Tools I make (sharpening stones, planes and irons) #2: Just a little wood, I have 2 loves wood and steel (wood most).

Looks deadly sharp! The handle looks great.

-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way - Tyler, TX

How did you do the two tone dye, that looks amazing! How is your forge fired, gas or???? With the price of gas I would like to try and build up a wood fired forge. Do you think this would work? I know you have plans for your kiln but do you have plans for a forge also? We have a friend down the hill that built a big concrete pizza oven and we have gotten it up to 800 degrees with a realitively small fire inside. I think with a smaller more confined fire area and some way to feed the air into it, a guy should be able to get it hot. We have alot of keawe(mesquite) here locally that seems to burn hot, but perhaps not hot enough.
Regardless, I love the knife and I have been wanting to make a small splitting knife, you know with a striking edge on the backside of the blade.

-- If knowledge is not shared, it is forgotten.

Harold. The 2 tone dye is RIT clothes dye. Mix up black and put it on…then wash it off really quickly. Since the quilted wood is a mix of end grain and straight grain is soaks deeper/faster into the end grain. Then I mix up some yellow dye, put it on and leave it. I do alot of 2 tone stuff.
My forge is wood fired (I am not welding steel, just heat treating) I have a picture of the experimental stages (I cut a slot in the side later so I could lay flat bar in) It is just a metal drum with a blower. I cut the drum in 1/2 and flipped it inside itself and peeled it back, make sense ? So I would have 2 bottoms, one for the wood and the other to keep the blower air going the through the holes I made for under the fire. 30 minute deal, looks kinda cheesy but it works and I have $0 invested in it (I run a sawmill, I have tons of hardwood scrap to burn too) I can get the stuff I work with hot enough with just wood.

More pictures of me making a plane iron. Bar stock I put the edge on first

Silica mixture to add “hamon”

In the forge for heat treat. I scooped more coals over it after the picture.

Ice quench


Cut to length and sharpened

Back of plane iron

-- http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

A lot of hard work by the look of it. Can you give some more details on the dyes used for the handle – it is stunning

-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)

Tony. I use RIT clothes dye, you can get it at the grocery store.

-- http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Daren you are prize.

Old country secrets and executed with finess.

Can you give us more?

I am intrigued with metal alchemy.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Daren – awesome work. I think that metal work – tool making – has every right to as space on this site, hard to cut wood (or even sushi) with wood alone! It interests me and I’m sure, many others too!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Absolutely! Sharpening, shaping metal does have a place here because not everyone has the money or time to just run down to the local sawsmith and have him sharpen our tools. Be careful with those knives Darren, they look razor sharp.

-- --Chuck

Great blog Daren. I’ve often wondered about how the knives were made. Thanks, very interesting and beautiful knife.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Nice knife. I’ve forged a couple of Bowie knives in the past. You might consider a larger tang if you are going to be using it for anything but a kitchen knife.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Yea John, that knife is going to be used very delicately, what I have there is plenty. I have made a few knives, anything that is going to see rough action gets a full tang. I buried these pictures in another persons project here. This is a full tang this shirasaya katana (I did not do the steel on this one, just all the wood) As I explained in that post Shirasaya translates to “white scabbard” (or plain ?). The blade can be stored in these bindings. The heavily finished wraps and enameled saya can cause rust in the blade. The shirasaya is a display feature/preservation technique…no tsuba, that is mounted when the blade is called to duty.

-- http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

All three of these pieces are beautiful, fascinating and empowering. To think that you have pulled all this off without spending a fortune is very heartening for someone who might like to jump in without breaking the bank is very cool. Thanks, Daren.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.