Drop point pair

[Strider]

Hello men of good taste!

I greet all of you. Don't think I got kidnapped and had my kidneys sold, I am alive and working like a mad man (well, after a long summer, that is :D ). I present you my recent WIP, lots of photos, as always, as promised.

So, to begin with. I introduce you to a new technique of mine. Faster and not that much harder than the usual one. Take a couple of steel bars, clamp them together, draw the lines, and cut them. 2 or 3 in one, depending on the size of your cutting disc.

The ones shown below are made out of really old Echo guide bars, made in Canada, I presume. Drop point blade design, but with a flat descend, instead of the common downward curve. I like them that way.


You see? No big deal.

Lots of filing, lots of filing and the dust. Notice one is shorter- that's my mistake, I didn't pay attention when drawing so the tip went sideways to the guidebar grooves.

When properly annealed, the steel is soft like butter. Notice, I'm drilling both of them at the same time. A good indicator if the steel is soft enough is the length of the shavings, providing you haven't gone full RPM with your drill.

TiN drill bits do their work.

 

[Strider]

Unfortunately, this is a one blank job- making the bevel. Sharpie pen suffices for drawing the ridge line...which always moves further up :D

Filing one particle at a time.

See, the ridge line goes up :DD You've obviously seen my way of making the ricasso by now. Simple, precise. Effective. But, use a good piece of steel, hard, tough, as the file will chew up the sides, and concave it, as seen on the photo above (a sawed off piece of annealed guide bar). Extra fine file make it nice and smooth, covering up the marks and grooves of my main workhorse file.

5 mm TiN bit gole. Clean and sharp.

I tried an angle grinder for some reason- don't! :D Hours of work almost ruined. But not all was lost, only sped up the process and ruined the symmetry. Easier to fix than I thought.

And, while working the belly side of the ricasso, while in vice, facing downwards, edge up, my file skidded and landed corner first on the edge. Oh well, another 1.5 mm to take off! You see, persistence is the key. We have a saying here in Croatia. Ne jebe lijep nego uporan. Erm... restrictedly meaning- keep trying lads! :)

Normalizing.

After quenching in oil, 61 HRC. I love this part! Gives spirit to a piece of metal!

 

[Strider]

Testing, take two. Sixty one Rockwells. Good results.

Blank number two. Tried angle grinder again. Still not precise, went back to the files. I just take some meat off, whilst still not jeopardizing thickness at the back and the edge. File marks are seen ath the spine. Also, see that I'm using a ground off piece of hard steel, former file ass a ricasso line. The files and the grinder are not keen to chew it up like the last one.

Hardness after annealing. Thirty three Rockwells. Sooofttt.

Stainless steels just don't give you this much reason to smile. Just look at the patterns. So unique, so beautiful. I wish one could keep burnt oil cover. Note the light straw color from tempering on the left blank, number one, and pen markings, showing results, near the top hole. Pink color.

Here you go, gentlemen, All you need to know is written below. Missing an "s" in harness chart part. Fart. LOL

Time to start a handle. Palisander wood. Make two halves; drill two halves; cut the shape in halves, and file them together for a perfect fit. The key is not the get them separated again, once clamped. It is very difficult and time consuming to re-arrange them to the original fit. It is hard, but once you get used to it, it's a charm. Easier if you have two clamps. One always stays on. When moving it in a vice, attach the other one before moving the first one. Simple, logical. Precise.

Sanding for a good fit.
They say palisander is poisonous...Wouldn't know, really. After inhaling dust and everything, I'm still standing, no reactions whatsoever. :D

Pinning.

 

[Strider]

Tricky part- the front of the handle. The palisander wood really likes to chip off...to splinter off. Not hard to work with once you get the hang of it. But, it does smell like a urinal in a desert lounge bar on the longest interstate road ;D

Fun and interesting detail. Oxidation (by HT) scale removal...left it's mark. Mom sure does like my chem experiments in the kitchen.



(not really)


The knives are for sale, so if anyone wants any changes, suggestions or advice, I'm open for business. And, yes, I shall put the add, the sale thread once I'm done.
More to come, WIP after all ;)

 

[barry richardson]

Cool thread Loris! I really enjoyed it, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[manbuckwal]

Very cool process ! Thanks for sharing !!!

 

[NYWoodturner]

Great thread Loris. Keep em coming!

 

[Molokai]

Good thread... reminds me of old days when i didnt have a grinder...

 

[Kevin]

Great thread Loris. You put a lot of time in on that file. Like the others I can't wait to see the finished product and I hope one of our members buys the knives.

Your lounge urinal joke was so descriptive I got a little nauseated lol.

 

[Sprung]

Awesome thread! I'll be looking forward to watching the progress on these knives!

 

[Kauri_Man]

Hi Tomislav,

I hope to see the finished knife when you are done please bud.

I want to show your knives to my friend in Virginia USA who is a bit of a knife collector/enthusiast but am having trouble locating pics of the finished product.

cheers,
Matt

 

[Molokai]

Hi Tomislav,

I hope to see the finished knife when you are done please bud.

I want to show your knives to my friend in Virginia USA who is a bit of a knife collector/enthusiast but am having trouble locating pics of the finished product.

cheers,
Matt

Actually i am not a creator of this knife. Loris, also from Croatia made these. Maybe that confused you. I will send you some photos of my knives to your mail.

 

[NeilYeag]

Loris, what is the reason for the old file, clamped behind the blade in picture 1?

Neil

 

[Kauri_Man]

Actually i am not a creator of this knife. Loris, also from Croatia made these. Maybe that confused you. I will send you some photos of my knives to your mail.

oops please forgive me for that Tom and Loris, I just clicked a knife thread off your profile page so then speed broused mainly the pics before posting. I know how much love goes into your knives so I'm excited to show my friend some pics. Loris gread thread bud, cant wait to see more. I like the chalk board pic, you did your home work ;)

 

[Strider]

I thank you for your liking, but if you have any critics, please feel free to criticize, it will do me good.
I've started to work the handle...There is something sexy in being covered with dust and metal that smells like urine at 3am while other house dwellers (try to) sleep!

 

[Kauri_Man]

Ha ha and maybe if your wife agrees she could join you in the workshop as your assistant lol

I have made one knife I am novice extraordaniare but I look forward to complimenting a great knife when finished, one thing I would say is it's wise to take extra safety precautions if working late, they say between 11pm and 7 am is the body's normal circadian rythem shut down time. I used to work 16 hr days in my workshop when I had a production run I was behind on, still have all my fingers (touch wood)

 

[Corjack]

Jako lijepo!

 

[Strider]

Wife? Hell no, not yet, I'm still a 22 y/o git!
I stop working when I notice I begin making errors on easy things. Good thing I begun saying stop, go to sleep. I used to continue on with work...As they say- knifemakers don't make mistakes, only shorter knives But, some of my best and most beautiful drawings and ideas were born when I was really tired...Stupid part of the brain was shut down lol

 

[Strider]

After a wedding which I remember blurry, and vividly after some point, I grabbed my tools and went to the workshop- Monday, time to work.
Palisander wood is a charm once you figure out what to do. Like every wood, you need to learn it to work it.

I've decided sandpaper #60 alone was too slow. So I took my cheap rasp to take wood away faster. As always, I'm careful at the edges and narrow parts. This wood tents to splinter- big pores.
Chamfering the edges to a round handle with a flare at the end.

This is how I take out pins out of the handle. Always in the same direction, and each pin has it's hole. A love story, actually :D But, I've learned the hard way- when tapping pins, make sure their edges are rounded of, chamfered, otherwise they will splinter the other side.
And I need help- do you gentlemen of good taste recommend I should take away the choil as drawn with a red marker? I have small hand and my index finger fits perfectly in the curve, but a guy with bigger hands said it doesn't. Anyway, I decided to leave the handle a bit thicker to make it more comfy.

Taking shape really fast. Couple hours of work and it should be done.

Grab popcorn, we're almost there

 

[Strider]

Sorry, I missed your post. It doesn't have a role, the file is only standing on the vice anvil.