Steampunk Sword Cane for Blade Show

Scott decided to do something fun and different for the 2012 Blade Show.

Check it out. It's a Steampunk Sword Cane.

Every bladesmith has to make a sword, but Scott just couldn't follow the norm.

Steampunk Sword Cane

Steel: 1080/15n20 pattern welded steel

Finish: Hand-sanded, etched, and Parkerized

Cane: Patinaed copper with fileworked bronze spacer

Scabbard: Wood with Damascus throat

The copper swirls provide indexing and decoration.

No, Scott doesn't get out of the boots much.

Heck, with Blade on the horizon, I barely let him out of the shop.

The Damascus throat adds beauty and gives two

Rare Earth Magnets purchase when the sword is sheathed.

Don't ask about the thumb. It's a painful subject:)

Hope to see you at Blade - Table 21 R.

Guinea Hog Forge

Two More for Blade Show

Here are two more knives Scott and I will be bringing to the 2012 Blade Show in Atlanta - a giant chopper we call the Bushmaster and a medium-sized hunter we're calling the Linx. We'll be in the ABS section - Table 21R.

Bushmaster

Steel: Cruforge

Finish: Rustic (Belt-sanded, hammer-marked)

Overall Length: 15 1/2 inches

Blade Length: 10 1/4 inches

Spine Thickness: 3/8 inches

Handle: Dyed maple burl

Sheath: Leather concealment

Scott is hoping to make a huckleberry rig to go with this Bushmaster, and he'll probably make a leather pouch sheath for the Linx.

Linx

Steel: 1095

Finish: Regal (Hand-sanded)

Overall Length: 9 1/2 inches

Blade Length: 4 3/4 inches

Handle: Sambar Stag with stainless bolsters

Sheath: Leather pouch

The Linx is Scott's first Stag-handled knife and is one of my favorite designs to date.

Hope to see you at The Blade Show - Table 21R.

Guinea Hog Forge

Scott's First Billet of Damascus

Scott's been itching to play with Damascus for a long time, but decided to focus on attaining his JS stamp first. Well, the stamp was earned in San Antonio in January, and his first Damascus billet was forged about a month later. Commissions took presedence, however, so it took Scott a while to produce anything from that billet. Two blades were recently completed and another is in progress. Check 'em out! The billet was made from 1080 and 15n20 that Scott attained from Kelly Cupples, and all three knives will be going with us to the 2012 Blade Show. 

#1. Scott's first Damascus knife and his new everyday carry is a variation on our popular EMc ("Every Man Carry").

Since this is a delicate damascus EMc, I'm calling it the EMc-D2. The picture above is the knife before it was Parkerized, and the picture below is post-Parkerizing and a little use. This was Scott's first experience with Parkerizing and five minutes in the solution (as recommended) was simply too long. Although the solution did a great job of bringing out the pattern, the finish came out a bit blotchy. Scott has since gone to one minute in the solution and his next pattern-welded blade came out much cleaner.

EMc-D2

Steel: Pattern-welded 1080 & 15n20

Finish: Hand-sanded, etched, and Parkerized

Overall Length: 9 3/4 inches

Blade Length: 4 1/2 inches

Handle: Maroon Micarta with carbon fiber pins

#2. Scott's second pattern-welded blade is a bird and trout we've dubbed The Kestral. It's Scott's tribute to Jerry Fisk's Sendero. This knife was not Parkerized.

The Kestral

Steel: Pattern-welded 1080 & 15n20

Finish: Hand-sanded & etched

Overall Length: 9 1/2 inches

Blade Length: 4 1/2 inches

Spine Thickness: 0.141 inches

Handle: Flame grain Koa with coined bronze and filed stainless spacers

#3. Scott's first Damascus billet was originally forged in a random pattern, but Scott added some laddering for his final project. The following is a work in progress, and we'll unveil the final piece in Atlanta at Blade, which is just two weeks away. Here's a sneak peak. I'll add a few more shots once we get closer to showtime. This blade was Parkerized.

Just think cooper, bronze, wood, and Damascus. Hope to see you in Atlanta!

Guinea Hog Forge

Father and Son Knife Collaboration

Last weekend Conner practiced his knifemaking skills on a discarded knife of Scott's, and this weekend he put those skills to work on one Scott forged over a year ago but never finished. Check it out. It's a father and son collaboration Buta II, and I've dubbed this one the Blue Buta.

Conner is 9 1/2 years old, and this was his first attempt at completing a knife. He's played at the forge since he was four, has helped forge a few blades, and has watched Scott make several knives over the past few years but only recently decided to try out the power tools. Scott gave a lot of guidance and helped with some of the finer points, but Conner did much of the work on this Buta II and devoted about 12 hours of time to this project over a 2-day period.

Grinding the blade.

Ready to temper.

Conner selected maple slabs, a red liner, and stainless pins for the handle.

Beveling the front of the slabs on the disk grinder.

Yeah, accidents happen . . .

. . . but it didn't slow him down.

Working the slack belt.

There's more than one way to blue a knife.

Hands and a knife that would make any bladesmith proud . . .

Simply awesome!

Guinea Hog Forge

Peregrine

While working on his latest Mamba, Scott couldn't get this little Peregrine out of his head. Also forged out of W2 and fitted with a flame grain walnut handle, this little knife may end up at a friend's house just down the road. If not, this wicked little bird will fly south to Atlanta in June for the 2012 Blade Show.

The Peregrine

Steel: W2 with hamon

Finish: Regal (hand-sanded)

Overall Length: 9 1/8 inches

Blade Length: 4 1/2 inches

Guard: Stainless steel

Sheath: Leather

Guinea Hog Forge

2012 Blade Show Table 21-R

Mamba Long in the Making

Spring came early this year and pulled Scott into the world of pruning, fertilization, and pest control way earlier than expected. Commissions Scott thought he could finish in February and March got delayed due to a high demand for his arborist skills, but the knives are slowly getting done. Below is a Mamba Scott just completed this week.

This blade frustrated Scott more than once during production. Like a snake, W2 tends to coil when you play with it and has to be straighted a lot, but it certainly does lend itself to beautiful hamons.

The Mamba

Steel: W2 with hamon

Finish: Regal (hand-sanded)

Overall Length: 14 inches

Blade Length: 8 1/8 inches

Handle: Flame grain walnut

Guard: Stainless steel

This Mamba is headed to Hawaii, so please don't alert the postal service, as it's illegal to bring snakes onto the island. Then again, snakes made of steel probably pose little threat to the environment . . . well, depending on how you use them:)

Thanks Dennis! Your patience has been greatly appreciated, and we hope you love the knife.

Guinea Hog Forge

2012 Blade Show Table 21-R

2012 Battle of the Bladesmiths

Last month Scott had the honor of competing in the 2012 Battle of Bladesmiths event at the Great Smoky Mountain Bladesmithing Symposium in Clyde, NC. Scott competing agaist ABS mastersmiths Burt Foster and Jason Knight, as well as up and coming ABS apprentice Shelby Mihalevich.

The concept is simple but successful completion is not. Each bladesmith gets two hours to forge, grind, heat-treat, handle, and finish a knife in head-to-head competition in front of a captivated audience. The materials and equipment are provided, but the knife-maker can craft any design they like. This year's competitors were given English walnut slabs, an 8-inch bar of 1084V steel, one 1/8 inch drill bit, three pins, a sheet of 400 grit sandpaper, and a set of grinder belts in 36/120/220 & 400 grits. Here's what they created in just under two hours. Photo by Burt Foster.

Jason's hunter is on the left, followed by Burt's dagger, Scott's hunter, and Shelby's unfinished blade. Shelby's knife cracked during the heat treat stage, so he had to back out of the competition before he was done. Forging and grinding a knife under pressure is difficult enough, but heat treating and handling one in quick succession is a difficult task. Burt schooled the competition with his double-edged, hand-sanded, coffin-handled dagger that he made in 1 hour and 55 minutes. The man is truly a master!
All three completed knives were auctioned off at the event, and proceeds benefitted the ABS. The purchaser of Scott's blade asked him to craft a sheath for it, so Scott took it home, did just that, and fined tuned it a bit as well. Here's Scott first Battle of the Bladesmiths knife slightly retouched, marked, and with a leather sheath.

Thanks Vernon, we hope you enjoy it!

Guinea Hog Forge