Alabama Damascus knife build along

[coachk]

I got an order from a member here on TBH, and he asked if I could do a build along in the DIY section, so here goes! This is all that I did today...was out in my shop from 10am til about 6pm.

Pic 1: drew out what customer wanted on paper, cut it out and glued to billet

Pic 2: cut out the rough shape on my bandsaw

Pic 3: profiled the outside of the knife on my grinder...leave a little extra so I can true it up on my horizontal grinder

Pic 4 and 5: over to my horizontal grinder to use the small wheel for the finger groove and true up the edges

Pic 6: showing the spine w a 240 grit finish

Pic 7: over to the disc sander to get everything flat

Pic 8, 9, 10: customer wanted filework so I layed it out, started my major cuts, then colored the spine w a sharpie, and drew a midline...then got busy!

Pic 11: drilled pin holes and extra holes to reduce the weight

Pic 12: back to disc sander w 400 grit to flatten out

Pic 13: put my stamp on the blade

Pic 14: heating up to temp in my 2 brick forge

Pic 15: this is what it looks like after quench

Pic 16: I then drew a pattern so I can work on the leather sheath while its tempering in the oven.

Pic 17, 18, 19: customer wanted 2 sheaths, black and dark brown...sheaths parts cut out, tooled, and dyed

Will update as I have time to work on it!


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[Sleepy]

Lookin good. Thanks making quick work

[WildThings]

Thanks for the build along coach. Nice! How thick was the billet?

[coachk]

Thanks for the build along coach. Nice! How thick was the billet?

Thank ya sir! That billet is just a little over 1/8"

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[Hotrodd]

That’s awesome man!

[Bjankowski]

Good job Ben for taking time to do this. A lot of people just don't know what we have to go through to take a billet and make it a functional and good looking tool. Don't show them all the hand sanding required on the blades, it might discourage someone.

One thing I've done over the years is I make a template out of 1/8 aluminum of every knife I've made so if I have to reproduce a knife I simply take the template and trace it out on the billet once I've sprayed it with dykem. I have about 40 of my own designs that I frequently make. I profiled 10 today, three of them are new designs.

[coachk]

Good job Ben for taking time to do this. A lot of people just don't know what we have to go through to take a billet and make it a functional and good looking tool. Don't show them all the hand sanding required on the blades, it might discourage someone.

One thing I've done over the years is I make a template out of 1/8 aluminum of every knife I've made so if I have to reproduce a knife I simply take the template and trace it out on the billet once I've sprayed it with dykem. I have about 40 of my own designs that I frequently make. I profiled 10 today, three of them are new designs.

Thanks Bob!! Well right now I'm not showing all the straightening I'm doing!!haha never had any warp until this piece...I blame Travis Fry!! He jinxed me!!haha Almost got it all straightened out now!

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[MagicBlade]

Sweet looking.

[Legdog]

awesome

[Leon County Slayer]

Thanks Bob!! Well right now I'm not showing all the straightening I'm doing!!haha never had any warp until this piece...I blame Travis Fry!! He jinxed me!!haha Almost got it all straightened out now!

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I had the same problem last week! I too am blaming Travis!! Haaaa

[coachk]

Well I said I wasnt gonna tell yall about it, but it IS part of the process!!haha I had a little warp pop up in the blade during heat treat yesterday so had to get it all straightened up in the tempering cycle. Got it MOSTLY straight last night at home and then had to tweak it a little in the oven in our home ec class while I was at school today![emoji16] This is what I use to straighten up warped blades...it's just 2 bolts used as risers on a piece of aluminum and a c clamp to bend the blade back straight

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[muzzlebrake]

Thanks Bob!! Well right now I'm not showing all the straightening I'm doing!!haha never had any warp until this piece...I blame Travis Fry!! He jinxed me!!haha Almost got it all straightened out now!

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I blame mine on the weather. Something about the cold air between the forge opening and the quench tank and the 1/2 second it takes to get there. When the wind is blowing makes it worse especially on finicky 1095 and sometimes W2.
One of these days I'm gonna move my forge inside the shop.

[Bjankowski]

I've only had one blade warp in the last few years and it was some thin 1095, Ya'll know I only quench in Super Quench. Now I'm not sure if this works every time but the last one I had a warp I clamped it on a piece of thicker steel when I put it in the tempering oven. It worked. Like I said, it worked for me on that thin stock, I consider thin stock .125, I know sometimes Brad over at Alabama Damascus sells some thinner but I don't buy it at any price. For Alabama D, I like .140 or greater.

[coachk]

Had a little time today after our golf tournament so I put it back on the disc sander to flatten it out again and remove the scale, then rough ground the bevels in w a 60 grit belt. Also got the welts glued in the sheaths and then the sheaths glued together! Stay tuned for more this weekend![emoji16]

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[rzurovec]

Real nice