that you were working on that. You are a machine Garry. Nice work on the hamons. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,871 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 50 minutes ago, Alex Middleton said: Congratulations Josh! I had a feeling that you were working on that. You are a machine Garry. Nice work on the hamons. Seconded, on both counts! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Dougherty 1,229 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 (edited) 40 minutes ago, Alan Longmire said: Seconded, on both counts! Thirded! Congratulations @Joshua States Edited April 2 by Brian Dougherty Link to post Share on other sites
Bill Schmalhofer 128 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 (edited) 5 hours ago, Brian Dougherty said: Thirded! Congratulations @Joshua States Before it gets crazy: Congratulations Joshua! Was wondering when we were going to see this. Can't make out all the writing on the blade, but is it indicating that you bent the blade 90 degrees and it sprung right back?!?!?!? Edited April 2 by Bill Schmalhofer extra thought Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,821 Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 Thanks guys. This was the easy part. The difficult bit comes in June at Blade Show when I present five finished blades for judging. 2 hours ago, Bill Schmalhofer said: but is it indicating that you bent the blade 90 degrees and it sprung right back?!?!?!? Yes, but not back to straight. It still has about a 20 degree kink Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,871 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Yeah, the performance test is the fun part. The fit and finish test would keep me up at night. Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,821 Posted April 3 Author Share Posted April 3 (edited) Well, put it this way. I took 8 knives to show Ray. 1 of them was passable (even though it had something that was not a "failure" but would "cause me problems"), 4 of them needed small modifications. The other 4 were not worthy or just had things that would "cause me problems". I spent today working on 3 of the 4. One of which, was that dagger from A tale of 6 Blades. That came apart today. Edited April 3 by Joshua States 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Charles dP 512 Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 Little late to the party but congrats Josh! That is awesome. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Garry Keown 1,015 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Finished grinding in the bevels and started on the hand sanding. Link to post Share on other sites
Francis Gastellu 70 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 (edited) Congrats Joshua! Today in the shop I carved a tsuka, which I proceeded to photograph next to a succulent, cut out and shaped the first of several inlays for a tsuba, practiced sloped background removal (more practice is needed), and made a polishing horsehair brush. Edited April 4 by Francis Gastellu 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Ted Stocksdale 31 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 This weekend, I assembled the stand and got my new grinder set up. It's a huge improvement over the frankly horrible "multitool" grinder that bolted to the side of my bench-grinder. That caused most of Saturday also being cleaning the garage to make a space for it to live. My elbow is also still being a bit twitchy, so I limited my forging to finishing up a dagger made from a file of sorts, and trying out some of the new 6150 steel. The dagger: (shown alongside a hardie-hole punch I welded up today too.) It was a very weird file: 14-ish inches long and a hair over a quarter of an inch thick, but it had been ground down to 3/4 of an inch wide and had a not particularly sharp double-beveled attempt at a chisel ground into the end. The manufacturer's stamp had been deliberately ground off, and the file teeth were dull as a bowling ball. I also cut out some knife shapes to work on with the new grinder 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh joel 38 Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Spent my last part of the day wiring in a new 220v outlet for the cheap tig welder i bought. Played with it enough to know I need more... experience and parts. Then proceeded to cut down stock for a 3 steel damascus. 36 layers- Used 1080, 15n20, and spring stacks from a '70s VW beetle. Got a good solid forge weld so far... and a sore shoulder. Got it drawn out a full inch longer... yay. Will be working it down, and stacking once more- for my first attempt at a "feather" pattern. If I can figure out how to hold it, the punch, and hit with the hammer all at once. Lol... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
billyO 265 Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 11 hours ago, Welsh joel said: and spring stacks from a '70s VW beetle. Here's to hoping there are no microcracks in the used springs....can't wait to see the final product. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,821 Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 On 4/4/2021 at 4:58 PM, Ted Stocksdale said: I also cut out some knife shapes to work on with the new grinder Just a small suggestion. Don't make the shoulders for the guard so large. Cut out a mostly triangular tang with a truncated point. Have the tang gently slope up to the shoulders. 20 hours ago, Welsh joel said: If I can figure out how to hold it, the punch, and hit with the hammer all at once. Lol... Make a pritchel hold down. Weld a piece of angle iron to one end of the billet. Stand up the billet with the angle iron on the anvil face. Apply the pritchel hold down to the angle iron. Use a hot cutter in one hand and a hammer in the other. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh joel 38 Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Good thinking... nice work around. Link to post Share on other sites
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