My 2019 KITH

[Alex Middleton 287]

I figured I should probably get started if I'm going to have my KITH contribution done before the deadline.  I really should be working on a couple of sheaths, but we had some nice forging weather this morning so I fired up the old girl and started hammering.  My original intention was to try doing a lockback folder, but unfortunately "life" has severely limited my shop time for the foreseeable future.  Instead I'll be making a 3" fixed blade with a drop point.

After forging:

 

After rough grind and heat treat:

That's as far as I was able to get this morning.  We'll see what tomorrow brings. 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Alex Middleton

[Alex Middleton 287]

I skipped out on the sheath making again this morning and worked on this instead.  I made a few tweaks to the profile and got the hand sanding done on the blade.

I really should be working on those sheaths though, one of them has to be done by next Saturday, the other the weekend after that.  Working on blades is so much more interesting though.  Maybe later tonight.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Alex Middleton

[Joshua States 1,081]

Looking good so far Alex.

[Alex Middleton 287]

Anybody seen my bronze anywhere?  Somewhere, I have a piece of 1" OD bearing bronze that I was going to use for the fittings.  I don't understand why i can't find it.

[Alan Longmire 1,888]

Your bench is cleaner than mine!  

[Alex Middleton 287]

That's just the storage area for materials and some sandpaper.  I can't even see the top of my actual workbench!

[Alan Longmire 1,888]

Me either!  But the storage bench is why I don't have cubbyholes or drawers.  If I have more than one place to put something, I'll never figure out what I did with it when I actually need it. Instead I use a system of Designated Piling Areas.  The exception is sandpaper.  It is in a rack like yours at the far end of the bench. Oh, and files, of course.  They are in a pair of tool rolls nailed to the front of the bench.  The Dremel bits sit atop the sheet silver and brass (and a few jewelers tools), then there's the assorted pliers and screwdrivers pile in front of (and sometimes under) the oddball drills and taps right next to the moveable vise behind which live the cordless drills and the rack of chisels and gouges. So it continues down the eight foot bench, across the gap to the grinder table, around the corner (there's a wood and leather storage shelving unit in the corner), then the tall bench that used to hold a drill press and lathe, but now has the buffer, assorted scrap woods, the toaster oven, and (at least until something fills the space) a cleared spot for a disk grinder and HT oven yet to be purchased...  Anyway, if you ask me where a specific tool is I can go directly to the designated piling area for it and its type and pull it right out.  If anyone but me moves ANYTHING in the shop it's gone forever.  Especially if, heaven forfend, it got put in the tool box when it never went there to begin with.  

[Joshua States 1,081]

9 hours ago, Alex Middleton said:

Anybody seen my bronze anywhere?  Somewhere, I have a piece of 1" OD bearing bronze that I was going to use for the fittings.

Did you look under the box next to the whowho?

[Alex Middleton 287]

Yup.  Checked by the whosamawhatzit too, it wasn't there either.  I'm pretty sure I set it down between my pack of offsets and the metric crescent wrench but for some reason I can't find them either. 

 

I hear ya Alan.  One day shortly after we got married, my wife decided that she was going to surprise me by cleaning the garage for me while I was at work.  We almost got divorced after that.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Alex Middleton

[Alan Longmire 1,888]

I have some odd sizes of bearing bronze pieces, what dimensions do you need?  Assuming I can find them, of course. . Kidding!  The big block is on the Workmate, the little chunks are on the footrest of the Workmate, and the bizarre rounds are on the tall bench beside the toaster oven, ha! Oh, and there's the bit of 1x3/8 bar leaning agaist the swedge stump...

[Alex Middleton 287]

Lol.  Plan B is already in the works. I cut and fit a copper guard this morning.  Then I made up 3 handle blocks from a piece a black walnut crotch wood that I've been saving.  They're in the toaster oven drying out right now in preparation for stabilizing tomorrow after fire training.

[Joshua States 1,081]

5 hours ago, Alex Middleton said:

the metric crescent wrench

I don't know if everyone got that. I started laughing.

[Alex Middleton 287]

Lol.  That was how I got initiated the day I started working in my grandpa's tool and die shop when I was 11.  I spent 3-4 hours running all over the shop looking for a metric crescent wrench and a aluminum magnet.  I learned a lot of valuable lessons that day.

[Alan Longmire 1,888]

I was sent to the warehouse next door to ask for a left-handed screwdriver myself.   If the guys had been smart enough to think of a metric Crescent wrench that would have been even better! 

[Brian Dougherty 696]

On 8/3/2019 at 4:07 PM, Alan Longmire said:

 Anyway, if you ask me where a specific tool is I can go directly to the designated piling area for it and its type and pull it right out.  If anyone but me moves ANYTHING in the shop it's gone forever.  Especially if, heaven forfend, it got put in the tool box when it never went there to begin with.  

I'd expect this from an archaeologist!  My piles have a temporal element to them.  I have to think about how long ago I last saw what I need to know how far down to dig!

Alex, did you look in the sausage stuffer? 

[Alex Middleton 287]

Believe it or not, but I actually looked in both of them. 

I still haven't found it.  I was expecting it to turn up 5 minutes after I was done fitting the copper guard.

[Alex Middleton 287]

Fresh out of a 24 hour post vacuum soak in the cactus juice, on their way to the toaster oven.

[Robert D. 66]

In the Navy we used to send new guys for 50 feet of gig line or left handed wire cutters and digital vacuum tubes. 

The SK's didnt like the AT's very much with how much time we wasted of theirs. 

[Alex Middleton 287]

I didn't get much shop time in this weekend, spent most of my free time this way:

 

I did manage to sneak in an hour or so this evening and got the handle roughed out.

It's going to end up as a 3-finger handle, full size just seemed too big for the size of the blade.

[Joshua States 1,081]

Nice fishing and that knife will be Sweet

[Alex Middleton 287]

I got up early this morning and put the handle on a serious diet.

Now that the handle is down to size, the blade is feeling proportionately too wide.  I'm seriously considering shaving some material off of the spine to narrow it down and smooth out the lines a bit. 

Something like this:

Thoughts?

[Alan Longmire 1,888]

Good idea!

[Alex Middleton 287]

I went ahead and did it, and I'm pretty glad I did.

It's a crappy pic and was a pretty small change, but it made a noticeable difference to me.  I'm really trying to work on some of the smaller details with this little guy.

[Joshua States 1,081]

That looks much better. Look at the curve of the handle and the spine of the blade. Nice transition.

[Alex Middleton 287]

I agree.  I was a little limited with how low I could drop the back of the handle due to the tang pocket and ended up with that slightly M shaped profile.  At first I didn't care too much, but after a while it started to really bug me.