Archive for bladesmithing

Instagram hammer-in August 26th!

Posted in Blacksmithing, bladesmithing, Forging, knifemaking, metalwork, Tool Making with tags , , , , on August 23, 2017 by Jim

 

instagramFourHammerIn

Saturday August 26th, 2017 (1pm CDT) – four of us are going to do an Instagram hammer-in (#instagramhammerin) for you all to watch. We will each forge a knife of our own design, starting with the same sized stock, forge for two hours, and show a picture of the blade every 10 minutes or so.

There will be four smiths working   ABS Mastersmith Lin Rhea, Forged in Fire contestant Robert Burns (Wilderness Ironworks)  , blacksmith instructor Matt Jenikns (Cloverdale Forge), and me.

This is not a contest. No prizes will be awarded – it’s just for fun and hopefully the pictures will be an educational resource for new bladesmiths.

We hope you follow along, ask questions, and enjoy these great smiths (and me) showing us their forging step by step. Follow along by watching the hashtag #instagramhammerin

 

 

 

 

 

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From paper to blade!

Posted in Blacksmithing, bladesmithing, brutdeforge, design, design sketch, knifemaking, metalwork, template making, templates with tags , , , , , , , , , on June 28, 2017 by Jim

Video, video, video, I made another video.

This shows how I take a rough forged blade, try several different final designs for it on paper, and transfer the best design onto the blade for accurate grinding.

It’s funny, but it took me a year to figure out this really simple way to transfer the paper pattern onto the steel easily and accurately.

Happy making,

-Jim

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Video – Forging a pocket knife blade

Posted in Blacksmithing, bladesmithing, brutdeforge, metalwork with tags , , , , on June 17, 2017 by Jim

I posted a video this morning show how I forge a fixed blade pocket knife

I hope to follow up with further videos showing all the steps till the knife is done. This one is forged from 1084 steel (1″ x 1/4″)

Thanks for stopping by,

-Jim

 

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A Brut de Forge Dagger from 2016

Posted in Blacksmithing, bladesmithing, brutdeforge, EDC, knifemaking, Leather working, metalwork, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on December 13, 2016 by Jim

I met Joe Keeslar  this year at the ICCE knife show this year and I wanted to make a dagger in his style. Below are some photos of the process.

 

Here it the initial forging. I started with 1.5″ x 1/4″ 1084 steel:

hotdagger

Here is the forging complete:

finishedforgingdagger

Profiled and finish ground:

finishgrounddagger

Then a mystery wood handle (rosewood or ironwood, not sure – it was a gift):

finisheddagger

A handle detail showing the sterling silver and copper pins:

daggerhandle

I etched my logo:

daggerwithsmalllogo

I also made the sheath:

rattlesnakesheathcloseup

And here is the entire package:

daggerinsheath

This was a really fun build – it pushed my abilities in both blade and sheath and I am happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for looking – keep making,

Jim

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Integral Knife forged from 52100

Posted in Blacksmithing, Forging, knifemaking, metalwork, Tool Making with tags , , , , on November 4, 2013 by Jim

I recently got a beautiful integral fixed blade knife from Master Smith Ray Kirk. I like it so much that I had to try and make one for myself. I bought a couple 3/8″ round bars of the 52100 from Ray and here is what I came up with:

Hand Forged Knife

Thanks to my friend Dave from Circle H forge for the beautiful piece of stag.

Lots of folks have been helping me with all this. Ray spent an hour walking me through how to make a blade like this.

Also, Master Smith Lin Rhea is always there with an answer to anything I need help with.

I have come to find that the folks in the American Bladesmith Society are just some of the best people out there.

-Happy Making,

Jim

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