Real nice work. I'm learning a lot here on your thread, and enjoying the photos. Have a Happy New Year Dave.
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Knife project
- Thread starter Rippy
- Start date
I finally got back to working on Stabby. I have all the handle pieces slotted to fit the knife tang. The finger guard and the bolster are cross drilled for pins. And the Black Ebony wood is slotted and squared up on the ends for a good tight glue joint.
Here every thing is assembled in order on the tang. The shims make more sense when you see them in place. They are just for decoration. Stabby's puttin on the ritz. Trial fit is good so Stabby is going into the heat treat oven next.
Should be heat treating in the morning. Dave
Here every thing is assembled in order on the tang. The shims make more sense when you see them in place. They are just for decoration. Stabby's puttin on the ritz. Trial fit is good so Stabby is going into the heat treat oven next.
Should be heat treating in the morning. Dave
Stabby is looking pretty butch! That's a man's knife!
How do you shape the tang and the slots in the handle pieces so they fit nicely together? Is it a tight fit or is some slop allowed?
How hot is the heat treat oven? What's the purpose? Do all the components go in the oven or just the blade?
Is there a name for this blade shape with that tapered section towards the tip on top? Is it functional or mainly aesthetic?
Looks very nice so far. Fun to see it started from scratch.
Alan
How hot is the heat treat oven? What's the purpose? Do all the components go in the oven or just the blade?
Is there a name for this blade shape with that tapered section towards the tip on top? Is it functional or mainly aesthetic?
Looks very nice so far. Fun to see it started from scratch.
Alan
Alan, firstly thanks for asking, I was afraid I was boring every body. The finger guard and the bolster on the end fit close. In addition to being pinned in place the finger guard will be silver soldered to seal the joint so that no moisture can get in between and corrode. The spacers and wood can be a little looser. The spacers and the wood will have epoxy applied during assembly to take up any air space.The tang was a rectangle shaped cross section measuring about .180" x .690" next to the blade. Using a .125 carbide end mill I milled the slot to those dimensions. I rounded the edges of the tang to clear the .062 radius of the slot till the guard slide all the way to the front of the tang. Some needle file work was needed to clear the transition to the blade. The spacers are deliberately made a little bigger to ease assembly as I only have so much time before the epoxy in the handle sets. The wood is drilled from both ends and filed to fit with a rat tail file that has been ground on two opposite sides to a width of 3/16" so it looks like this "0".
The heat treat oven was set for 1875*F. Just the blade goes in the oven to get heat treated. The tool steel I used came to me in the "annealed" condition. That means it was soft enough to work with. After I was done shaping it, it needed to be hardened to make it a functional knife. The heat treating process hardened the steel.
The overall blade design is called a clip point knife. The tapered section towards the tip on top is called a false edge. It may help the tip penetrate a little easier. Probably more aesthetic than anything. I put it there because I'm trying real hard to impress my man Memaquay. I think it's working. Dave
Boring - never. Blown away - always. I'm still trying to get my head around that blade grinding (aka grinding blind). Amazing skill. I noticed you had a small container sitting on the work stool with you...to quench the ground blade with? Is it water? Oil?
I was puzzled how you'd sandwich the spacers and handle tight enough. I was looking for an impossibly tight fit held by pins. It never occurred to me there might be adhesive. And sealing against moisture penetration...very thorough planning and design.
Stabby is looking good.
I was puzzled how you'd sandwich the spacers and handle tight enough. I was looking for an impossibly tight fit held by pins. It never occurred to me there might be adhesive. And sealing against moisture penetration...very thorough planning and design.
Stabby is looking good.
Brad there is water in the container next to me to cool the blade with time to time. That is just for my comfort. I don't have to worry about over heating and taking the temper out at this point because it is not heat treated yet. I have tried wearing leather gloves to protect my fingers from heat but you can't feel what's going on as well.
There are pins through the rear bolster when it's done. It's a close fit but not a "impossibly tight fit". I could make it tight as I want and use my clamp in the picture below to draw it together. I have learned not to squeeze all the glue out of a glue joint. I leave maybe about .001" - .0015" between each spacer for glue. The glue will hold the assembly together will I rough shape the handle. After the rear bolster is shaped I will install the pins and sand them flush after peening them. This picture is from last years knife project.
I use the bowling ball on the bearing race for hand checkering pistol grips. There is a fixture on top to fasten the grip to. The ball can spin and tilt in any direction that suits me. Dave
Saturday was heat treat day for Stabby's blade and it went well. I wrapped the blade up in a stainless steel foil pouch to keep the Oxygen off him at heat. Otherwise the blade's surface would oxidize and turn scaly in a electric heat treat oven. Then I placed it in the oven and fired it up to 1875*F. After reaching temp I baked the blade another 30 minutes before taking it out.
In this picture you can see the foil package after being taken out of the oven with some tongs. Stabby is made out of air hardening tool steel which means he will harden as he cools. If he cools unevenly he will warp. To the right of me on the bench are two aluminum blocks. To keep the blade strait while cooling I will sandwich it between the two blocks.
After cooling the blade to room temperature I tested it to see how hard it got. This piece of equipment is called a Rockwell tester. I test blades using the Rockwell C scale of hardness. This blade came out about 66 RC which is very hard. It would be very brittle and very hard to resharpen by hand if left this way. I want it to be 60 RC when I'm done. To get it to 60 RC I will need to draw some of the hardness back out by heating it back up to 650*F and baking it 2 hours, let it cool down, and bake it 2 more hours at 650*F. This part of the process is called drawing.
After drawing Stabby tested 60 RC as hoped for. Next step is back to the sander for finish sanding. Stabby's blade is going to have a mirror finish so I will start with a 320 grit belt and work my way up to about 900 grit before buffing on the buffing wheel.
In this picture you can see the foil package after being taken out of the oven with some tongs. Stabby is made out of air hardening tool steel which means he will harden as he cools. If he cools unevenly he will warp. To the right of me on the bench are two aluminum blocks. To keep the blade strait while cooling I will sandwich it between the two blocks.
After cooling the blade to room temperature I tested it to see how hard it got. This piece of equipment is called a Rockwell tester. I test blades using the Rockwell C scale of hardness. This blade came out about 66 RC which is very hard. It would be very brittle and very hard to resharpen by hand if left this way. I want it to be 60 RC when I'm done. To get it to 60 RC I will need to draw some of the hardness back out by heating it back up to 650*F and baking it 2 hours, let it cool down, and bake it 2 more hours at 650*F. This part of the process is called drawing.
After drawing Stabby tested 60 RC as hoped for. Next step is back to the sander for finish sanding. Stabby's blade is going to have a mirror finish so I will start with a 320 grit belt and work my way up to about 900 grit before buffing on the buffing wheel.
Wow, Stabby is really going on an adventure! I'm in awe of all this fine craftsman stuff. I tried to make a crooked knife out of a file once and I broke everything involved.
Back at ya ya strip slingin son of a gun.
Looks great so far!
Thanks for the detailed narration. I'll forward this to a friend who is in the middle of putting a knife together.
Thanks for the detailed narration. I'll forward this to a friend who is in the middle of putting a knife together.
Well, Stabby is hardened up to 60 RC and ...I hope he's not left in a drawer waiting for me to polish him. We'd wind up with a chisel.
And I'd forget where I'd left the handle components.
And I'd forget where I'd left the handle components.
Thanks for detailing the process, interesting and informative.
So Rippy, the question has to be asked, even if it is a little naughty. How would you feel about someone using Stabby to baton their firewood? I know Stabby is going to be such a thing of beauty, seems to me it would be like someone disrespecting my woman.
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Oh! Memaquay, I'm ashamed of you! Before you even think of asking such a perfidious question you've got to admit to using a kayak paddle when no one is looking. 
!
I would fully expect to get hit with a lightening bolt if I ever attempted such an unspeakable act with one of Dave's beautiful creations.
In shock and horror,
Rob
!I would fully expect to get hit with a lightening bolt if I ever attempted such an unspeakable act with one of Dave's beautiful creations.
In shock and horror,
Rob
G
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Oh! Memaquay, I'm ashamed of you! Before you even think of asking such a perfidious question you've got to admit to using a kayak paddle when no one is looking.
I would fully expect to get hit with a lightening bolt if I ever attempted such an unspeakable act with one of Dave's beautiful creations.
I’ll admit to using a kayak paddle even when people are looking, usually at the stern end of my canoe.
Although waggling a long piece of carbon fiber in the air near a thunderstorm is asking for trouble.
It's funny you asked Mem. After reading all this razz a ma tazz about battoning I thought I might try it with Stabby when he's done just for kicks. Might be the only thing he's good for besides stabbing. I don't plan on making it a habit cause I have better ways to split wood, but I'm sure he's up to the task. So,, I'm fine with it as long as the someone is me. I don't think I'd care for someone else handling my woman, I mean knife.
PS I'm a thing of beauty and I got to get up and go to work every day.
PSS I thought I was getting away with something. While you all have been entertaining each other with knife threads I have been hiding out and slacking off for a couple weeks now, it looks like Brad was the first to catch me slacking. I'll get back to work soon. Dave
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Like you said, you gotta keep both eyes on that Brad, he's probably practicing battoning right now!
Rip, you're not slacking off if you head out the door every day for work, and come home too worn out to do stuff around the house.
You're welcome to try that line on your Mrs ( and good luck with it, cause it doesn't work around here).
I'd hop in the car right after work, and drop in to do that polishing for you, but I'm not sure how far Iowa is. It's just west of Detroit, right? BTW, are we agreed I'll polish it up to my high standards, and are we okay with Stabby looking more butter knifey? If not,
I can wait, no problems.
I'm just gonna go check google maps for Iowa.
ps Okay, I just checked out where Iowa is. From my front door, if I skip all of the coffee stops, and pee into an empty Coke bottle to save time, I figure I could make it to Rippy's house in about 12 hours. DANG! We don't have any Coke empties around the house, so I guess I'll have to postpone my Iowan polishing appointment.
You're welcome to try that line on your Mrs ( and good luck with it, cause it doesn't work around here).
I'd hop in the car right after work, and drop in to do that polishing for you, but I'm not sure how far Iowa is. It's just west of Detroit, right? BTW, are we agreed I'll polish it up to my high standards, and are we okay with Stabby looking more butter knifey? If not,
I can wait, no problems.
I'm just gonna go check google maps for Iowa.
ps Okay, I just checked out where Iowa is. From my front door, if I skip all of the coffee stops, and pee into an empty Coke bottle to save time, I figure I could make it to Rippy's house in about 12 hours. DANG! We don't have any Coke empties around the house, so I guess I'll have to postpone my Iowan polishing appointment.
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Don't get confused when you get to Ohio, that's not us, keep going.
I wonder if people from Ohio have the same problem as Iowans when out traveling? "Hey Dan, come over and meet my new friend Alan, he's from Ohio!"
Alan
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