My First Bowie....work in progress

[HillBill]

Hi folks.

I've never done a WIP before, so thought i would this time, along with making my first Bowie. Forgive me if its not upto the standard of some of the other WIP threads i have seen on here..

Ok, here we go.

This knife is being made for the BCUK knife comp, i agreed with one of the members there that i would make a stick tang knife for the first time. I didn't want to make a puukko though. I've always admired a certain Bowie i had seen online, so i used that for the inspiration for this one. Its not your standard clip point style of bowie, i prefer this style.

The steel is 4.6mm D2, and the knife has a 10" Blade and will have an overall length of around 15"

Here are the starting materials i had, A big piece of D2, some 6mm angle brass, and a nice block of Yew for the handle.



Blank cut out and shaped



Ready to start grinding. I had to clamp an extra piece of steel to my grinding plate to accommodate the size of the blade, as this is waaay bigger than the normal bushy type knives i've made for the last 3 years.



A couple of hours later, the rough grinding is done



A couple more hours had the blade ready for HT, and leaving me with sore fingers




Time to make the bolster fitting. Off to the milling machine..I still haven't decided in what style i'm going to make the bolster yet, so i just got the slot sorted and all fitting nicely to the blade. I used a 4mm cutter and some nice files to get a good fit. I'll think on what i'm going to do with it tonight. Its all got to be finished tomorrow





The blade was then sealed in stainless steel foil, ready to go in the oven.



In it goes, for a heat treat process that will take the best part of 7 hours.



Thats where i am with it now, Its going to be a long night....

More to follow tomorrow.

[RoughRambler]

Looking Good HillBill. Looking forward to seeing the end product

[David_JAFO]

hello,

Regards
David

[luresalive]

like it !!!

[HillBill]

Cheers guys

[dave budd]

its nice to see some knives being made once again that aren't blooming scandis!

One comment on design though. The shoulders where tang meets blade want to be radiused NOT sharp corners as you have. Reason being is stress risers, paritcularly forming in the heat treat. The reason stick tangs always get thought of as inferior to full tangs is because cheap nasty chinese (etc) knives that break all snap where teh sharp corners have been left

[HillBill]

Aye, i know what you mean about the scandis. I'll still be making them of people want them making, but this year is going to see me making all sorts of things i haven't previously.

Point taken about the radius. The tang is going to be softer than the blade anyway, i never make a knife with the same temper all the way through. On full tangs i tend not to harden the tang, to avoid breakage at the first pin hole as i have seen many do. This one will have the blade submerged in water and the temper from the area just in front of the tang brought down. Also the steel - with it being D2 is very tough anyway.

I don't plan on selling this knife, its going to be the first of my own "private collection" and will likely spend its time in a display cabinet i'm going to build. Going to start a nice collection for myself, and as an inheritance for my son when i eventually go to my workshop in the sky

[AL...]

real bonnie work Bill

Cheers
AL

[BJ]

Great W.I.P photographs, Be nice to see the finished article. thanks for sharing.
BJ

[jbrown14]

As an American, I approve whole-heartedly of this egregiously long, beautiful blade.

Looks great so far, can't wait to see the finished product!

Josh