A small bush blade that I made last Fall.

[Amazed]

I used 1095 carbon steel for little little gem. A basic spear point design with a very clean handle. Brass pins and 2ton epoxy hold the scales on. The scales are made from an old Scout shirt of mine. I mixed up some bondo fiber glass resin for the compound and then compress the linen strips between two small boards for few days. I believe the whole thing came out well. THe grind is flat with a good convex edge, scary sharp and holds an edge very well. It's an all around good bush knife and is my EDC. Thanks for looking! Todd4027402840294030

[Fletching]

Cool blade Todd!

Steve :)

[CanadianMike]

Very nice, looks well loved! I recognise the mustard patina on the blade. ;)

[luresalive]

If I was to picture my perfect knife, it would look just like that

[JEEP]

Very nice! I like that design a lot.

[Amazed]

If I was to picture my perfect knife, it would look just like that

Thank you very much Luresalive and very kind words from all. I've been messing with knives since childhood. I put together my first green river blade in my early teens and have been hooked ever since. I started making my own blades a few years ago, but this is about as big as I have made. Still very hit and miss for now. I just watched a 5 part series from Chris Caine on how Stanisforths make his blade, of course they didn't show the tempering process, still very interesting in all. In process though. Thanks again for looking fellas. Have a good weekender! Todd

[Roadkillphil]

A nice Lookin tool bid :D

[El]

That is one cool looking knife !

[jbrown14]

Wow, that looks like one I've been sketching during meetings at work for a while now.

The handle shape is just perfect.

Thanks for sharing, Todd.

Josh

[ian c]

Very nice, i like it, well done.

[CanadianMike]

Thank you very much Luresalive and very kind words from all. I've been messing with knives since childhood. I put together my first green river blade in my early teens and have been hooked ever since. I started making my own blades a few years ago, but this is about as big as I have made. Still very hit and miss for now. I just watched a 5 part series from Chris Caine on how Stanisforths make his blade, of course they didn't show the tempering process, still very interesting in all. In process though. Thanks again for looking fellas. Have a good weekender! Todd

Heat treating and tempering are pretty stupid easy for a high carbon knife (ala not stainless), heat to non-magnetic, then quench in water or oil (O-1 is oil quench only for the most part, W1 and W2 are water quench, same as any of the 10XX series knives), once quenched do a hour long cycle or two in an oven set at about 375F-425F (softer from higher temp, harder from lower temp) and then you are good to go. For carbon steel, really, it sounds like they don't want to give away the simplicity of it in case someone tries to copy their knife.

[Amazed]

Agreed Mike. My understanding is that they now differentially temper the blade as they had some issues with shattering near the handle while batoning. I was hoping to see how they accomplish that task. I have been using the basic technique you described in tempering and hardening the steel. I have been using recycled motor oil for the quench. Makes the wife happier

[CanadianMike]

Do it all outside. I used to use old motor oil as well, past year and a bit I switched to canola, wash after with dish soap and warm water, then into the toaster oven for the temper cycles.

Differential hardening is also quite easy, use an oxy acetylene torch with a small tip, heat the spine of the blade to blue, while keeping the bevel and edge cool (I've never done it, never needed to since I heat the handle first, then flip around to heat the blade, the handle cools slowly while heating the blade, I dip, pull, dip, pull, dip then swish around, then drop the handle in and swish). There are other ways to do it, pick up Wayne Goddard's '$50 Knife Shop' for some awesome yet stupid easy means to make knives. He actually shows a differential hardening jig he made up, it clamps to the bevel and most of the blade, acts as a heat sink, and with the spine exposed, puts the knife in the same forge he heated to critical with. Calls it his tempering jig.

Nutshell, you just need to make the handle and spine tougher than the edge, and all that takes is heating it up more than the bevel and edge.

As far as the shattering you mentioned, the blades they had the issue with weren't tempered properly. Not sure how much you understand about heat treating and tempering, but for the sake of others, it's like this. Heat to critical, non-magnetic, then quench. The faster the quench, the harder and more brittle the steel will be. Oil is a slower quench than water. Anyways, tempering is heating the hardened steel at a much lower temp, in order to draw some of the hardness out of the blade.

Give this a watch, Charlie from Anza knives, pretty interesting way he shows how to make a file bend (yet doesn't say how he does it, really it's just tempered at around 400F for an hour or two):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybMDdLpMAvQ

Also, he brings up a very important point: High carbon steel is used to cut stainless steel, stainless steel isn't used to cut high carbon steel. Along those lines anyways.

[Amazed]

I still learning buddy, very much at the early apprentice stage I'd say. I just received the Wayne Goddard book for Christmas and have re-read it several times. Very much an inspiration on my work and set up. Thanks again for the input, always welcome! I'll post up as I progress in this Parang project. THat is how I would classify Chris Caine's small blade. I have to put of a chicken coop over the next week or so as we are taking self sufficiency to the next level. So progress will be slow for a while becasue of the chickens. Thanks again, Todd

[CanadianMike]

Heck, I'm still learning too and trying new things, always up for increasing my game! :)

[KaiTheIronHound]

Awesome blade mate, beautiful piece of kit!