In the footsteps of the great James Black

[essdee1972]

James Black was the chap who made the knives for Col. James Bowie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Black_(blacksmith).

And this here are a pretty small pair of feet (mine) trying on his size 18 shoes! Started making a Bowie almost a month back. Still in the initial stages.

Got a leaf spring, courtesy Airgun_Novice. Got a couple of designs, courtesy Brihacharan and M/s Brin & Page. Got the spring straightened out. Started working.

The Bowie is planned to be 12" long with a 6.75" blade. Since I have some metal leftover, I decided to make a small pocketable blade also. Some pics below. Rest to follow as the process goes on...


The raw material clamped and ready to be cut in two. Apologies for the toes!



Cut! You can make out the rough drawings on the metal


The Bowie shape ground out on the angle grinder. The lines inside the shape are for the bevels. Outside of those lines (towards the edge), I'll bevel the metal, behind the lines, keep it as is. Now the real work starts!!

Since the last pic, I have been working on the bevel with a file. Intend to give the point part a double edge. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the same. But, since the process is taking too long, seeing pictures would look much like the protagonists of "arty" movies watching water boil!

Any suggestions, criticisms (preferably constructive ), etc. will be most welcome.

[Moin.]

SdDa. Just suggestion. Would look better if you take the main bevel higher up the blade and take the clip further back on tbe spine. Also you need not shave off so much mefal from the swedge as you have marked.

Regards
Moin.

[brihacharan]

Hi Essdee,
> Man you are on the right track
> The shape & profile are excellent especially towards the point.
> For beveling / hollow grinding suggest you use the 4" Angle Grinder - It's advisable to use a rheostat if you can lay your hands on one to reduce the speed to about 5000 to 6500 rpm. The original speed is around 10,000 rpm which you may find difficult to handle initially.
> Begin with 80 grit "Aloxite" Grinding Wheel - works well on steel.
> Move on to 120 grit & later 180 grit.
> When 85% of the metal is ground off use 400 / 600 grit to near final finish.
> Finally use wet emery cloth & hand finish to get the edge.
> Remember to wear throughout....
1. Safety Glasses
2. Leather Gloves
> For the handle try rose wood - you can pick up small blocks from Oshiwara Lumber yard.
Good Luck
Briha

[essdee1972]

Thanks, Moin & B Brihaji.

Moin, do you mean the bevel line (black line in the pic) should be more towards the spine? I understand your point about taking the clip further back - that will be closer to the Bowie / Arkansas toothpick style. And by shaving metal off the swedge, do you mean the bevel on the back, i.e. clip?

[marthandan]

very nice start second what Moin said; though lengthening the clip is a matter of personal choice (the existing one looks great IMO). a bevel half the width of the blade would look proportionate and also result in better slicing ability. am i right in assuming that the stock is at the least 8mm thick?

Since the last pic, I have been working on the bevel with a file. Intend to give the point part a double edge. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the same. But, since the process is taking too long, seeing pictures would look much like the protagonists of "arty" movies watching water boil!

[Moin.]

Thanks, Moin & B Brihaji.

Moin, do you mean the bevel line (black line in the pic) should be more towards the spine? I understand your point about taking the clip further back - that will be closer to the Bowie / Arkansas toothpick style. And by shaving metal off the swedge, do you mean the bevel on the back, i.e. clip?

SdDa; If you take the cross section of a knife blade, a lower grind line will give a very obtuse wedge shape and a higher an acute wedge i.e a better cutting ability.

The clip is a matter of personal choice, i find taking the clip further back more true to tbe orginal bowie design. You need to reduce the grinding on the clip. With the current design you will be shaving a lot of metal from theclip resulting in a weaker point.

[essdee1972]

Thanks, guys!

Marty, it's 0.3 in = 7.62 mm (according to Excel convert)

Moin, I am going for an acuter shape - say about 40 degrees. Will be that much easier to sharpen on the Spyderco. More abtuse angle on the clip.

Both - I get your point on the bevel. It's "almost" at the black line now, looks a bit disproportionate. Need to deepen it. Unfortunately, the "sloping step" (what is the technical name??) between the bevel and the tang part has got a bit tapered due to the file slipping now & then. I am using cross filing - filing across the file rather than along - saw this method in one of bladeforums posts. You basically hold the file in both hands - one hand on the handle, the other near the tip - and move the file across its breadth rather than along its length. I find that the guy writing the original post was right - this prevents the file from changing angle and gives more control on the cut.

Unfortunately, the forger, when he hammered the metal straight, he made some dents & dings on the metal. These are making an appearance now as I file. So I need to now file the entire knife to maybe a mm lesser in thickness. I don't think I'll get a sharp bevel like the factory made stuff - more like a rounded corner!!

[marthandan]

if you are planning a fully polished finish...the blank has to be flat. but removing an mm off the thickness is a tough task. alternatively, you could go for a forged finsih where the imperfections will add to the character of the blade. mirror finish the bevels, guard and handle to offset the forge finish on the blade.
cross filing is a great way to get truly flat bevels.

[Moin.]

Thanks, guys!

Marty, it's 0.3 in = 7.62 mm (according to Excel convert)

Moin, I am going for an acuter shape - say about 40 degrees. Will be that much easier to sharpen on the Spyderco. More abtuse angle on the clip.

Both - I get your point on the bevel. It's "almost" at the black line now, looks a bit disproportionate. Need to deepen it. Unfortunately, the "sloping step" (what is the technical name??) between the bevel and the tang part has got a bit tapered due to the file slipping now & then. I am using cross filing - filing across the file rather than along - saw this method in one of bladeforums posts. You basically hold the file in both hands - one hand on the handle, the other near the tip - and move the file across its breadth rather than along its length. I find that the guy writing the original post was right - this prevents the file from changing angle and gives more control on the cut.

Unfortunately, the forger, when he hammered the metal straight, he made some dents & dings on the metal. These are making an appearance now as I file. So I need to now file the entire knife to maybe a mm lesser in thickness. I don't think I'll get a sharp bevel like the factory made stuff - more like a rounded corner!!

Dada, to get uniform bevels once you are done with rough filing work use sanding blocks. pieces of sanding paper glued to ply or you. have tried this when modding a few knives. Works perfectly and you get good crisp bevel lines. No clue on the Spyderco Sharpmaker never used it before.

Regards
Moin

[Moin.]

Some good Tutorials here.

Ariel Salaverria is a fantastic custom knife maker from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

http://www.aescustomknives.com/docs/tutorials.htm

Regards
Moin.

[TC]

The knife junkies are at it again

Carry on Essdee... you are doing great

TC

[Moin.]

http://www.knivesby.com/knifemaking.html

[dr.jayakumar]

essdee1972,good work...i am following you post and its inspiring.maybe someday i'll manage to make one?
REGARDS
DR.JK

[slingshot]

Salute your passion Essdee...very inspiring post ...James Black will be proud too

[essdee1972]

The old timers around here might remember that famous line from "Sholay": budhiya chakki pising and pising and pising........

Here's a buddha chaaku ghising and ghising and ghising............

Some progress:





Note the curved unground portions near the tip - these are the dents left by the hammer of the lohaar

Remember the small piece of metal leftover from the spring? This is its new avatar....... WIP:





Ouch! My arms!!

By the way (plaintive bleat) can the mods relook at the image posting method? That bleedin' photobucket website takes humongous amounts of bandwidth (and time) showing video ads and so forth!!