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Thread: pic of my first , dads gift and recent knife

  1. #1
    Senior Member Thaddius Bickerton's Avatar
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    Default pic of my first , dads gift and recent knife

    The left most knife is the first one I made, guess it's 40 + years old

    The center one is the first solegen steel knife that My dad gave me. (stuck it in because it was on the table and I wanted a pic of it just because)

    The one on the right is maybe a month old if that.

    I think I have improved in making them a bit, but tbh, I still like the simple ones better than a hollow grind / saber with fancy stuff and wood.

    I think I'm gonna revisit basic simple stuff like green river , and kephart and such and see If I can make the best of that kind with a great heat treat, and then focus on perfecting that one style and see If I can get any two to look similar.

    Or not, I kind of do my steel beating in hit or miss fashion, for some reason I'm really in the make a blade mode right now.

    And it takes me a long time to get one done anymore, both because I'm trying to turn out better quality work, and because with my stroke I measure like 10 times then grind a dab then measure again. I find it very hard to put metal back on.

    As for actual forge work, I have a simple hammer that I can use with a pedal as a kind of trip hammer. When I get tired of stomping the hammer pedal, I stop work, so I have to be feeling good to beat steel or have one of the kids near by to help me if I get tired.

    I can still use a hammer but I'm afraid Ill end up whacking it harder and mess up stuff the cable drop is just a #20 head so not hard to work, but sure not a power hammer. Still it lets me keep doing stuff that I'd otherwise just be sitting and waiting to die.

    I have the belt sander and grinders and drill press etc, but I tend to use files and sand paper a lot more because it is harder to hurt myself, even though slow.

    I find myself rigging up a lot of jigs and such so I don't make motor control mistakes.

    I could never turn out blades fast enough to sale any, but I can still please myself. My son , now he can work metal wonders, but focus a lot more on farm welding and selling window bars (treatments is what the yuppies call em) to the mc mansion owners who are afraid of getting robbed and rely on 911 dial a prayer instead of a 1911.

    Anyway I know this pic is kind of stinky, but its dark out and I am not a great camera guy on my good days. Still at least you can kind of see I have made a couple knifes (well a few more than a couple to be honest) and in the last 40 or so years have even learned to make them at least passable.

    Every one is still a new lesson, I understand why so much mysticism attached to smith work. I know Ill never be even a journeyman but at least I can appreciate the art of it.

    Thad.

    Sorry part is cut off, bad camera skill
    ETA, sorry realized I should have laid a quarter or ruler in for scale. The left blade is about 4.5 inches long if that helps right one around 3.75 and center about 5.5 inches.

    Also sorry My typing is off it's been long day, we put up hay, and also I had to deal with folk in town, that always leaves the brain frazzled. T.
    ETA #2, Im hating that picture, i couldn't even get them to lay even so they look all wrong size, maybe I need to only take on blade in a pic at a time, or find a better surface than a blanket on a bed :-)

    first, dad, recent.jpg
    Last edited by Thaddius Bickerton; 04-19-2012 at 09:59 PM.
    Thaddius Bickerton

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  2. #2
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Nice work.....then and now.
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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I think you did fine on the pic. Did a nice job on the blades, too.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Senior Member Thaddius Bickerton's Avatar
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    Thank you, I know your stuff is amazing. I had the blessing of living in walking distance of the last blacksmith that practiced in our small town. He helped me learn heat treat and gave me a bunch of his stuff when he retired.

    His kids ended up selling off his big anvil to some antique guy, Bet it is in some yuppie home wasted now.

    I bet he had 100 hammers and a whole wall of tongs he had made.

    I do have a lot of his old hardy things he had made. many of which I have no idea what he used them for. (he made stuff still for wagons and such.

    Now there is one youngish fellow practicing as a traveling farrier in our area. I have only spoken with him in passing, he is a good at his work, but not much on talking. In fact so abrasive I almost hate it when DD calls him to come reshoe the horses, but I just can't do it anymore.

    The older stuff uses more scrounged stuff, and in a way im more pleased with it than the stuff where I could order or buy nice steel and such.

    I have been a packrat for unusual woods forever. I have some from old mahogany and teak furniture that I sometimes use for scales. The right one has a real black wood from the top of an old chest of drawers, Not sure of the wood type. It came from one an old lady down the road from Mom was throwing out years ago, and I stuck it in mom's small barn (the one that is really a workshop) and it held junk for years, I just pulled the top off it a year or so ago and found that it is a very heavy dense wood that has soaked in whatever the finish was and is now solid black all the way through, but with dense grain.

    Anyway thank you for the nice words. IT means something coming from someone whose work I admire.

    Thad
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    Senior Member Sparky93's Avatar
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    I think they are both great blades, fine work!
    "Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."
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    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    I bet he had 100 hammers and a whole wall of tongs he had made.
    So does Rick.

    Oh....you said tongs.

    Thanks right back at ya for the kind words.
    Can't Means Won't

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I'll be back. I gotta to count.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Senior Member natertot's Avatar
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    Nice work Thad!
    ”There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.” ~Johnny Rotten

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    Senior Member Thaddius Bickerton's Avatar
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    Dang it. Lesson to self, do not put a camera in pocket, it will come on and drain the batteries. Now fore I can take a picture of my new experiments I have to go get more batteries. (perhaps ought to get some AAA rechargables and one of those chargers that plug into the wall like kids have for their AA batteries?0

    Anyway I'm really wanting to try out a Becker BK9 but they are not a small purchase. Thus I have a hunk of metal and am grinding out a hurry up bowie blade to go do some playing with to see if I really really really want a first class blade.

    I can't really get the grind lines of a becker out of the steel I have, so it will be a more traditional type. say a 9 inch blade with about 1/4 inch thick and a nice long handle. Probably end up with a saber grind on it cause I have been doing those a fair amount lately on small stuff.

    Figure if it works with a cheap hunk of metal and my dinky heat treat skills then the becker bk9 will be everything I expect / think it could be for me.

    Soon as I get some batteries and get something ground out I'll try to post up something to show what I'm up to.

    Thad.
    Thaddius Bickerton

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