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canid
02-21-2010, 06:29 PM
http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt106/canid/knives/roughblank.jpg

i don't expect much from this blade at all. it seems to be a steel, but it feels like soft aluminum under the grinder. the friend who gave it to me has machined a fair amount of aluminum and seems to be pretty sure it's a steel. i don't have enough experience with a broad range of steel alloys to even take a guess.

it's got a nice dull luster and has no signs of any oxidation whatsoever. that does not seem promising at all, but i'm happy just go give it a shot and see how it goes.

i have a good couple chunks of scrap left over from cutting the profile out, and i can play around with that to see how it hardens.

canid
02-21-2010, 06:31 PM
it's about 11 1/2" overall, and an absurd 3" at it's widest point.

RangerXanatos
02-21-2010, 06:35 PM
Really like the shape. Hope it works out well for you.

canid
02-21-2010, 06:40 PM
i hope i can get at least a serviceable blade from it. i spent all of yesterday and half the day before cutting firewood and clearing the brush from two enourmous trees.

much of the time i was doing work with either a small knife or a chainsaw that really called for a stout chopper.

crashdive123
02-21-2010, 07:01 PM
The shape looks great. Hope it works out. How thick is it?

canid
02-21-2010, 07:06 PM
hrm, i'd be hard pressed to give a decent guess, but i've got my friend's digital caliper around some place or other.

canid
02-21-2010, 07:32 PM
if the caliper is correct [battery is almost completely dead] then it is somewhere between 5/64th inch and 2mm.

crashdive123
02-21-2010, 07:40 PM
A thin one. Good slicer.

canid
02-21-2010, 07:44 PM
yes, it's being on the thin side, and being short were the two reasons i left the blade wide.

i think i'll be adjusting the profile a bit, just tinkering, but as long as i can heat treat it to any acceptable condition i can't see it being worse than not having a chopper on hand.

it's actually thicker by a bit than the cheap-o machete i cut up to make the kitchen knives.

canid
02-21-2010, 07:46 PM
you should be able to see from the picture that i was able to get a working table saw and an abrasive saw blade. i can actually cut steel effectively now. that includes your l-6

crashdive123
02-21-2010, 07:56 PM
I never thought of an abrasive wheel on my table saw. I've got a chop style cutoff saw in pieces in the work shop (somebody's trash) trying to make it useable.

canid
02-21-2010, 08:01 PM
yeah, i've got a small, but plenty powerful craftsman 1.5hp portable saw on top of my freebie heavy duty steel frame saw which doesn't work.

i put the abrasive/cutoff wheel on it so that i could cut that steel you sent me. i messed up 1 piece a good bit [pretty much cosmetic] trying to controll the speed i ran it over the blade, but it otherwise worked great. i can see that i'm going to have to make a cardboard cowling that directs the sparks into a can of water though. they where shooting 8 feet across the shop, and very intense/hot.

crashdive123
02-21-2010, 08:12 PM
Now if you could just pack that into the woods. Who needs a firesteel?

canid
02-21-2010, 09:31 PM
guess i would just have to build a treadle operated grinding wheel and lug that around with me ;)

Camp10
02-21-2010, 09:31 PM
Canid, Stick a magnet to it..that should tell you if it is steel.

canid
02-21-2010, 09:37 PM
well color me stupid.

thank you for the brain adjustment. i think i needed it.

i swear, some days i wonder what my elementary school meant when they said i was gifted :D

your_comforting_company
02-21-2010, 09:43 PM
watch out for your shins when you are swinging that thing.. just a reminder ;)

canid
02-21-2010, 09:48 PM
well; it's ferromagnetic. that's encouraging. the next question is what the alloying composition is, and whether i can heat treat it, but as i said, i do have a couple small pieces of scrap i can play with.

Camp10
02-21-2010, 10:00 PM
i do have a couple small pieces of scrap i can play with.

Yeah, I would start with them before you get to much time into the knife. Harden and quench a small piece then stick it in the vice and break it. That should tell you what you need to know.

Canadian-guerilla
02-22-2010, 12:34 AM
http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt106/canid/knives/roughblank.jpg



any ideas for the handle yet, or just something simple like wood ?

canid
02-22-2010, 12:41 AM
i have a nice 9" piece of well seasoned cholla, but i was hoping to save that for a real quality parang.

i have several good options, and not the worst of which is some nice dense purpleheart, possibly together with something else to accent it.

far from having my mind made up, and as always i'm open to suggestion.

Canadian-guerilla
02-22-2010, 12:47 AM
maybe wrap the handle in fiberglass strips and sand it down to fit your hand/fingers ?

before you wrap, throw some small screws into the handle to hold the fiberglass in place ?

canid
02-22-2010, 12:48 AM
i'm not set up for resin composites at the moment.

i have half a gallon of west system 105 up north a ways, but i haven't had the opportunity to go back up that way recently.

Durtyoleman
02-22-2010, 09:36 AM
Canid...just a tip to save your fire extinguisher...get some cheap aluminum flashing material to make your cowl/ spark deflector. The dust will build up on the cowl as a slag and the cardboard will catch fire.

D.O.M.

Ole WV Coot
02-22-2010, 12:49 PM
m4040.com, take a gander at one he made. Kinda looks like almost the same shape.

canid
02-22-2010, 11:02 PM
i checked that one out. it's got that same bulbous/round tip geometry. i'm still trying to decide how much i want to slim the point down.

crashdive123
02-22-2010, 11:13 PM
I kind of like the shape where you've got it now.

panch0
02-23-2010, 01:21 AM
I like the looks of that. Looks like a great cutting tool.

canid
02-25-2010, 01:08 AM
fixed profile a little, and made a crude handle. here's another preview:

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt106/canid/knives/img_0229.jpg

Ted
02-25-2010, 01:21 AM
Nice...very, very nice!

rebel
02-25-2010, 08:20 AM
That's nice! Have you tried it out?

canid
02-25-2010, 09:13 AM
no, i'm not finished with the blade yet. when i'm happy with it i still have to see about a heat treat.

Rick
02-25-2010, 09:46 AM
Very nice. That's going to make a nice chopper.

crashdive123
02-25-2010, 10:23 AM
I really like the size and shape of that blade/handle.

Ole WV Coot
02-25-2010, 04:20 PM
Looks good, like the blade.

canid
03-13-2010, 06:11 PM
i heat treated the blade today. both proceedures over wood fire, so it's extremely imperfect. that combined with the rather thin blade didn't give me a lot in the way of expectation, but i did some chopping tests on old cedar, and it works well enough. certainly well enough for the light brush chopping i wanted it for.

the blade did take some propeller twist warpage during the quench [i did not bother normalizing] but it's minor and not causing any trouble.

i re-handled it with a set of the koa scales. i marked out the profile of the tang on the one which was slightly thicker, and chisled out a recess so the blade would set flush into it, then glued up the scales with epoxy and free-handed the shaping on the handle. it needs to be refined, but it looks much better than the purpleheart had.

the next kukri i make will be around 1/8", with considerably more mass. for it, i'll do a proper heat treat. i hope to have a propane setup by then.

welderguy
03-13-2010, 06:24 PM
Good looking blade design. i like it

Rick
03-13-2010, 06:39 PM
Can you use a BBQ grill for the heat treat? I was just thinking you can find those things on Craig's List often as a give away. It would get you out of your Better Half's oven.

canid
03-13-2010, 06:50 PM
you could do the tempering, but it would be hard to controll the heat [as if a wood fire wasn't...]

to use one for hardening, you would still have to insulate it with a refractory, or a couple of firings would burn straight through it.

i'm planning to buy a used propane cylinder and a torch similar to this: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=propane+torch&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hl=en&cid=14898613612098621228&sa=title#p

that would let me build a nice little forge, and if it worked alright with the flow rate turned real low, could probably handle tempering as well.

i'm still going to do a lot of research, paying close attention to how others have built their propane forges.

Rick
03-13-2010, 06:56 PM
Tempering is what I meant. Sorry.