Oxtail sheath

The fellow who bought the oxtail bush sword requested a Kydex sheath, so I built this before shipping it to him.

It takes a lot of rivets to make a Kydex sheath for an 18" blade!

Biohazard Outbreak Response CQC Blade - Resident Evil inspired

This is a blade design I've been wanting to do for a looong time.  The initial inspiration came from the large blade used by Chris Redfield in the video game Resident Evil 5 (sold under the name Biohazard 5 in Japan).  I'm not a gamer, but have my finger on the pulse of the gaming world a bit.  I spent a long time scouring the Internet for a good picture of the knife and found nothing that showed a good profile shot of the blade.  Finally, a good picture showed up in my Google Images search.  I made a pattern, heated up some 80CrV2, and got to hammering.

The blade is 14 1/2" long and very pointy.  The tip drew a few drops of blood while working on it, before there was ever an edge on it.  The top side is a false edge.

The in-game knife has slab handles and a handle shape somewhat similar to the MercWorx Goliath.  At some point I will play around with translating the video game handle design into something comfortable for the hand in the real world, but on this one I went with an integral socket handle with coyote tan paracord for the main wrap and black two-strand Turk's head knots, impregnated with West System marine epoxy.

And a coyote tan Kydex sheath with some provision for straps.  In the game, Chris wears it in a heavy leather sheath over his left shoulder and does a funky combination cross draw, strike, and re-sheath in one smooth motion that would be essentially impossible (certainly difficult) in real life.

And it feels badass in the hand.  :D

This is definitely a design that I will be returning to. 

Because those damn zombies just won't kill themselves. 

This one is for sale in the Available Work section.

http://helmforge.blogspot.com/2011/09/available-work.html

Oxtail Saber Bush Sword

This is one of my last bush swords to be forged from 5160.  It's in the oxtail saber style that makes for a graceful, powerful chopper.  The blade is 18" long, with a false edge on the top side.

 The handle is an integral socket wrapped in black paracord with two-strand Turk's head knots fore and aft, all impregnated with West System marine epoxy.

 

This one is for sale.  Check the Available Work section. 

 

http://helmforge.blogspot.com/2011/09/available-work.html

15" bush sword

A fellow contacted me about getting a bush sword a little while back.  I had a few in progress that weren't spoken for yet and this was the one he picked. 

The blade is forged from 80CrV2 steel and is 15" long.  The clip is a false edge, but thin enough that a secondary bevel could easily be added to make it fully sharp.  The cord wrap is olive drab paracord hardened with West System marine epoxy.

His plan is for a Kryptek camo Kydex sheath built by an ex-Army Ranger he knows.  :)

Feedback from Special Forces soldier

I always appreciate feedback.  This came in from the Special Forces soldier that ordered up the cord-wrapped Benghazi Warfighter that I photographed on the hood of a Scout here: http://helmforge.blogspot.com/2015/04/swat-wakizashi-and-knives-for-usmc-and.html

He sent me this recently and I got permission to post his pictures.

"I wanted to let you know that my Benghazi Warfighter is amazing. It's a very capable blade that I've used many times camping so far. Here is a pic of where it's normally mounted, on the bottom of my Hill People Gear kit bag that is my little go bag and chest rig."

 

I rather like his rig.  The blade is out of the way, and more accessible from both hands than behind-the-back scout carry. 

 

 

This last one is obviously reversed in a mirror.

 

 

Looking forward to building his next blade.  :)

Social media knifemaking

I've been posting my work on Instagram and from there onto Facebook since back in the summer.  I knew the customer was following along on Facebook and we had talked about the possibility of going wither with or without a Turk's head.  So I posted a picture without and asked what he thought.

 

He commented later that it kind of looked like a small machete without the Turk's head.  He had me try it with a black Turk's head knot.  I did a two strand to keep it small since aikuchis are supposed to be guardless, and he approved.

 

You can see how much the epoxy darkens the color of the paracord.

Chisel-ground tanto, long time coming

This was a request from a fellow who really likes the work of Phill Hartsfield.  Which meant he wanted a chisel-ground tanto with a cord-wrapped handle.  We were originally thinking of it as an aikuchi, meaning without a guard, but I tried it with a Turk's head prior to applying the epoxy and we decided to go with it.

This project took way longer than it should have.  The issues were largely mental on my part; there were some aspects that were more difficult for me with it being chisel ground, but not that bad.  Still, I kind of feel like I should have included a certificate with it like Bob Loveless did with his one Damascus knife.  :D

The blade is 9" long, forged from 1/4" x 1" 5160 steel.  The spine is rounded.  This is a chisel edge for a righty, and I'm a lefty, but I think I did all right.  :)

 

The handle has a foundation of neoprene, followed by black paracord and coyote tan paracord, with a black two-strand Turk's head knot, all impregnated with West System marine epoxy.

With the lighting and my camera acting wonky, it was kind of difficult to catch the bevels well, but I think they show up better in these in-hand shots.

And finally, a coyote tan Kydex sheath to go with it.

 

I thought that sharpening might prove tricky, but it went smoothly.  I just made sure to keep a burr from forming on the back side.  It ended up pretty much scaring the hair off my arm.  :)

I'm still not a fan of chisel ground blades, but I'm rather pleased with this one.  :)