Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Mint chocolate drop point EDC

This was a commission from a Zombie Squad member. We talked about general parameters and I forged this out of some 5160:


He approved and I finished it up with lime green and black paracord and a foldover Kydex sheath with a MOLLE lock. Got it shaving sharp and shipped it to him. :)



Saturday, September 15, 2012

Double-edged Warfighter

This is the second knife I've made with the new-to-me-method of using flared tube rivets (along with epoxy) to hold on handle slabs. The second time was quicker and I figured out a couple of tricks to streamline things. Now to make a bunch more knives using this technique. :)

The steel is my favorite, 5160, triple normalized, triple hardened, triple tempered. The handle slabs are black canvas Micarta and the flared tube rivets are stainless steel. The blade, including the choil, is 7 3/8", overall length is 12 1/4", , spine is 1/4" thick at the blade/tang transition with a distal taper to the tip, and the weight is 13 ounces. It's slightly blade heavy, which is just fine by me as I tend to think in terms of chopping.


The spine is rounded on this one, and the top edge shaves hair off my arm quite nicely.



The sheath is black Kydex with two MOLLE locks.


In comparison with my Overbuilt warfighter:



In comparison, Overbuilt is 12 5/16" overall, with a 7 1/2" blade and 1/4" distally tapering spine, and weighs 14.4 ounces.

Both these and another item or two will be going to a guy who will take better photos than me, and then more folks will get to see them. :D

Monday, September 10, 2012

Overbuilt Warfighter: Primal/tactical contemporary Bowie

This one is a bit of a shift in direction from what I've been doing and is a direction I will be pursuing more. This is my first knife using flared stainless tube rivets on the handle.

This is a solid chunk of steel, heavier than I typically make. I wanted to build something that would be able to take on just about anything that could be expected of it in the hands of a military member in a high-stress situation.


The steel was 1/4" x 2" wide 5160, given my typical triple normalization, triple hardening, triple tempering heat treatment. The spine stays approximately 1/4" thick, tapering distally to the tip.


The handle is black canvas Micarta with epoxy and stainless steel flared tube rivets. There are hidden lightening holes underneath the Micarta. Flared tube rivets are old hat to a lot of knifemakers, but it's the first time I've done it and I'm quite happy with it. Very solid and would break your hand before it comes off.

The edge shaves hair nicely, and with the weight it has would bite deeply. I haven't measured it yet, but it weighs a bit over 14 ounces.

The sheath is black Kydex with two MOLLE locks.




This and a couple of other items will be going to someone who will be taking better pictures of them, and then eventually more folks can see them. :D

Friday, September 7, 2012

Belligerence



A new member of the Aggression family; this one was a commission from a fellow who like the looks of the original Aggression but wanted a longer blade (a foot-long blade is not enough!) and something a little less retina-searing for the handle wrap than neon orange. :D

For comparison, the original and the other brothers, all with blades approximately 12" long:



I forged the new one out of 5160 and pulled the blade out to 15", with an overall length of 21". The soapstone lines give a general idea of the final look.


After an overnight vinegar soak to eat the scale off and stock removing primarily by hand filing, I had this:


Heat treatment was my standard triple normalization, triple hardening, triple tempering process I use with 5160. After cleanup, it looked much the same as before.


And then came the handle wrap and sharpening. Two layers of paracord, with olive drab for the underlay and black for the overlay, and a three-strand Turk's head knot all impregnated with Minwax Wood Hardener. Kydex sheath with two MOLLE locks slightly offset to slant the handle a bit more forward while worn.



The olive drab doesn't show up nearly as much as the neon colors. Subtle. :)



The top clip is fully sharpened and I have a bare patch on my otherwise hirsute forearm from both sides of the blade.