It's good to know a bladesmith

My friend wanted a skinner to add to his collection and I told him if he waited a bit that he'd get a free upgrade to damascus steel.

The wait is over my friend.

I lost track of the layer count on this one,  I had too many billets going at once.  This blade is 1095 and 5160.  I started with 6 layers and then folded it twice and twisted it.  Then I made a billet using the first one with 3 pieces of 5160 and folded and twisted that billet a few times.

Moar Damascus

The new forge is being used to heat a billet of damascus.  I have an order for a little skinner to get done.  Forging the blades to shape sure saves on grind time and it make it easy to get the bevels started.

This is the knife that was in forging picture above.   I think with the eye it looks very shark like.  This is just after a quick soak in the etchant to get a peek at the pattern, I will put it back and in go for a nice deep etch.

Second blade from the first billet of damascus

I forged this guy much thinner than the other blade and it has a distal taper from about 5/32 of and inch to about a 1/16 of an inch on the blade portion.

It's pretty cool to be working with the damascus.  Because it is so time consuming to make damascus I have had to take more time forging the blades closer to their final shape and hammering in the bevels to keep waste to a minimum.  This has helped me refine my smithing skill and helped on other projects.  In the next few weeks look for damascus blades on the knives for sale page.

A milestone has been passed! Damascus blades have happened at the Iron works.

Before the etch.

My partner has gotten his BIG 2 burner forge up and running.  It can reach welding temp so he has been experimenting with damascus  billets made of cable and various types of high carbon steel.  The billet for the knife above is cable damascus and 5160 spring steel.  He folded the billet several times so it has over 200 layers,  Your humble narrator then forged the blade to shape.

After the 5 minute etch.

After about 2 hours in the etchant.

 After profiling and getting the bevels ground and ready for heat treat we did a quick etch with hot vinegar (don't use the nice glasses, the woman of the house will get cross!) so we could get an idea of how the pattern turned out.  A very lovely random pattern was revealed to us.  Then is was back to to the HBI shop for heat treat and all the grinding and drilling that makes a knife not a prison shank.  Then is was time for about 2 hours in the vinegar to get a nice etch. It was a happy thing to see the emerge.  Update...256 layer count. Then I gave the cutty parts a light buff to make them shine and put on some linen micarta scales with some stainless steel Corby bolts.

The finished knife ready for a sheath

Envy is good for selling knives

A good friend of mine purchased a Little Bushcraft Companion as a present for his adult son.  The son then took his new knife on a weekend excursion and camp out and put it through it's paces.  His friends were so impressed they all bought new knives from me.  Looks like I'll have to update the knives for sale page.

Buy all you want we'll make more!

Wee patch knife for muzzle loaders

Dad was having trouble finding a patch knife to use muzzle loading.  While he was visiting we drew one up he liked then went out to the shop and made it happen. It's made from 1/8 inch 1095 and has totally non period micarta handles. It fits his hand and he's going to put in a leather pouch type sheath next to his powder horn. Maybe if we're lucky we may even get pictures of it in action.

A big burly man knife in progress

1/4 inch thick x 2 inches wide 5160 spring steel makes a hefty blade. Also, it takes a while to grind the edge.  Ask me how I know.  

Orders in progress

The new grinder is humming along nicely and I'll post another after these are heat treated.

We have knives in stock and ready to ship!

Check out the new updated "knives in stock" page.   We have several knives in stock with a few styles to to choose from.  From bushcrafting to the zombie apocalypse we have you covered!
  We got in a big batch of knife steels, the new forge is almost done and the new blade grinder is fully functional so check back often as more will be added in the next few weeks.

Using our bushcrafting knives for bushcrafting.

It was a pleasant day in the north land and a new bushcraft book had arrived so we  decided to play with fire and cook a little supper.

We decided to try a new pot hook arrangement that looked fun to build and went in to the back 40 to find suitable raw materials.  It is really fun to have someone to help get camp set up, while one of us was prepping the tinder bundle the other guy can prep the kindling and bigger stuff. A fire was going and burning nicely in about five minutes.  I'm pretty sure we had the pot hook set complete in about 10 minutes.  The next one will go faster as we had to find out the best way to get stuff done.  We are proud of the fact that we can use the knives we make to do this stuff.  

Supper was hot chocolate with pork chop soup.

Pork chop soup is a nice one pot meal.  2 beef or pork ramen noodle flavor packs, 2 medium sized pork chops cut in to cubes, 2-3 medium sized spuds, 2 carrots, and a small onion.  Chop up the veg in to fit in your mouth pieces and throw it all in pot with enough water to cover all the pieces and boil for about 20 minutes. 

Saturday was a productive day!

The new Blade grinder in action!

Another pig sticker ready for a new home

Out of the sheath

Big Doins At The Shop!!

A big bush craft companion and a little skinner  mounted for easy access.

Knife orders are starting to pick up as our customers are letting their friends know about our products.

A long anticipated moment at our shop......

A new 2x72 blade grinder.   Now if the crew at tru-grit could get the belts to us in a timely manner we'd be some blade grinding fools.
A new apprentice showed up the same day as the grinder and started work as soon as safety glasses were procured.  We were impressed, and if he keeps up the good work we'll have enough stock to keep everyone happy.
  I will endeavor to get the knife page updated this weekend.

Knives for sale and a reminder about our shows this weekend

Old car springs with a new lease on life

 

All these knives are for sale except the black handled skinner.  My buddy called dibs as soon as he got a picture of it.

Come see us at the Unitarian church or the Mariner mall this Saturday.  Scroll down for more info.

The Pig Sticker MK II is ready to leave for its new home.

It has a new Kydex sheath with a tek lok on the back....

One little skinner ready for scales

I am liking how these little guys fit the hand.  A batch of micarta has been ordered and should be here early next week.  OD green, Brown/tan and classic black.  Sheaths for that wee blade should be a cake walk.  Maybe when I grow up I'l get a better camera and place to shoot pics.  I'll add some better pics when the sun is out.

Pig Sticker MKII

OD green micarta scales with stainless steel pins full tang 5160 spring steel

A bit of testing before the handle was put on

The customer is looking forward to picking it up tomorrow!
If you are interested in purchasing a blade please send and email to hunchbackironwworkss@gmail.com

Some of the new skinner's in the making.

Pig Sticker

Double edged goodness

Finalllllly, a (mostly)completed knife

I've gotten this knife to functional.  It still needs a little time with some sandpaper to finish up some of the fiddly bits. There is also the decision to be made whether or not to bead blast the blade.  This is supposed to be a working blade.  Maybe we should call it the "Big Bushcraft Companion".

This would have been done sooner but -22f with -35f windchill is no fun in a shop with a small wood stove and lots of drafts.

5160 spring steel with OD micarta scales

Maybe we need to send a couple to Oleg Volk to show us how to do a good photograph of a blade.

Soon....the fun with Kydex sheaths start.

My New Knife Is Done!

5160 spring steel with micarta scales and stainless pins.  The blade is about 4in long and about an 1/8th in thick. Oil quenched and deferentially tempered.  Shaving sharp with good edge retention.  We batoned some oak and split enough kindling to get a good fire going in the stove and  then shaved some hair off our arms.
Thanks Buddy, awesome gift and much appreciated!