How I make a Dagger (many pics...)

[Smokey Joe]

Thank you, thank you!

7x57 Chilmau--It's repetitive, but may I add my thanks for your VERY informative post!! I just learned a lot!

I also now appreciate more why handmade knives (from people who DO sell them) are so very pricey.

That is an elegant little dagger you made!

 

[Triphammer]

Very nice little skien du. well made, tempered right. Where in Az is your buddy that found ironwood. SE Az only has mesquite. Thats a beutiful piece of wood.
One comment, make yourself a pair of tongs. You certainly have enough talent, though they're not hard to make anyway. Tongs are much nicer to work with than vise grips.

 

[7X57chilmau]

Triphammer,

Thanks! My friend is near Florence. I was blown away when I opened the box of ironwood he'd sent.

I have a few pairs of tongs that I do use regularly, and did on this project from the time the blade was parted from the stock. I only use the vicegrips when I need to handle an odd sized piece for a short time... Resizing the tongs isn't worth it when I'm just cutting and straightening the raw stock. Vice grips may well have been invented by a smith, but you're right: They're a sad excuse for tongs.

I should make a few more pairs, though....

J

 

[bikerdoc]

I'd never pay what I'd need to charge to make one of my knives profitable anyway, and wouldn't ask anyone else to either.... I've never sold a knife.

Oh so true. Me neither.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Vice Grips...

7x57 Chilmau--You said,

Vice grips may well have been invented by a smith

You nailed it! A blacksmith by the name of Petersen, in DeWitt, NE, invented the Vice-grip tool, specifically to grab and hold on to odd-shaped pieces of hot metal.

That's why, for years, Vice-Grip pliers said, "Petersen Tool Co, DeWitt, NE" on them. And they've been used, and sworn by, by mechanics, blacksmiths, farmers, hobbyists, and virtually everyone who works on any sort of machinery, for at least as long as I've been aware of tools. (A half-century??)

Now Petersen has been bought out by the big tool Co, Irwin. I wonder how long it will be before Irwin "cheapifies" the Vice-Grip.

 

[cleardiddion]

This is an awesome post, thanks for the education!