The Bowie Knife is finished

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Chuck 100 yd
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The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Pete44ru , The Bowie pictures you asked for.
This is my latest home made attempt at knife making.
I have an unbelievable amount of hours into this one. I quit counting at about 50 hours.

It is all made from bar stock and Elk horn from a 7X7 rack given to me by a good friend.
The blade is 440C and professionally heat treated and Cryo treated by Texas Knifemaker`s Supply.

I have not ground a secondary bevel on it or sharpened and I may not because it is an art project .
It is my design but inspired by the work of Nick Wheeler of Castle Rock WA.
When I grow up I want to be as good at this as Nick.
Look in youtube for his work. It is nothing short of FANTASTIC!!!

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I will be making a sheath for it also but for now I have a bunch of yard work to catch up on and several other knifes partially completed.
I need time to do some shooting also. :wink:
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Pete44ru »

.

VERY, very nice !

That's also a great piece of Elkhorn - I especially like the brass buttcap treatment.

The choil, just ahead of the crossguard, is a nice feature - to say nothing about the blade finish.


Keep up the good work, Chuck !


.
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stew71
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by stew71 »

Wow. That's absolutely beautiful, Chuck. None of my homemade pig stickers EVER came out that lovely. :mrgreen:
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by jkbrea »

Wow! That is talent! One of the most beautiful knives I've seen. Personally, I'd sharpen it and use the heck out of it.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Blaine »

I have no words.....Stunning, and exceptional do not seem near good enough...... 8)

Could you please explain the benefits of the treatment the 440C blade received? The Rockwell Hardness of such a thing?
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by gamekeeper »

BEAUTIFUL..... :mrgreen: You are a craftsman and artist.
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Chuck 100 yd
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Thanks for the compliments guys.
BlaineG , 440C is an air quenchable stainless steel that has been in use for some 50 years or so.
It costs less than $10 + shipping to have it professionally heat treated. A heat treating kiln will set you back $1,200 or more. They shoot for Rockwell ( not Brinell ) hardness in the 58-62 range and do a very good job of it too. The cryo treatment is done to further stabilize the grain structure of the steel. It is submerged in antifreeze Or acetone and dry ice at 305 deg. Below zero for about 12 hours. This same treatment is done to some high grade match rifle barrels to remove stress.
I have it done just because it only cost about $5 .

The day I sent this and another to Houston for heat treat, that same night the news was reporting the big floods in the area. That was on a Friday, on the following Monday I called to see if they were still in business .They assured me that they were doing fine. That was a relief to know. :o
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by FWiedner »

To paraphrase Mick Dundee:

(Insert Aussie accent here)

"Now that's a knife!"

:mrgreen:
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by soon 2 retire »

Chuck,

What process and equipment do you use for buffing the blade. By the way didn't you mean Rockwell C instead of Brinnell as the hardness scale? Awesome work by the way; I still plan to build a duplicator like the one you made for duplicating pistol grips in an earlier thread.

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Chuck 100 yd
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

:oops: of course you are right,Rockwell, I play with cast bullets, It must be getting to me. :shock:
After bringing to rough shape using a 36 or 80 grit belt on my 2X72" belt grinder I just keep going over it with successively finer grit belts down to about 220 grit. I then clamp it to a wood block in the vice and further draw sand with wet or dry paper until I get down to at least 400 grit before heat treat.
600 grit is even better as the blade will be easier to clean up after heat treat. After heat treat I block sand in steps starting at about 320 or 360 working up to at least 600 again. Block sanding this way makes for a very clean and straight surface. Any flaws in the sanding,no mater how slight, will stand out in the finished blade. I then finish off with a buffing wheel on a bench grinder using white stainless compound. It is very time consuming but the finished knife comes out nice as you can see. It takes about two hours to cover the blade with each sanding grit so I will take several days to do one only working 3-4 hours a day. Say you are sanding with 600 grit and you discover a scratch that 600 won't remove,you will need to go back to400 grit and rework that entire surface before continuing with the 600 grit or it will ruin your final finish. No shortcuts can be made if you want the best possible finish.

The area hardware stores carry wet or dry sandpaper but are very high priced. Find a paint shop that services automotive painters, they will have W&d paper up to 2000 grit and most likely be half the price of the hardware or big box stores. I sand until I feel the grit start to dull and throw it away and get a new piece. Save those worn pieces for other projects that are not as labor intensive.
Great hobby, have fun.

Oh, I forgot to say, this knife looks smaller than it is. The blade is 1/4" thick 2" wide and almost 10" long. One of the things I try to do is to make the design look balanced and graceful so it appears smaller in pictures than it is. That aspect in design is what many knife makers fail on. Draw it on cardboard,cut it out and handle it for a couple days to see how it looks/feels in the hand before cutting steel.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Old Savage »

Very impressive.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by plowboy 45 »

:oops:
Now I'm embarrassed I ever showed pictures of the ones I've built :lol:
That is a good lookin knife, and just the right size


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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by rjohns94 »

Very very nice
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Chuck 100 yd
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Plowboy, never be embarrassed about honest effort. The trick is to not quit and make an effort to make the next one better than the last one. Never be satisfied that your work is "good enough". That is one of the things that has lowered the quality of many U.S made goods and skills not to mention the school system.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Ysabel Kid »

Absolutely STUNNING!
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Dan 444
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Dan 444 »

That is a very nice knife!
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Daisyman »

WOW, that's a beaut!! I does indeed looks balanced. I don't know if I'd have that much patience or not to make one like that. A work of art indeed.

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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Rusty »

If you intended that to be a work of art I think you have certainly achieved that level. That is beautiful.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by RIHMFIRE »

gamekeeper wrote:BEAUTIFUL..... :mrgreen: You are a craftsman and artist.
+10 on that
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by M. M. Wright »

Looks to me like you have achieved the level of FANTASTIC!!!
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Les Staley »

Okay, I'm sold! If you were to sell that beauty, how much? First dibs!!! Les
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Chuck 100 yd
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Les , custom ( home made?) knifes sell for unGodly amounts of money to collectors once your reputation has been established.
I have ,for many years, just given them away to friends as gifts. How much is about 60 hours at minimum wage? 1/4" x2" X 18" 440C bar stock is about $45 + shipping , heat treating is about
$30 with shipping.
It is a fun hobby but a tough way to try to earn a living.
Go to knifekits.com and look at some sweet professionally made blades for very little more than the cost of the steel and they are already heat treated.

I have made knifes ,on and off, for about 50 years and don't own one of my own builds.
I am going to keep this one.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by firefuzz »

Chuck that is one beautiful piece of work. It's your business, but I think that blade is crying for an edge.

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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Booger Bill »

Nice! These two guys got in a knife fight. One took a swipe at the other, the other guy said, "Ha! Ya missed! The guy said, "Shake yo haid!"
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by JohndeFresno »

Beautiful piece of art. Great info, also, on steels for knife blades!

Great post and thread! Saved in archives.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by plowboy 45 »

Same here on the ownership, don't have one myself, but my wifes owns one ,son , daughter, and grandson have one
The PRICE, that's what got me to hammering, slickin up a bit and blueing, to me they look good and most folks like them also, but when you go to that show finish folks likem even better, but they don't seem to like the PRICE , and I do not blame them
I generally go to a brushed finish or sometimes bead blasted on the ATS34 stainless
The only one I recall goin the distance with in carbon is the one I gave my son, like you said it was many many × many hours
Your blade is very impressive and a thing of beauty
After just a few years of grinding and hammering, I can't remember who all I've given knives or sold knives to , I'd suspect after 50 years you might have the same trouble, my buddy I started out with tried to get me to number them and puta name with the number kinda wish I'd have did that, but anyway, that is a very nice knife


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Chuck 100 yd
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Plowboy 45. Exactly as you say. I do have some 35mm photos of knifes I made 20-30 years ago. I should put them into the computer and show them here. The earliest crude stuff I have no pictures of.
I have a smaller Bowie blade ready for a handle that I made of 154CM that will be one of my next projects.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Hombre »

Chuck 100 yd....I really like your knife....

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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by GonnePhishin »

Stunning about sums it up sir. :D
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by hondo1892 »

Chuck that's a really nice bowie you made. Don't know how I missed it when you originally posted it but found it when looking for your grinder build.
Chuck 100 yd
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Thanks ! I have made several in the two years since that thread. A search here should pull some up. I have done a few folders also. Folders are real time consumers for sure.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by jeepnik »

Oh my, but that is purty. I'm pretty sure you are well grown up. You ought to make and sell some of those.
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by rwt »

That's a very fine knife! You should be quite proud of it!!

I'm a very part-time knife maker. I appreciate the time and talent it takes to make a knife like this one.

Kudos!
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by marlinman93 »

That is a piece of art Chuck! But it's also a working piece of art if someone wanted to carry it. I personally would have to mount it above the fireplace mantle to admire daily!
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Chuck 100 yd
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Re: The Bowie Knife is finished

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Thanks fellas , I am working on a couple more blades right now. I am making a BIG camp knife for my brother. It won't be fancy like the Bowie in this thread but I still work hard to keep all the lines true and straight. That is just the way I am about my projects. Today I got it blocked out to 400 and ready for heat treat. If I will be doing a high polish on a knife I sand them out to 600 grit before heat treat. It saves a lot of elbow grease when doing the final sanding before buffing. Those blades come bach fron heat treat HARD !!! :wink:
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