Forged rat tail goodness

[Gerhard Gerber]

It's late, I'm drunk, leaving you with a teaser (glued today)




Merry Xmas 

[SteveC]

Merry Christmas !

[Gerhard Gerber]

Managed to get out of town for 2 days at least, went to Camp Gecko where I did the knife making course exactly a year ago.....

Consisted mostly of drinking beer, taking a dip in the "swimming pool" (converted farm dam), drinking more beer....rinse & repeat.

......was a bit hot 

Somewhere in there the knife got a name: Son of a Ball Bearing. 

The blade was forged from a ball bearing I've had (2 of) since childhood.  I was aiming for a puukku but there was a crack in the blade about 1cm back from the tip, so it got the chop to a wharnclif.
This is a good time to mention that I reshaped the blade and the handle several times over several days......twice more after the trip as you might notice.

My camp



Lots of time to kill, so I batoned loads of wood and did some senseless whittling.........which I now believe is a highly under-rated and therapeutic activity!

[Gerhard Gerber]

This is the final result.....hopefully 

[Sparky415]

 Nice 

 

[Gerhard Gerber]

This will be my little user, busy making a kangaroo sheath for this and the big knife.

[Smashie]

Good looking knife 

[Gerhard Gerber]

Thanks Tony 

This was probably the 3rd iteration, pictured with it's brother

[Sparky415]

Great pictures 
Kangaroo sheath? Has it's own pockets?

[Gerhard Gerber]

All over the show..... 



Here you can see the crack, I was hoping it would grind out



Micarta is red cotton and Hessian

[Gerhard Gerber]

Great pictures 
Kangaroo sheath? Has it's own pockets?

  Pics to follow soon.....

[Gerhard Gerber]

Not 100% happy, but they're my users and I'm the maker, so just like the mechanic's car always needs work......ditto 

[Grathr]

Nice knives!

[Gerhard Gerber]

Just realised the spacer between the two sheaths should've been an holder for a ferro rod with a custom micarta handle 

 

[Gerhard Gerber]

Nice knives!

Thanks Gaute 

About time the big knife gets a proper sheath!  It went flying out of the contraption I use for a kydex press and landed edge first on cement.  I noticed the damage a bit later, few passes later on the baby belt sander it was 100%

I was making sure there weren't any more chips when I experienced the effect of a recurve....nice deep cut on the same thumb I hit with the hammer doing the copper rivets 

 

[Sparky415]

Nice,
Is that Kydex covered with leather?
I've just started a micarta one this evening (my house smells bad tonight) 

[Poncho65]

Awesome work as usual GG I love both of those knives and it is great that one started out as a ball bearing

[Gerhard Gerber]

Yes Tony, actually the first real kydex I've used, my my conclusion is the contact adhesive works better on the generic thermo mold plastic that I first got, so from now on I'll user the kydex bare and the other stuff if the sheath is getting leather.

.......Making micarta is an outdoor activity......but I guess you have a climate more suited to indoor activities 

Just think, if you could take some of our mozzies, heat and drought in exchange for some cold and rain, everybody would be happier! 


Thanks Poncho  I'm a rank beginner at the anvil, but I hope to do a lot more forging this here, put in the hours.....

[ducttapetech]

Wow! Those are nice!

[Sparky415]

Yes Tony, actually the first real kydex I've used, my my conclusion is the contact adhesive works better on the generic thermo mold plastic that I first got, so from now on I'll user the kydex bare and the other stuff if the sheath is getting leather.

.......Making micarta is an outdoor activity......but I guess you have a climate more suited to indoor activities 

Just think, if you could take some of our mozzies, heat and drought in exchange for some cold and rain, everybody would be happier! 


Thanks Poncho  I'm a rank beginner at the anvil, but I hope to do a lot more forging this here, put in the hours.....

My garage is connected to my house so the smell is everywhere 
Still waiting for it to dry it's a bit cold out there 

Rofl yourself 

[Fortytwo]

Yes Tony, actually the first real kydex I've used, my my conclusion is the contact adhesive works better on the generic thermo mold plastic that I first got, so from now on I'll user the kydex bare and the other stuff if the sheath is getting leather.

.......Making micarta is an outdoor activity......but I guess you have a climate more suited to indoor activities 

Just think, if you could take some of our mozzies, heat and drought in exchange for some cold and rain, everybody would be happier! 


Thanks Poncho  I'm a rank beginner at the anvil, but I hope to do a lot more forging this here, put in the hours.....

My garage is connected to my house so the smell is everywhere 
Still waiting for it to dry it's a bit cold out there 

Rofl yourself 

Interesting, I wasn't even aware that it was supposed to smell and I've done some myself! I used a laminating epoxy and there's been almost no smell what so ever. I did it in our kitchen!