Here's the beginnings of a special knife.... cutting up larger charcoal chunks into smaller pieces for the forge.... spent 2 hours today filling up 3 of those 23 quart containers to the brim.... (I was covered with black after that... yuck) Its a special one... promised to a very good friend's son who is in the Boy Scouts and just celebrated a very important milestone in his life.... This thread is so that after his son gets the knife, he can see how it all began and moved along to completion.... This one will be charcoal forged out of coil spring... clay heat treated and quenched in Texaco A quenching oil... then all the final grinding will be done on water stones.... I'll keep posting pics here until I finish.... Hope you all enjoy it as well....
Mesquite... its the only all wood charcoal that's available here in the islands... I buy it in 40lb bags and stock up on it when I can.... burns hot and clean... Yeah this will be a fun one.... Thanks....
Summer vacation and the new job has me bogged down... haven't forgotten this though.... next weekend should have some progress!..... sorry about the false start....
O.k. it took me long enough... Apologies go out to my buddy.... I think I lost the pics of the process but saved these... Free form users of course... never two alike from me... as I forge I kinda look for the "feel" of the knife in the steel... Lots of fun! Bottom is Cable Damascus forged out of 1.5" cable.... That was fun... Pics show the finished forged and then rough grind... its the top in the second picture.... This should be cool once I etch it to show the pattern Yew Handles unless I decide otherwise... Yew has an awesome history and a great significance! Top is the coil spring... same... Its the bottom in the second picture.... I'll clay heat treat and see if I can't get a cool hamon... I'll try for a brass or stainless guard.... Same Yew handles... I'll see if I can find the process pics... But there's a very special Son out there that I promised these to the Father a while ago and I wanted to at least show that I didn't forget.... I'm just slow in my old age
Thanks for the compliment... don't hold your breath... at the rate I'm going... it could take a while I was thinking some pre-civil war wrought iron might be pretty cool with the Yew.... Oh well.... Valkman you'll appreciate this... these are the first I've ground on the 220 2hp Bader II I got from Tom Mayo... finally got the 220 30amp line in and the grinder set up... gonna need to fabricate a new arm so I use my 10inch wheel too.... lots of fun... when I find the time.... been too busy playing with a Lincoln AC 225 stick welder.... making up some tools for my buddies who installed all the wiring for the grinders and the 230 50amp line for the Lincoln... Thanks again...
I'll bet that 2hp will grind anything! Man that is nice - my 1 1/2 is great for hollow grinding but I can easily stop it flat grinding.
Tom told me he couldn't stop it.... and I hear he is one serious heavy duty grinder.... and he had it wired with a lighter duty plug... I had my electrician buddy put the full 30amp plug on it to match the Baldor motor... yup... I was pushing pretty hard today... nothing... I can easily stop the 1 1/2 on the KMG... nice to have a beast like the Bader around...
Sorry... spent part of the day setting up my Kalamazoo 1x42 to flip to a horizontal grinder... that will help with projects.... and that kit has only been sitting for at least a couple years.... talk about slowing down...
