A Piece I'm Working On

[Matt Roberts]

Here's a small southwest Bowie I'm hoping to finish by next weekend. I forged the blade from 5/8" round bar w1.

 

[brino]

Great blade shape and a beautiful grinding job!

What kind of handle will be used?
Do we get to see some pictures of that too?

Thanks for sharing this.
-brino

 

[Matt Roberts]

Thanks.

Sambar stag for the handle. I'll probably use a two piece s-guard instead of the 3/8" fighter guard.

 

[cathead]

Very nice! I'm not much on knives but must say you do excellent work.

 

[USNFC]

Beautiful blade Matt. Great job!

 

[7mag]

Nice work

 

[talvare]

Beautiful work. Do you perform a heat treating process to your blades ? If so, could you elaborate a little on the process.

Thanks

Ted

 

[Matt Roberts]

Thanks for the compliments.

This piece was forged, normalized three times, annealed twice, hardened at *1475--quenched in Parks 50, then tempered at *475 (this piece was differentially hardened using clay as a resist). I don't have an RC tester to confirm, but, the hardness should be right around 60 Rockwell.

The best advice for forging is never let the blade overheat. Don't forge in direct sunlight. I've seen many knives that were worse because they were mistreated during the forging process.

I REALLY need to get this piece finished-- way too many other projects .

 

[talvare]

Thanks for the explanation. I have an interest in doing some heat treating of home made tools and have been doing a little research about the processes. I was curious about the process you use to achieve the necessary qualities of a good knife.

Thanks again

Ted

 

[Matt Roberts]

You can get good results with a torch and a careful eye. If you're going to be heat treating often, or want to maximize performance, look into buying an Evenheat oven. Great product at a fair price.