Going on a hog hunt in a few weeks with Tom Kidwell in southwest Oklahoma in a couple weeks and thought I would forge him a knife as a "thank you". So for the heck of it I'm going to post some picks of the build-a-long. I've never been too conventional with anything I do, a long time ago I built my first forge out of an old washtub that I found, rebuilt a crank blower rigged it up the best I could and taught myself to blacksmith (it was a cheap way to make knives, and I never had any money!) I have a love for anything handmade and a life long passion for the blade, been knifesmithing ever since. I prefer to make blades that still have some hammer marks in it, looks more Jerimiah Johnson'ish. 18th century style.
thats pretty kool preston built him a forge out of a old propane tank hes made some knifes outa railroad spikes keep up the good work i might trade ya something for one
Yep JR, he's a buddy of mine. Good fella. Was good friends with Fred Bear. He's a heck of a hunter too, was into elk, black bear, but especially into hogs now. If you haven't read any of his books, I recommend them...good stuff.
I get the blade up to around 1300-1400 degrees, do a slow quenching a bath of paraffin-vegetable oil-brine to harden the blade...then it is so hard that if it were dropped it can break like glass (done it, very sad day) once blade has been hardened, you have to anneal (soften) it a bit so it's no longer brittle. I do this by placing in an oven set at 350 degrees for an hour. Usually does the trick for me. I will be doing this in the next couple days. Hard part is keeping the heat even along the whole blade for an even temper. We shall see how it goes.
Well, I finished up the blade and made a sheath for it. Ended up using moose billet for the handle and the 3/8" hollow pins. It turned out better than expected. I gave it to Tom Kidwell for having me down to hunt with him and he loved it. Unfortunately Tom fell ill after just one day of scouting and an evening hunt and was sick the entire time I was down...I did however harvest my first traditional turkeyon that first day hunting!! Turkey flocks down there are ridiculous ( 50-100). And the great thing about Oklahoma is the fall turkey season is October through the end of December for archery!! I did see one VERY large boar that was about 300 lbs. but I could not get him in close enough for a shot. Hunting down there is truly an experience of its own.
