Gary Mulkey Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 I got a good start on making my next damascus billet this morning. It was cold enough here that the forge felt mighty good. This will be a new pattern for me. It will have a W pattern on the bottom of the blade with a spine of antique wrought iron taken from an old wagon tire. I'm going to use it for a James Black style knife. My rough pattern for the blade cut from some old sheet metal: 1 Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewB Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 I dunno how you do it in the cold lol. If its to cold for me I don't even wanna go outside until later in the afternoon lol. That out of leaf spring? Kind of what it looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 16 minutes ago, AndyB said: I dunno how you do it in the cold lol. If its to cold for me I don't even wanna go outside until later in the afternoon lol. That out of leaf spring? Kind of what it looks like. No leaf spring. That's wrought iron from a wagon wheel tire. Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewB Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 1 minute ago, Gary Mulkey said: No leaf spring. That's wrought iron from a wagon wheel tire. Ah okay should be interesting when it's done and completed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 That will certainly be an interesting pattern! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua States Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Nice project. I really like the use of a pattern/template. I use them all the time when forging to shape. 1 “So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.” The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing. Josh http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg J.States Bladesmith | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71 https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 When preparing this section of wagon wheel tire for welding to my Damascus billet I noticed something that those of you interested in old-time blacksmithing may find interesting. There was evidence of forge welds going both directions in the tire. There were two welds going lengthwise indicating that the original smith didn't have any iron wide enough to make the rim from and had to weld three pieces together. Also, in the fifteen inches of the rim that I was working with there were two welds going sideways. Now all wagon wheel rims have one such weld to connect the two ends into a continuous rim. The second was probably from the smith not having a tire shrinker when the rim became loose from wear to the wheel and had to cut a piece out of it and re-weld in order to reduce the size of the tire. Interesting! Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Ah, forensic smithing!. I have several wagon tires, and they all have interesting stories visible. I even have one that was gas-welded near the forge weld. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua States Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 6 hours ago, Gary Mulkey said: indicating that the original smith didn't have any iron wide enough to make the rim from and had to weld three pieces together. Impressive. (at least I'm impressed) It looks like you have a bit more steel than enough to make that one knife Gary. 1 “So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.” The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing. Josh http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg J.States Bladesmith | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71 https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 14, 2018 Author Share Posted November 14, 2018 (edited) 48 minutes ago, Joshua States said: Impressive. (at least I'm impressed) It looks like you have a bit more steel than enough to make that one knife Gary. I've probably got quite a bit too much steel but cutting tiles for the mosaic wastes quite a bit so I wanted to be sure that there was plenty. I'd rather waste a little than not have enough. Edited November 14, 2018 by Gary Mulkey 1 Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 14, 2018 Author Share Posted November 14, 2018 I got a good start on the handle scales for this James Black style knife today. To be authentic I used black walnut burl & fine silver. 2 Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 (edited) They say that you should learn something new every day. Well today I learned that this particular piece of antique wrought iron didn't want to weld back to itself. It welded fine to steel but not to itself. Here you can see the result after I started to bladesmith this one. As the blade integrity is much more important to me than having some extra waves in the pattern I went with a random pattern rather than a "W" so that I wouldn't need to weld any iron to itself. Here you can see that I cut off part of the wrought iron on the tip so that the damascus would wrap around the cutting edge. Forged & normalized: Edited November 15, 2018 by Gary Mulkey Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 16, 2018 Author Share Posted November 16, 2018 Here's my first look at the pattern on this one. The low layer damascus is a little bold but I think that it goes well with the especially dirty wrought iron spine on this one. Once I add the silver plating to the back 1/2" of this one for contrast, I think that I'll have a winner. 1 Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Yep. That will be lovely upon final polishing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 I've gotten the forging done but lack a good bit on both of my recent projects. The Henry Schively needs the handle shaped & checkered and the fittings added. The James Black needs the blade sanded, polished & etched as well as a bunch of silver plating. I've a good bit to do but love it! 1 Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 This morning was handle time for me. I got the handle scales for the Schively contoured and ready for checkering as well as the silver plating done to the back of the James Black. Hopefully I'll get the remainder of the handle fittings roughed out for the Schively this afternoon. This should give me plenty of hand work to do in front of the public at my Christmas shop. Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 What is that handle material on the Schively? The three originals I've gotten to play with were all one-piece horn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vern Wimmer Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 I love the "less than massive" traditionals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Alan Longmire said: What is that handle material on the Schively? The three originals I've gotten to play with were all one-piece horn. Since I don't like to use horn and didn't want the expense of ivory, I substituted black paper micarta. It's easy to checker and is durable enough to hold the checkering for a long time. Edited November 19, 2018 by Gary Mulkey Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifford Brewer Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 I envy your energy level ................ If ya can't be good don't git caught !! People who say stuff can't be done need to git the hell outta the way of people who do stuff !!! Show me a man who is called an expert by his peers And I will show you a good man to listen to ...... Show me a man who calls himself an expert and I will show you an egotistical asshole...............!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 47 minutes ago, Clifford Brewer said: I envy your energy level ................ Thanks, Cliff, I only wish that my energy was what it used to be but being 71 years old, I'll take what I've got. 1 Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifford Brewer Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Go for what you can man, my lungs and heart keep me in low gear a lot more than I like, but I refuse to give up !!! 1 If ya can't be good don't git caught !! People who say stuff can't be done need to git the hell outta the way of people who do stuff !!! Show me a man who is called an expert by his peers And I will show you a good man to listen to ...... Show me a man who calls himself an expert and I will show you an egotistical asshole...............!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 21, 2018 Author Share Posted November 21, 2018 (edited) Last night while just beginning to do the hand sanding on the James Black blade, the piece came loose from my vice and accidentally fell onto the concrete floor. This to my surprise caused a small crack in the blade. Now this blade had been normalized three times and double tempered so the crack shouldn't have occurred. It's but a guess but I'm thinking that the combination of wrought iron & damascus created some internal stress in the blade steel. I guess that I'll never know for sure but this will probably be the last time that I attempt combining the two into a blade. I test part of my blades but not all of them so I'm glad that the flaw showed it's ugly head when it did. Otherwise the stressed blade steel might have gone unnoticed. I guess that there's a bright side to the cracked blade but it didn't feel that way when I first noticed it. I'm going to forge a new blade from W1 to replace it. I'm still debating on whether to add a hamon to it or not. Edited November 21, 2018 by Gary Mulkey Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Mulkey Posted November 23, 2018 Author Share Posted November 23, 2018 I've been concentrating on my Schively knife until I get time to forge a new blade for the James Black. Though I've yet to grind all the fixtures to shape, I have them roughed out now. ( I will eventually use a Forstner bit to route out for the washers around the handle pins.) Gary ABS,CKCA,ABKA,KGA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 Bummer about the crack. The Schively handle is looking good, though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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