New fighter/utility and an edc prybar

[Spots]

I built this out of a W1 nicholson file today. 8.5" traditional tanto tipped blade, 4.5" handle with tong oiled purple heart. Handle is held on with epoxy and copper pins. Flat grind and will shave hair now.








And I made a small prybar for my get home bag that may end up as an edc item with a custom kydex sheath. Its built from a harrow spike, about 1080 steel. Tempered for toughness and to give it some spring so it can be hammered on without mercy. Head it 1.5 inch wide with a blunt chiesel tip. The spike on the back is designed to bust auto glass. Its 9.5" tip to tip.










sent from the backwoods

[TrickyNicky]

Damn brother, that knife may be my favorite yet from the forge... Although the Bowies have all been great too.

As to the wrecking bar, that is one sweet piece of gear. Looks brutally efficient.

[Spots]

Damn brother, that knife may be my favorite yet from the forge... Although the Bowies have all been great too.


As to the wrecking bar, that is one sweet piece of gear. Looks brutally efficient.

Thanks man, I really like that blade. I wanted something lean and mean with a classy feel to it. Almost a gentlemans fighting knife. And yeah the prybar is an idea I've wanted to do for years and finally decided to make one.

sent from the backwoods

[jimmydeuce]

I agree with Nicky. That's probably my favorite knife you've done. Great work!!

[gunwhatgun]

I like it. I really admire your commitment to purple heart, that is some hard wood. I made two sets of scales out of some and swore it off forever. LOL

[Spots]

I like it. I really admire your commitment to purple heart, that is some hard wood. I made two sets of scales out of some and swore it off forever. LOL

Yeah I'm done with it for awhile. Its beautiful, but its hard on all my equipment. The belt sander hates it as does the bandsaw. You can tell its hard when even the big saws labor cutting it.

sent from the backwoods

[Guest Broomhead]

I think both of those really turned out awesome, and I got to see them as he was making them. Spots is indeed a skilled smith and craftsman.

 

Spots was kind enough to have me up for some more smithing today. That makes trip number four from Nashville, and it has been a blast everytime. My 9yr old daughter and 14yr old 2nd cousin accompanied me and though they got bored with the smithing fairly quickly, they both got a RR spike knife made by me. I got to test out some of my own blacksmithing tools, such as a custom-ground rounding hammer and a pair of tongs. I also made a hawk head from a piece of RR clip (used to keep the track from "walking" on the tie) that turned out rather nicely. It needs some grinding and cleaning up before I am I willing to show it. It also needs hardening and tempering, a handle, and sharpening before it can be considered finished.

 

All in all it was a great day, thanks again Spots.

[JAB]

No 'think' or 'maybe' to it - that is definitely my favorite of all the knives you have made/posted pics of.  I love the 'organic' feel it has to it - almost like something one of the elves might have carried in the Lord of the Rings movies (and I definitely mean that as a compliment.)  The only thing I might change would be to add some type of (small so as to not interfere with the lines) bolster.  That isn't so much a shortcoming of the knife, however, as it is a testament to my clumsiness.  I know me pretty well and feel fairly confident in saying that with a knife intended for serious use, unless it had a bolster/guard of some type, I'd cut the heck out of myself.

 

Yeah I'm done with it for awhile. Its beautiful, but its hard on all my equipment. The belt sander hates it as does the bandsaw. You can tell its hard when even the big saws labor cutting it.

sent from the backwoods

 

Purple is my mom's favorite color so a few years back I made her a cane with a purpleheart handle.  The handle was done in my own variation on the 'derby' style.  It ended up looking pretty good, IMO, but a little more bulky/blocky than I had intended.  I had done a cane for myself with the same style handle made of cherry and had been able to get a very smooth, round and elegant form from it (unfortunately, there was a weak spot in the wood and it eventually broke.)  As I said, mom's turned out looking pretty good but that purpleheart just proved too hard for me to be able to get quite the same results as I had gotten with the cherry.