Yea I found out how to put this picture in here!!!
The original knife drawing had certain areas that needed to be changed. The finger grips were all the same. The new knife plans calls for finger sizes to be actual measurements from my hand. Dr. Jack informed me of the difficulty in preparing the blade as drawn would place stress areas that might break the blade. The new blade does not have marks in the blade for decoration. The three hole pattern in the handle was excessive; a two hole alignment was significant for this type of blade.
I started my project with a large file. I selected a file because of the metal conditions that make a file also make a good blade. I cut the file off 1/8 inch larger then the nine inch in the drawing. I was given a piece of stainless steel. I went to Bob to see if I could set up the mill for cutting the shape of the blade out for me. He laughed when I told him that it was made of stainless steel. I thought all I need were special bits, but I was told I needed to find a better way to cut the metal stock. The stainless steel was cut with a plasma cutter at Ampro Industries. The shape of the blade would have been considerably more precise if we would have started with a new nozzle. The wider nozzle resulted in the more grinding to get the shape down to the desired curvature.
While grinding the knife it was important to remember that it gets very hot fast. Grind in straight even lines across the blade starting from the top and working down. The lines on each level should be ground down just enough to remove the grind lines from above. As you get to the end of the blade do NOT attempt to sharpen it to a point. You have to handle the edge often and you might get cut. There was three levels of filing. I started with a course half round hasp to cut out the marks from the grinding process. If you press to hard you will dig deeper groves then the grind marks you were trying to remove. The round file removes most of the marks from the course hasp and shapes the blade. You can use the hasp softly to help remove marks and shape the blade. I had a jeweler's file to work on the fine filing. The jeweler's file was almost worthless in the stainless steel. I never thought that so much sanding was involved in a nine inch by two inch piece of metal. First sand with as course sand paper that you can find. The paper I starter with was 120 grit. This is a medium grit so I had to keep changing it to keep the rough cutting effective. Sanding, sanding, sanding, I would carry the knife around working my way down to 400 grit wet.
Marked the holes drilled the holes using a number 5 high speed drill bit. I was anxious to see if I could do it with a normal drill bit. Using plenty of oil, there was not a problem. Then came a slight problem. It went something like this:
What kind of a knife is that? It looks like a knife that goes on a gun. Is that what it will be used for? No.
Design change--- Bowie knife used for hunting. I went back to grinding to change the shape, filing, sanding, sanding, sanding. See last week.
Get the wood for the handle. The wood I chose was a cherry with a speckled grain pattern. My other choice was a dark walnut. Both would have worked but I really liked the grain pattern on the cherry. The handles were plained down to the size. The wood had to keep moving or the plain would dig deep groves in the center of the wood. The handles were cut on the school band saw. The shape was cut using a thin coping saw. It would have been considerably easier if I would have used a jig saw. The handles were align with the blade as a guide and the holes were drilled with the same number 5 drill bit. The wooden handles were then glued to the blade with a two part epoxy, aligned using soft wooden dowels, and clamped together.
Problems - I did not wait for the epoxy to dry before I moved the parts. This resulted in a soft contact on one side of the blade.
Add rivets the handle. I used a brass dowel the same size as the holes. The dowel was cut one eighth inch larger, and placed into the hole. The dowel was peaned down to hold the handles in place.
Problem: The handle split in half.
The handles were replaced, re-cut, and glued in place. The holes (including the blade) were drilled to the next larger size. The same size brass dowel was placed in the holes and peaned down.
As the handles were being filed and shaped to the size of my hand a crack started propagating down from the rivet. The crack was sealed using the two part epoxy and wood chips. The filing started with the round medium round file to get the shape of the handle. I frequently gripped the handle to find out what edge needed to be removed.
To work on the blade I used a circular buffing system. I coated the buffing wheel with the cutting resin to remove the marks from sanding. I expected the buffing to be a miracle process. There were several marks on the blade that the cutting did not remove. I had to go back and sand. I thought about going back to the filing process. As much time and energy that I spent on sanding did not seem to be enough at this stage. I could see lines that I should have removed back at the 220 grit stage, and frequently went back to the 400 grit wet and sometimes the dry or even courser paper. I wish I could use the corn cob process from Michigan Wheel. The final buffing resin made it so that you could see yourself in the blade but I want better.
In the final sanding the wet 400 grit sand paper turned the wood a dark color. I originally planed for a red cherry color, but the handle looks great. Other than the crack. Possible things I could have done: I could drill the holes even bigger, soak the wood in oil, warm the brass dowel, or use a screw rivet.
This week I am working on getting the blade sharpened. The blade is rough cut with ceramic sharpening sticks. It is just getting sharp enough to remove some hair from your forearm. It is having a razor edge being placed on it using a master chefs oil stones. I did not shape the edge as thin as I should have. It is taking a lot of work to get the edge down to the right shape. The blade still needs work to get the finish to where I want it to be.