New to the forum

[Lin Rhea]

This is my first post as far as I can remember. I just registered recently.

I have a few muzzle loaders and have used them mostly for hunting. I'm having a flint rifle built and thought I'd join this here forum.

As an introduction, I will say that I am also a knife maker. What's called a bladesmith since I forge my blades. I'm also a historic blacksmith. I sure don't want to break any rules being new here so I will just be showing a knife or a work in progress, if that's ok, every once in a while.
Here's one of my recent Bowies. I call it "shinin times" after the mountain man days.

 

[Ole Frog]

Absolutely gorgeous!

Welcome aboard!

 

[Ames]

Oh, you are going to blend in here just fine!
Very nice blade you have there. :thumbsup:

 

[Lin Rhea]

Thank you sir. Here's another view of the handle.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Since you are new to the forum I should inform you that you need to submit your work to the other members for testing (which can take years ).I will offer my services to test your knife. And promise to return it with in ten years with a complete test report. :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Grumpa]

Bladesmith? I'll say you are! Mighty impressive work.

Welcome to the Forum! :hatsoff: What took you so long to get here? :grin:

Richard/Grumpa

 

[Crewdawg445]

Welcome, I agree it's a rule that'll you'll have to submit work for testing... :grin:

Beautiful! I'm not a bowie fan one bit, however that fine blade could certainly change my mind! :thumbsup:

 

[smo]

Son! That's sharp!!!! :thumbsup:

 

[nhmoose]

Lovely!!! :hatsoff:

 

[Cruzatte]

It takes a bit of doing to impress me. I'm impressed. That Sir, is no knife, but a work of art. Welcome to the forum. You're going to like it here.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

You're quite the craftsman. Beautiful work. :thumbsup: GW

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Welcome :hatsoff: Elegant work. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[rijerolmon]

Better than VERY NICE! Tell us about the handle castings and finish.

 

[Lin Rhea]

Thank you gentlemen. I appreciate the kind words.

I must warn you that I take a lot of pictures.

These fittings are forged, not cast, but I can see where you might think that. The blade is forged of course but the fittings are a mix of grinding and forging.

I've been reading a fiction series by Terry Johnston about the character Titus Bass and I am also a big fan of the trapper/mountain man time period in this country's history. So I had this image in my head of "shinin times", which inspired this knife and I used whatever means I thought it might take to get there. If it took forging or grinding, either way, I used it.

In this picture I have the rough parts laid out with a lot of work yet on each.

I sawed this piece and prepared it for the forging by grinding on it a little.


I shaped and assembled the parts to the spacer assembly and pinned and bolted it together to withstand the forging of those tips down. They are forged down tight against a mock up of the stag. I made the mock up out of a piece of rail road spike. It's sacrificial so I'll remove that and the stag should slip right in there where it was.


Now the parts are disassembled and the mock up is removed. This assembly is form fit to each other and cant be rearranged any other way.

 

[Billnpatti]

Oh, my word!!! That is functional art. It would almost be a shame to actually use it. Beautiful work!!! :thumbsup: Welcome to the camp, come on up near the fire, pour yourself a cup of coffee and show us more of your work.

You said "I must warn you that I take a lot of pictures.". That is a good thing. We love pictures. Like is said "A picture is worth a thousand words."

 

[LRB]

Excellent, super fine, quality workmanship. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[jrmflintlock]

:thumbsup:

Tsaan Wookkuh!
(Good Job!) - Comanche

We LOVE Pictures!! Welcome!

I love those Books with Titus Bass Too!!

 

[ZUG]

Simply elegant :bow: . Truly masterful workmanship :thumbsup: . I can not praise your work any more than what has already been said .

 

[Lin Rhea]

Thank you!

 

[Arcturus]

Oh yeah, that knife does indeed "shine"! Very nice work.