Thought you guys might like to see some of the steps that are performed when making a stock removal knife. I'll put a descriptive sentence under the photos.
This is a bar of 1075 steel with layout blue and the outline of the knife scribed on the blade. Sharp intersections are eliminated by either drilling or filing with a round file.
The knife has been rough ground (grinded) to the desired bevel. the edge is left about the thickness of a dime. If you grind to thin the edge will warp. At this point it's ready for heat treat at about 1525 degrees for 2-3 minutes. This is done in a knife kiln.
Prior to heat treat the spine is clayed up to do differential heat treating and will create a hamon.
After heat treating the clay is knocked off and the residual oil and oxidation is sanded off and then tempered for two cycles at two hours each at four hundred degrees. Then its back to hand sanding to remove all scratches. I took this one to 400 grit, I have gone as high as 800.
Finished hand sanding and blade is washed and dried to remove any oil and or finger prints prior to acid etching.
This is what the clay and acid combination looks like. This one came out pretty good.
Here is the fit up of the elk antler and G10 spacers. Lots of work to get the fit up looking and flowing properly. Blade is taped for protection.
The elk antler is drilled and reamed out to accept the blade and the sequence of the spacer have been numbered and ready for assembly. The end of the tang was sanded to 90 degrees of the butt to allow the steel butt plate to be screwed on. A nut is also used to ensure tight fit up. Components glued up with slow curing epoxy.
Completed assembly and cleaned up as much as possible. Epoxy will cure for 24 hours and then its fit and finish time.
Hope you enjoyed the build as much as I did
. Let me know if you have any questions.