FIRST AND LAST

It has been a while since I posted so thought I would compare  my first forged item and my last and look at how my efforts in knife making have changed over the years. I went to visit my step-mom recently and she gave me one of my late dad's knives. It turned out to be one I made and gave to him. It was the first knife I ever made and I was really proud of it at the time. I made it from a piece of scrap metal I salvaged from a farm implement, I have forgotten what exactly.

 I am surprised at how much I still like it in spite of it's flaws. I love the handle shape and size, the guard and the overall length and shape. It is very comfortable to hold and use. I hate that I heat treated it with a torch and quenched it in old motor oil but never tested the heat treat. The geometry of the edge is terrible and that made it impossible to sharpen properly. I spent an incredible number of hours filing, sanding, and buffing. Now I see that it looks good but it is lacking in function and what is a knife for but function. It is not a bad first effort but it completely ignores the one thing I prize most in any tool, FUNCTION.

 The other photo shows two pieces I recently forged for my grandson. He is a budding pyromaniac and has been hounding me to make him a flint and steel kit for fire making. My daughter had a lot of imput in what he could have( he is ten years old). Consequently his knife has no point. It will open an artery through five layers of clothing but at least he won't stab himself. These implements do not look good but they are extremely functional. The knife looks like a butter knife but it will cut. It takes a good edge, holds it through a lot of use, and the edge won't chip or roll. The flint striker is from the other end of the file I made the knife out of. It throws a good shower of sparks but is as ugly as home made sin.

I can see that my priorities have chaged completely, I went from fancy and looks good to don't care how it looks as long as it perfoms. I need to work back to the middle position. I think I over reacted when I relized my knives were pure crap. Since then I have concentrated solely on function. My wife thinks that I intentionally make them ugly. Possible, but I do not consciously go for ugly.

 It is time to take some new direction and try to incorporate a little style with the function. I admire several of the bladesmiths that I have met or studied. They have mastered both form and function, some are true artists.  I have purchased several of thier knives and most of the ones I like are also very functional. A few, however,  have not lived up to my expectations. Those are strictly lookers, they don't work well. I won't mentions the makers that disapointed me but I will single out one maker that has gained a lot of admiration. His name is Orien MacDonald. I have been watching his work for a while and have purchased three pieces he made. They are orginal and quite striking. I would call them art but the important thing to me is they are really great knives. They are  great to look at or use. I hope to do better in that respect in the future. I don't kid myself about becoming an artist but I believe I can make a better looking knife and stil make a functional one as well.

I am in the process of moving and my shop is in boxes and stored . I hate it when I decide to do something and then can't. I need a heavy metal fix soon. I may have to set the barn on fire and beat on anything that gets hot enough to glow.

AN OLD INTEREST

I recently had a visit from my nephew. During our conversation I mentioned using a sling when I was a kid. He had never used one and I had to tell him the story of David and Goliath to jog his memory. I had a sling that I had made and we started throwing rocks with it. He took it home and I made another and then after finding some websites about slings I made several more. I always had slings when I was a kid and I never left the house without one in my pocket. I got my first one when I was about 9 years old. My grandmother knitted, braided, and knotted one from wool yarn while she told me the story of King David. I used a sling constantly from then until I graduated from high school. I usually made them from grass rope and old boot leather much like the second one pictured above. You can make them from almost anything.The first and last ones pictured are braided hemp. The second is cotton line and boot leather. The third is 5 strand paracord and the fourth  is braided wool yarn. I have made them from boot laces, bailing twine, fishing line and just about anything you can think of. They all are effective and are a light weight but heavy duty weapon you can carry in your pocket and can construct quickly without a lot of special materials. Shoes strings and a piece of your shirt tail will do.The sling was a standard part of ancient armies and was around until replaced by the bow and arrow. Imagine the sky full of clay or lead bullets raining down on you. Fire could also be flung with a sling. Pretty impressive weapon. Making them is addictive. I like to braid so I had a hard time quiting after I had a drawer full.

NEGLECT

I have really neglected this Blog over the winter. I am into  farming again. Most of the garden is planted now and it is a busy time. I made quite a few knives this winter and a few of them were pretty good. By that, I mean they are functional and not TOO ugly to look at. I have been working on both function and appearance but function is always first. I need to work on design and better angles but have noted some improvements. My heat treating is much better. I salvage all my steel so it is a little more difficult to get the heat treat just right. I am learning to work-up a sample first and do some destructive testing before putting a lot of time into the knife. I've made 13 knives since I last posted. I really like three of them so that is all I'll post today. I made a little necker for my brother-in-law with a scrap of a grinder blade and some osage left over from another knife. It may be the best knife I've made. Very hard edge, soft back, and everything is well fitted. The other two are meant to be period knives reminiscent of the fur trade era. I plan to use copper tacks, horse hair, and rawhide lace to do more decoration. I also want to make rawhide sheaths for them that are similarly decorated. I will post that when I learn these new skills.

I really enjoy recycling scrap steel into knives. I need to study metalurgy and become more proficent at choosing and processing steel. I have buckets and shelves of metal that I think is suitable for knives. There a a lot of plow points, drag plates, and other farm implements. I also have several hundred grinder blades from a commercial meat grinder that makes good blades. I pick up files and rasps at flea markets and yard sales. My wood bin is also full. I am a packrat. If it looks like it could be useful, I keep it. I thought about buying blade steel to make it easier but decided to educate myself instead. I like the primitive aspect of using scrap to make my tools and knives. My great grandfather was stationed in Arizona with the  U.S. calvery from the mid-1850's until  1860. He told my grandfather that the Apache tribes would raid to get scraps of steel, files, etc. to fashion the many edged weapons they carried. I don't picture myself as an Apache warrior but is neat to think of primitve peoples fashioning weapons much like the ones that I make.