it came out better than I could have hoped.  Here is is hot off the machine, and pre-bead blasted:


 
Now, back to the spring steel wrapped tool steel:
FAIL

Not in terms of the steel, I just failed to draw it out wide enough.  Not too worry, I have 2 more sets of spring/tool steel to play with.
 
Just not wide enough.

(so help me god one of you says "thats what she said..")
 
Probably a heat treat on the horizon.  But in other news I think I am going to reach out and get a few members of the community out from behind their computers and down into their shops.  I probably won't use that perfectly good billet for anything sooo....  I will make a contest out of it :)

What kind of cookie dough is that on the knife nateman??? MMMmmmm   LOL  

Does your nub have to stick out so far?  I wanted a little nub'bin about half of what you have there.  And then there's the way you squirted your awesome sauce cement all over the back of that knife.  Pr0n!!!!!!   Are you going to put your name on the ricasso area or somewhere else?  What kind of metal are you using for this knife?  Is it 01?
 
I forgot to mention... what applying a rust resistant coating?  Like DLC or get it hard chromed or something?

handle was successful.  However, I am going to wait until I test the knife out to install it.
 
All I did was a cord wrap, a quick gun blue, and a quick edge so I can test it out tomorrow.  


 
 

thanks!

I just put the knife through the ringer. Beat it to death on a birch tree. Not a dent, chip, crack or anything.

Handle came out well.  I will post a crapload of pics tomorrow.  In the meantime I will showcase...EXCALIBURL.  

This tree lays deep in the swamps.  Its got burls ALL the way up.  Only the mightiest Burl hunters will be able to pull it from its slumber.

nateman_doo
oh... and what do you suppose this is??

 
 
 

I cheated and see the answer, but shall not post the answer.. i will say, its going to be beautiful!

Annnnddd onto the handles :)
 








 
Various lighting.
The striped one is bocote, One is stabilized maple burl... and the other is a mysterious swamp root burl.
 

nateman_doo
I did it!!   I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  I did it!!  

Yay

Wow! That is beautiful!

Drew it out a bit more last night:

 
Finally have enough steel:

 
The thinnest part of the billet is 0.375".  towards the handle its actually a bit thicker.  Needs to be 0.25" thick.
 
This piece is about as long as my forge can handle..
 
(without opening the backside.  What?  You thought I would build something that couldn't be modified to accommodate the future?)

My buddy liked the bocote the most as well.  Personally I favor the burl on the right (http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss343/nateman_doo/IMG_20170222_183039_786_zpswq7zwz6a.jpg)  More on that in the next post.
 
 
many things were different.  First, I used a thicker tool steel rod. (1.25" OD), and the spring wrap on the outside equaled a 1.5" OD total rod.  Did the same things like extend the spring to sandblast the interior as best as I could.  
 
But the most important thing that I did, was taking the entire welded structure, and put it in the press on edge.  What that did, was expand the inner core to mate with the exterior spring, and also shortened the rod.  I can draw out the rod lengthwise all day, but making it wider takes more, especially when we want a tool steel edge - not a spring steel, so I will have to grind away the blade side of the springs.  
 
I made a quick video of it.  unedited:

 
I first goofed because I didn't open the press wide enough to account for the lengthwise expansion of the steel.  You can see me fumble around it for a hot second and as I was trying to open the press wider, I accidently started to close the press putting a slight bend in the rod.  I was SUPER upset about it at first.  It still worked, and the rod could be bent back into place, but I didn't want to put a bent rod under a multi-ton force and have a ten pound piece of 2000° steel shoot out at me.   So I crushed is as far as I was willing to do.  Then the banging in the distance is me tapping it all around in a few places.  
 
All in all it worked out well.  Will probably be working on it a bit more tonight.  
 
 
 
 
 

Dear god.... this metal is some TOUGH STUFF.
 
Took me quite a while to drill holes in it.  Cobalt steel does nothing.  Had to go straight to carbide!

 
So the outside shape is cut, and a quick inspection reveals no inclusions in the steel.  100% solid.  Now the hard part will be getting this 1/4" thick, and parallel on both sides.  Don't want the material bent from the get-go. 

Would be curious as to if the spring steel causes any stress movement of the material as you machine it down to the 1/4 inch. Had to chuckle at the going straight to carbide and wondering what the Rc hardness is on it.  If it is up there then maybe it wont move, but could be brittle?

Nomadre
Would be curious as to if the spring steel causes any stress movement of the material as you machine it down to the 1/4 inch. Had to chuckle at the going straight to carbide and wondering what the Rc hardness is on it.  If it is up there then maybe it wont move, but could be brittle?

some parts of it are harder then others.  I managed to get some holes in other parts, but around the handle drill bits dont even scratch it.  So it obviously harder then high speed steel.  Normally I just take the billet out of the forge and having it cool in still air is enough to normalize it.  Even doing it a few times, but I feel like because its thin, (3/8" at the moment) it cools quicker then it would like  and develops a hardness.