Forge-finished finery, bush swords, etc.

[James Helm 119]

Been busy banging out bodadacious blades.  Here are some recents.  80CrV2 steel, cord wraps, and Boltaron sheaths all around.

A biohazard outbreak reaction bush sword and smaller utility knife that went to a repeat customer in Canada.  The bush sword has scorched hemp for the main wrap and black paracord Turk's head knots.  The smaller knife has tan paracord over hemp, with a black paracord Turk's head.

kq01 by James Helm, on Flickr

A similarly-sized (6"~ blade) knife as the above utility, with hemp.

db01 by James Helm, on Flickr

Variations on Benghazi Warfighters, two with sharpened upper edges.

knife01 by James Helm, on Flickr

knife03 by James Helm, on Flickr

knife04 by James Helm, on Flickr

knife02 by James Helm, on Flickr

knife05 by James Helm, on Flickr

A Benghazi Warfighter with black oxide finish, headed to an Army Ranger.  He had commissioned a bigger chopper/fighter from me a few years ago, a variation of my Aggression design (I need to make some more of those).  We decided this was a "micro-Aggression" and the sheath is a "safe space" from it.  He can't tell me yet where he's deploying, but this is going with him.

bw01 by James Helm, on Flickr

bw02 by James Helm, on Flickr

A couple of donation blades, the first for Knife Rights in their continued fight to remove restrictions on the ability of law-abiding citizens to carry arms in the United States.  This year, a falcata-ish bush sword with retina-searing neon orange underlay.

donation02 by James Helm, on Flickr

I don't realize how big my hands look until I take a picture of me holding a blade.

donation05 by James Helm, on Flickr

And a much smaller donation knife for my old high school, raising funds for teacher projects that run outside the school budget.

donation04 by James Helm, on Flickr

One of the most useful comments I've had on my work came years ago when a knife dealer told me my blades were good but my sheaths sucked.  I have worked to make that better, and think I have achieved a decent level of workmanlike sheaths.

donation01 by James Helm, on Flickr

donation03 by James Helm, on Flickr

And finally, the first oxtail dao I've done in a long time.  The customer had as reference a picture of one I built many years ago.

dao by James Helm, on Flickr

Here's what I came up with for him.  He was quite taken with the results.

oxtail01 by James Helm, on Flickr

I'd say I've improved through the years.  The top edge is fully sharpened on the new one.

oxtail03 by James Helm, on Flickr

The design called for an open-backed sheath.

oxtail02 by James Helm, on Flickr

Ok, headed to the shop to work on some carcass splitters. 

[MikeDT 90]

Nice work as always - I really like the oxtail, something about the design just seems right.  Your ability to get such tight and neat knots on the handle wraps is impressive.

[James Helm 119]

Thanks, Mike!

 

As for the wraps and knots, I have no natural skill in that direction.  Fortunately, my best quality is sheer stubbornness!