Harry's first forged knife

[first twin]

Ok, John, Don and Carl, here it is. This is the knife Harry forged the Friday before the Georgia Guild meeting. It has a 3.5 inch blade of 1095, that has been differentially heat treated, and etched. The handle is from a white tail deer that did not give it up willingly. It will be used on his possibles bag for his flintlock, so he made a powder measure out of the butt of the handle. It throws about 80 grains of FFg black powder. The guard is made of pewter which was neither easy nor fun, even though Carl made it look that way. Harry still has to sharpen it and make a sheath. I hope that y'all like it. Now maybe He can start grinding again.

[hammerdownnow]

Beautiful! Once you heat and beat it's kinda hard to go back to just grinding. We will have to wait and see how it has grabbed hold of Harry.

[McAhron]

Awsome first forge job.Congratulations

[Crex]

Well Harry, this is how it begins. Well done on several levels. I guess you have started on putting your forge together in earnest now. If you have questions just holler or bring them with you up to Trackrock on the 25th. Bring your hammer and get in some swing time. Maybe John can walk you through a hawk head to go with that sticker. If you come up on Friday we can get in a lot of extra hammer time fun.

For someone who professes that pewter work is a pain, it appears you did it right. Working pewter gets easier with practice. It's nothing your talents can't master.

[Harry Mathews]

Thanks for the comments. Carl got me interested in forging a blade, and is a patient instructor. John and Don both loaned the tools I needed and didn't have on hand.(didn't know I needed so much equipment) I can see where this could be very habit forming. I am looking forward to setting aside some time to get my forge going soon as we get some knives completed.

[Harry Mathews]

Carl, I'm going to make someone's day with the order for my forge supplies. Thanks to you it's hard to pass an antique(junk) store without stopping in to see what kind of hammers and tongs I can find. I can't pass up a pewter plate. Charlie said "why don't you just put some scallops at the joint between the guard and the stag?" an innocent enough question. I now have most of one pewter plate splattered on the floor next to my bench trying to fill all those little scallops. I have a few ideas that might work better on the next one, and got the trick for the scallops. Thanks to you, John, and Don for the help and encouragement. I think I've been hooked.

[flashinthepan]

Beautiful job !!!!
Love the idea of a powder measure in the handle..
I have found when pouring pewter; to take a pencil and rub
the graphite in all the holes and grooves to be filled before
pouring.. For some reason it seems to flow a lot easier..
Hope that helps...

[john costa]

Now if we can just get Charlie swingin a hammer.....
That may require kidnaping and torture...... jc

[Shonenknife]

Beautiful job Harry, I wished my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc., etc, attempts looked that good. Natural talent will always prevail. Keep it up?.Don

[Crex]

I know where to get a red hot poker. But you, Brother John, will have to hold him down!
I don't think it will go easy.

Hey Flash, the graphite is a good tip on the pewter. Used it often enough when breaking in bullet molds just never thought to transfer the technique to pewter casting (must be an old dog thing). Thanks.

[Harry Mathews]

Flash, thanks for the information on the graphite. I sat around yesterday and picked one of the scallops that didn't cast like I wanted. The cavity needs to be deeper and the edges undercut. I know that the graphite will help pewter flow better and plan on using some in my ladle also. I'll give it another shot tomorrow. Sometimes it's just hard to be satisfied, and being a first knife isn't a good excuse for doing less than the best you can. I try real hard not to get through before I'm finished.
Carl I'm not saying that Charlie can't be held down, but speaking from experience, it won't be much fun. I really think that he will give forging a shot one day. It's just that he has a few other things going on that we need to do and I was the lucky one that picked forging first.
Thanks again for all the encouraging comments, and much needed help.

[Crex]

Harry,
I'll take your word for it. No need to poke the bear. We'll just keep salting the trail with a little extra scent and he'll eventually come along. Once he see's how much fun you're having he'll be wanting to sneak a try.

[flashinthepan]

Yer more than welcome ...
Couple more things that have helped me are dropping a little ball of beeswax into the molten metal while its cooking, and right when it's poured to gently tap the side of the knife handle and it gets all the air bubbles out..
Oh yeah; and most important - I don't pour in the house - only outside -
It really keeps Mrs. happy !!!
Let me know how you make out..
It just takes a little practice and patience..