Spyderco makes some really nice knives. I'm a pretty big fan of their stainless folders. It'll be cool to see what you wind up with, free is a great price.

Do you think Bisalloy plate would be good steel for a Bowie knife/machete, I can get Bisalloy 360, and Bisalloy 500 from work for free. it would be in 6,8 or 10mm thick. From what I've read about it, I'm not certain it would be a decent blade steel. It seems the number (360 / 500) represents the Br...

Yeah, I'm gonna give a harder etch a try, but after I'm fully satisfied with the polish

I have etched it with a repeated hot cider vinegar bath, but I'm finding the oxidation of the edge in comparison to the back isn't extreme enough to produce a strong hamon. Given this was my first attempt at the hamon, I suspect I would have had an easier time with a steel with less vanadium and man...

Well, I had some success with the bowie. The hamon line isn't terribly visible, but it's definitely there.

The newer project will be 1075, hoping to get a bit more of a response out of a slightly more hypoeutechtoid steel.

Yam, first ill say those look nice for first knifes! then some critic :wink: firstly the hadle on the bowie doesnt "fit" to the blade. The finishing of the knifes are pretty rough what i see from the pics. right now i got nothing else to say :D your making a tanto, differential heat treated, is tha...

Hmm... that's a little macabre for my tastes...

Haha, thanks.

My next project is gonna be a little more involved. I'll post pics when it's ready.

I haven't posted on spudfiles in ages, but my new spudgun project spurred me to come on back. In my absence I've been trying out knifemaking in my home, as a hobby, so I thought I'd post my first 2 creations. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Zeppo/Knives/P9140055.jpg The large bowie is the new...

EDIT So, I'm having trouble getting my barrel sealer to seal with rubber washers (no shock there), so I'm ordering some neoprene for it. My question is about thickness/durometer. It's a 1.9" OD piston and a 1.65" OD sealing face on the barrel. Any thoughts? Right now I'm looking at about 50A, 1/4"...

Drat, the rubber washers I've been using as the sealing face on my new barrel sealer keep getting stressed out by air pressure and blowing out the barrel when I fire it hahahah.

Ugh, the place next to my work has about 4 yards each of 10", 6", 4" and 2" PVC laying out in the sun behind their warehouse. Fittings and ball valves too. Shame

This is a pretty sobering thread, especially for a fellow Canuck. My projects are going to stay indoors unless it's well away from prying eyes...


Sorry to hear about the whole thing.

Yeah, that was my basic idea. I was even thinking I'd just put a wee patch of electrical tape or something in the barrel at the top just to kind of mitigate any spin except in the topwards direction. Something I can remove if it winds up sucking... haha

Well, my concern is that, if as it releases from the cannon, the ball acquires a horizontal spin, it could easily spin off course much the way a slice or a hook occurs in golfing, or even a bend in soccer. My thinking was simply that, if I knew I was imparting top spin on it, horizontal spin would b...