Spring Cleaning!

The rough winter we had in Kentucky this year kept me out of the shop quite a bit. We had a pretty nice day today though so I started some clean up and organizing. Im gonna be building a new charcoal forge in the coming days so check back for progress updates. I will take lots of pictures!

Well its been to long.

I cant believe its been almost a year since I have posted. If anyone still follows this blog, I will be more active starting now.

I have been doing a bit of forging and added a few pictures below. More on the way. I have a couple cool projects to start very soon.

Thanks for reading!

ICE STORM!!!

I havent posted anything in quite a while so I decided to take some pictures of the ice storm we got last night.

Most of the state of Kentucky was covered in ice overnight. Near Louisville where I live got about a half inch plus about 3 inches of snow on top of it. Makes driving a sketchy prospect so I decided not to chance it and stayed home.

Enjoy the pictures.

Larry

Just for kicks, I decided to add a shot of a knife in progress. This one is about ready for heat treat.

Bowies Hammer-in.

I was lucky enough to attend Ron "Bowie" Claibornes hammer-in last weekend and had an awsome time. There were many great demonstrators and really nice people sharing information. Ron personifies southern hospitality. He makes you feel right at home and I cant wait to go back next year.
Ive posted a few pictures of the event below.
Heres a shot of Bowie himself. Fuad Acawi giving a 6x48 grinder demo.
Another shot of Fuad forging some damascus on one of Rons presses.
Dr. James Batson giving a demo on forging a woodhead bowie.
And finally a picture of me and a few others enjoying some late night forgingLarry

Update!

At the request of Todd and a few others, here is an update of what Ive been working on.

Ive been adding two additions to my forge shed. My original shop was 10x16. The additions are 10x12 and 10x8. This will more than double my square footage and allow me to seperate my forging area from my grinding and finishing area.

My next step is to lay down some gravel to level off the floor, then its on to the roof and walls. Most of the shop will get partial walls so it will remain basically an open air shed.

I cant wait to get it all set up the way I want it.

More soon.

Larry

Fathers day knife.

My father joked with me a while back about how I make all those knives and have never given him one. Little did he know I had already started a knife for him. This is the result. The steel is from an old file and its cutting edge is 2.5 inches. The handle is a white tail antler tip with cotton cord wrappings. Everything is sealed up with orange flake shellac (wonderful stuff). I made a very basic sheath from some scrap leather to finish it up. This is the style of knife that really suits my dad. Rough with a tribal feel to it. He was totally surprized. These simple knives are alot of fun to make and they are soo useful.
Thanks for looking.
Larry

Patch Knife.

Here is an example of how a mistake can turn into something useful. This knife was originally supposed to have a full tang handle and cow bone handle scales. I forged the entire knife to the shape I wanted only to find that I forged the handle too short. After a bit of thinking, I reforged the handle a bit. I then cut a slot to match in a piece of deer antler. A few pins and some turk knots later and here we are, a fine patch knife with a tribal feel to it.

I only wish all my mistakes were this easy to fix!

Larry

Back with more!

With the nicer weather comes a boost in productivity. Here is another knife from my 5160 steel. A basic drop point hunter with jigged bone handle scales and turk knots over the pins.

Everything came together on this one and it really turned out well. Extremely sharp and comfortable in the hand. Fits like a glove in the sheath to. Im proud of this one.

Thanks for looking.

Larry

Latest utility knife.

Its been awhile since my last post, thankfully winter is over.

This is my latest utility knife made from a small piece of 5160 spring steel. The cutting edge is only 2.25 inches and the overall length is 5.5 inches. All the wrappings are done with woven cotton cord.

The sheath is leather with a tiger stripe camouflage lining. There is also a rare earth magnet under the lining to help hold the blade in.

This knife was alot of fun to make and I think it turned out well. A very use full knife in a small package

Larry

Hand Finishing.

I made a Japanese sen about a year ago. The sen is basically a drawknife for metal thats used to create a flat surface. After trying to use it a few times with minimal results, I put it on a shelf and didnt think much about it for a while. Recently, I did a little research on the sen and decided to give it another try.

This time I was determined to learn the ways of this tool. After some practice I started to get the hang of it and man do they work! It only takes a few strokes to start shaving metal. I was amazed at how surfaces I thought were flat were really quite uneven. The sen is scraped across the surface and takes away all the high spots giving you a much flatter surface than you can get from filing alone. This is a big deal when you are trying put flat handle scales on your knife!

This is just another example of an old world tool that is still finding use with a select few smiths out there. If you are making knives by hand, it is something you should consider.

Larry Sharp

Two new larger knives.

Back with more! Here are two larger knives both made from leaf spring.

The recurve knife has a 7" blade with another one of my cotton cord over camo handles. This time in a tiger stripe pattern.

The Persian style knife has a 6.5" blade with a series of turks knotts for the handle. This was incredibly time consuming and took almost as long to do it as it did to make the knife!

I have another knife a little smaller than these about half finished so I need to find some motivation to make some sheaths!

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcome.

Larry Sharp

New coil spring knife.

This is the latest knife Ive made from my supply of coil spring. The blade is 3.5" long and is 7" overall.
The handle is army digital camo with a cotton cord wrap on top.
I still have not decided what type of sheath to make for it, but Im leaning towards a neck sheath.
Comments and questions are always welcome.
Larry Sharp

Latest Knife

I have been practicing with some coil spring steel and this is the first result. The blade is 4 inches with a blued finish. The handle is wrapped with hemp and covered with dyed cotton cord. The same was done to the sheath to tie it together.

The steel is left very hard to help with edge retention. I find this works well for small knives that do not experience alot of shock.

Send me an email if you are interested in owning this knife or one like it.

Larry Sharp

New link.

Be sure to check my links section. I have added a link to my Photobucket site so you can see some cool pictures of me and my work.
Larry

Knifemaking essentials part 2.

Here in my second post about the tools needed for bladesmithing I will talk about the forge.

The forge I will be describing is a Japanese style side blast forge. For the shell of this forge Im using a small steel drum cut in half length wise. I cut a notch in one side for the air supply, ( no soft rock jokes here ), and notches on each end so long blades can pass through.

The shape of the forge will be made from fire brick and adobe. To make the adobe simply mix equal parts earthen clay and sand, throw a few handfulls of wood ash and add water, dont make it too wet though or it will not hold its shape while forming. I used adobe to form the first layer and fire pot( the place where the air comes in ) and built it up with fire brick with more adobe for motar and to cover the air pipe. The pictures that follow will show the steps I took to get to the finished product.

A few important tips are, use 2 inch steel pipe for your air inlet and angle it slightly downward. Make your fire pot about 5 inches wide by 8 inches long and about 2 inches below the bottom of the pipe, I used a fire brick as a form. Let everything dry for a couple days before building your first fire.

A charcoal forge needs less air than most people think. I use an electric blower from an old wood stove and choke it down to maybe 10 % normal output. These forges use a good amount of charcoal as well so turn off your blast while your work is not in the fire.

This is a very simple forge to build and has been used to make knives and swords for ceturies, it should serve anyone who builds it well. In my next post Ill talk about the anvil as well as hammaers and tongs. Thanks for reading. If anyone needs help or advice with any of this feel free to send me an email.

Larry Sharp