Feast your eyes, my children!

Feast your eyes, my children!

[prizzim]

You can stuff my stocking with that anytime.

[circlepknives]

Tai will be over to pick that one up later

[markd]

####, that's nice.

[TexasJack]

The lessons are coming along quite nicely!

'Course the photos aren't very clear - perhaps you should ship it to me so I can get a better look! :evil

Love to see you do a knife like this with your 6150 stock.

[RogerP]

Once again, the cool factor is off the charts.

Roger

[cricket]

WOW !!! Great as usual!!!! Show us more!!!

[SharpByCoop]

I think even Tai is *real* keen on this one!

No one does a RR spike better--or even close!

Congrats.

Coop

[rhrocker]

Dog Gone that's nice! Almost a spitting image of the one you made for me last year. I wish you'd give me you eye and nostril punch! Do you have a "name" for this guy? Gal?

[Rocket_Jason]

Tai-

Nice knife. Do you forge the blade out of the head of the spike, or do you cut the head off?

-Jason

[B.Finnigan]

Nice works as always Tai! Did you upset the end of the spike or is the blade just real thin?
I just made a "eyeball" punch last night out of 0-1 rod on the lathe. Hopefully it will harden adequately to use. Your twist work is very cool also, I will have to look at it a bit to fiqure it out.

Thanks for all the kind words.

TexasJack, I did make one from the 6150, but it was a lot harder to forge, stiff under the hammer. It did get a point or two harder in the quench though.

For this model I cut the spike head off. I do not upset the portion for the blade, I forge it thin and wide with a ball peen and cross peen. I don't have a name for the face, but like what Gene calls them, "little Uglies". The "reverse twist" calls for precise heat placement. If the first twist gets too hot on the second twist, it will start to undo it and mess it up. I use a tight hot little charcoal fire for that part.

To get the most out of the carbon in the spikes, first you need to spark test them and see if they are in the medium carbon range. Try and find the ones with the most starbursts closest to the wheel. Then, as you forge it, be careful not to lose any carbon by making a special effort to maintain a reducing atmosphere ( don't suck the carbon out). Forge the edge out thin ( but be careful not to beat the carbon out, hee hee) and quench it a bit hotter than cherry red. Make sure the quenching medium is warm.

I've had such a great response from the spike knives here and on the other boards, I'm thinking of doing a full blown tutorial when I get a chance.

[TexasJack]

...and be sure to avoid the choo-choo!

{whack}

[B.Finnigan]

I have sold alot of spike knives myself but they were not challenging me enough, but I was not doing anything exotic either. Over on the Primal Fires forum there is a tutorial on how to do a "pineapple" textured handle on spike knives. That will be my next attempt.

[circlepknives]

Well if you wanna see RR Spike knives, look here! http://www.carls-smithy.com/ When was the last time you saw a RR Spike folder???