Blacksmith knife... PC?

[aprayinbear]

Hello the Camp,

Just finished this "blacksmith's knife" this morning. Made it from an old rust piece of spring steel my brother dug up in the pasture last year. From the looks of it the metal could have been 10 or 100 years old. Anyway it always feels good to reuse something that was tossed away as useless.

I wonder if these might be considered period correct. :rotf: I can see some of you guys laughing now, but surely its not a new idea to make a "self-contained" knife from a broken tool or leftover piece of iron.

Anyway.... pc or not, she's going with me to the range today with my GPR .50. They sort of look good together.

What do you think? :hmm:

 

[Twice boom]

Only thing remains is to pin couple slabs of cow shin bone to the handle ,carve fish scales to the bone and dye them to the colors of a rainbow trout. Presto, instant artistic expression. :thumbsup:

Do that and you would have gone to something its not to something that is.Original.
By the way,I like the shape of the blade......


PS. Where did you find that chunk of iron for an anvil.Is it a saw makers anvil?

Twice.

 

[chipper]

Nice knife.
Did you do any fancy heat treating?

Regards

 

[ameling]

Nice simple knife. Nothing wrong with not having any ... extra ... material added around the handle. It's all a matter of what you want and how well it fits your hand. Plus it would be fairly easy to add something onto that handle - like even wrapping it with some rawhide or leather strips.

But seeing it like it is, somebody out there would immediately start screaming about it being a ---- flint striker knife! So many people just can't get past the idea of a knife having a "self handle" without any other material added on.

There are a couple original Great Lakes fur trade knives where a section of musket barrel was squished flatter and then slipped onto a classic scalper/butcher knife blade, and then used as the handle. The experts always claim that they were "Indian made" that way, but just about anybody ... could have ... done that.

Nice simple knife.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[J.D.]

Nice simple knife. Nothing wrong with not having any ... extra ... material added around the handle. It's all a matter of what you want and how well it fits your hand. Plus it would be fairly easy to add something onto that handle - like even wrapping it with some rawhide or leather strips.

While I haven't seen anything like that in any collection, there is nothing wrong with a self handled knife. The only problem I see with it is the small handle. If it fits your hand, go with it.

 

[aprayinbear]

Thanks for everyone's responses. :hatsoff:

My tempering process was definitely a "learn as you go" experience. Basically I laid the back of the knife in hot coals and slowly monitored the color changes in the metal, from blue on the back to a straw color on the blade edge. The tip was also tempered to the blue. This of course was kind of a hit or miss process, because I don't know the exact steel type, other then it appears to be spring steel. It also hardened well so I assume it has a relatively high carbon content.

About my "anvil"..... I love it. It's a 4 x 4 x12" piece of 4340 steel I inlet into a large oak stump. I poured in a bit of sand on the bottom of the inlet and around any gaps on the edges. It's rock solid and because it's in the stump, it is relatively quiet (no complaints from the neighbors.) I'm basically a newbie here, but I like the good sized surface area and the ability to easily move around the anvil as I work. I understand it is similar to a Japanese swordmakers anvil. I purchased the steel through Terry at Old World Anvils. Cost was $50 plus $14 shipping.

About the handle. Its actually a bit larger the it looks, but I, like many of you, prefer a stout, beefy handle. To compensate for the grip size I made the pigtail a bit large and filed groves on the back where the handle begins so it would give extra gripping power when slicing, etc. I was surprised how well it seems to fit my hand. Anyway it was just a learning exercise. Next I want to complete a little antler handled patch knife I'm working on and a riflemans knife I want to do next.

This truely is addictive! :youcrazy:

Happy Hammerin' :thumbsup:

 

[pichou]

That blade shape shows up a lot at fur trade sites. Don't know what it is though. Similar to a butcher block scraper and also a shoe maker's knife. The tang/handle? No. A double scroll shows up in NW coast knives, but they have a totally different blade.

Not a impossible combination, I just haven't seen it before. :v

 

[Troy Allen Christianson]

Beautiful work! I also like your anvil. It is perfect for forging blades. I betcha your steel is something close to 5160. I haunt old farm sites around my Grandfather's for old leaf springs and hay rakes. I found a treasure trove of truck springs last spring that forge wonderfully. I heat treat them like one would 5160. :thumbsup:

 

[Rogue River]

I like it and just remember if it's not PC today it will be in a 100 years!

 

[aprayinbear]

I like the way you think Rogue! :v

 

[Blizzard of '93]

spring steel was around when the steam engine came into being so I'd say it's PC - not bad work at all.
some handle scales and that one will be great IMO.

 

[RickD]

Thats a every nice knife

 

[mckutzy]

that looks alot like what the Japanese knife/tool/sword makers use, got to like something like that is so simple but very effective. nice tool and great looking knife, :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[NRAJOE]

Cool knife! :hatsoff: