Free Boat Navy

I haven't been posting because I haven't been been bladesmithing since the weather got nice, good intensions notwithstanding. During the good weather, I'm pretty much overwhelmed with yard work, chores and the honeydew list, along with my regular duties as chief cook and bottlewasher (that's right, I am PW, but my little wifie is not so good at those things, so it's OK by me.) I would be back in the shop, and I will be after I get my new bandsaw (check this little baby) and a few supplies, but I've somehow been drawn into the nautical world by my friend Doug, packrat and junk aficianado like myself, who has somehow managed to score TWO broken sport boats.

The first prize is a 1977 Sea Ray SRV 185 with a (seized) mercruiser 165 and a rotted deck and transom, plus a fairly beat but still servicable single axle trailer. We spent a couple of days tearing out rotted seats, trim and plywood, and I've started cutting new wood to repair the deck and transom. It looked pretty good when we got it, but neither of us knows sh'ite  about boats, although Doug is a professional (auto) mechanic and instructor. If we had known how clapped-out it was, I'm sure we wouldn't have taken it, (the economics term "sunk costs" probably originated with boat builders) but after all the time we spent tearing it down, we're determined to get it ship-shape by spring. There are lots of these things on Craig's List for cheap or free; I imagine that a many people buy a new boat and let it sit or get rid of it when they lose interest . It's obvious that these are rather cheaply made except for the hulls; a lot of un-glassed and even un-primered plywood trim and components, plus various degrees of neglect while the thing sits in the driveway for years (I call it "seasoning") until the better half finally screams "Get that thing out of here!"

I've got it (barely) in my garage, drying out while I build a pole barn, something I've been meaning to do to have a place to store my lawn equipment. It's a joke working in there now, picking my way around mowers and motorcycles and suchlike, but after we finish the hull repairs, we can leave it in the weather until we get the motor back together, which is now taking up my entire workbench - an old door laying across my nearly abandoned project Bronco frame. The motor need s to go to the machine shop, but we're proceeding very slowly because we want to be sure we can finish it before we start sinking a lot of money into it. Time I got, but if I wanted to spend a lot of money, I could just buy one in good condition for a couple grand; a lot of these are on Craigslist right now, being Winter and all.

After we got pretty far into the first boat, scroungemeister Doug found another freebee with a fragged outdrive, but in overall good condition, much newer, although I haven't done the research yet to determine exactly what it is or when it was manufactured. The deck is pretty badly rotted, though. To our mutual horror we  found the deck was not even glassed; just carpet over plywood over foam. That is too cheaply made, but I guess it had a relatively good price-point. Somebody bought it, after all, but then they just didn't take care of it. There doesn't seem to be any serious rot beyond the deck; fingers crossed that the motor turns over and the deck can be repaired easily, because it's much nicer than the searay, extended transom and a cuddy cabin and a really nice trailer. The cuddy cabin is kind of a must-have if women are aboard unless you've got the kind of gal that can just hang it over the side, a rare find in this day and age. [It just occurred to me what the swim ladder is for; I was wondering why anyone would want to get out of a perfectly good boat unless it was docked or sinking]. Tomorrow we'll finish stripping it and see if the motor cranks (Inshallah!), and get some pictures of both tubs. I hope we catch a break, because I need to finish something.

Stainless Boot

I had to re-handle this using pins. Epoxy does not really stick to stainless, but the pins keep the scales on. I'm not sure if this is going into the working knives collection. It's difficult to sharpen, but it won't rust and can open letters and clean fingernails. Which is to say, I really like damascus. Trouble is, I can buy a finished knife from Charlton for not much more than the blank, which is not only a valuable collectable, but is much better made than I can possibly do. Maybe one or two of each...

Classic Modified

I finally finished the "classic" bowie. Charlton sells these blanks, but I'd gotten this a while back, probably from SMKW, and never really figured out how to mount a handle to the short and narrow tang. Now I'm a little more familiar and comfortable with soldering onto damascus, although I got a little too much on the guard, and I'm pretty good at making rectangular holes. For the guard I used a C&O Canal commemorative bronze coin, and the handle was the same crate wood



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I finally routed a shallow notch in two flats of wood, each cut half of the thickness of the tang. Worked good, although I ended up with a pretty wide gap between the handle and the guard.

I'd take off about five points for the gap, and 2-3 more for lack of finish. (It could use some sanding with 600 and my arm's tired). I'll give it a 95, cause I am the judge!

Stainless - No Cigar

I thought it turned out pretty well, considering.  The epoxy doesn't really hold, even though I roughed up the tang. I had to re-glue one side and the other is loose at the butt. Oh, well.  It also looks sort of ugly. I guess I could have done better.  If I have to, I bought two cobalt 1/8th bits, and I could try to pin it, but I would really just start over.  Something ain't right with the front of the handle. (It does look better in person.)

The wood is a slightly different type of South American hardwood from shipping crates. It's a little softer than the other I was using and doesn't shine up as nice. I'm deducting 4 points for minor blemishes, 4 points for weak glue and 4 more for general ugliness: make it an 88/100.

The End of Act 1

I need to get new belts and my friend said he would give me a small belt sander, so I'm not grinding any metal right now, but worn belts work pretty well on wood, especially the #80/100 grit is much more forgiving. I managed to do most of this with the coarse belt. It's the same unknown wood I'm using for scales; this was a roughly wedge shaped piece of waste wood. Cut the kerf with the edge of the sander and used a lot of my new-found inner radius "talent".

Good practice, plus I'll be set if I get any letters on the other side of the metal detectors.

My friend gave me two sheathe knives that had gotten rusty on one side from being in the sheathes for at least twenty years. One is a big fat Pakistani bowie that's thick enough to grind the rust off, which I'm in the process of.  I'll post photos when I'm done.  This one is kind of cool: tight stag handle, hard, thin and very flexible blade and only light rust, which I'm taking off by hand because the blade is so thin. Too bad it looks like a bread knife, but it would be quel formidable in a between the ribs application.  Think I'll stick with bread.

My next project, which I didn't put handles on before because it's too hard to drill stainless. But now that the epoxy only knives are holding up well, I'm just going to glue it and grind it. Then I have the last damascus blank, that I still haven't figured out how to handle.

The first four Damascus USA knives, done for now.  Time to order more steel.

First Four Finished

Improving...

Bowie Day 3

It actually turned out better than I expected. The good points; didn't mar the blade, the components all seem strongly attached, wood fit is very close and the tang as close to perfect as the oversize guard will let me. I tried to make up for the flaws by polishing the daylights out of it with #220 and #320.  There's a few smudges and scratches on the metal that I could get out starting over with #100 grit, but I unfortunately cracked one of the scales when I tried to pin it, because I hadn't fine-tuned the holes.  Next time I'll only use three pins for the glue-up and drill and fit the rest before sanding.

The guard was made from a scrap of a door hanger. It's kind of thin, but solid brass and feels good against my hand and extends past my fingers enough to function as a guard, plus the pointy tip of the heart on the bottom has good potential for pokin' and gougin'. If I couldn't get to my .357, this is what I would want.

I'm deducting 3 points for wayward solder, 3 points for the cracked handle, 2 for misfit wood, 1 for a somewhat wavy line on the tang. and 1 for small scratches. I could spend a couple of hours to sand out the last two flaws, which would bring it up to a 92, but my arm is tired so it's a 90. I think it's fair to give it a B+.

Bowie - Day Two

It took a couple of hours to drill and file the hole in the guard, I made it a little too long but just about right side-to-side. It didn't fit on tight, but didn't wobble. I did okay soldering it, at least for a first try, and I think it's pretty strong and I didn't get any excess on the front of the guard or the tang. I didn't get it perfectly perpendicular, but I did reheat it once and straighten it better than it came out the first try. I might try again, but I'm not feelin' lucky.

The front of the guard looks reasonably good. I have to detail the edges that got sharpened when I sanded the back flat.

The back is a little messy, but I think I can polish or cover up most of it.  I'm thinking of trying something tricky with the scales to cover the back of the guard, somehow, or put a flat piece on it, (again, somehow I don't know yet, but I can bring it into existence. the power of creation!)

More from the Grab Bag

These are a few of the little guys I got in the grab bag.  All but the laminate-handled one were pretty much finished.  I'm also getting pretty re-familiar with the belt sander.  It really takes a lot of handwork to take care of what could have been done carefully on the belt. All the transitions between material and all the curves smoothed makes the hand-sanding basically just polishing.

This is just like the one I worked over a couple days ago, except the blade is perfect. It was unfinished, but there was nothing materially wrong with this guy. They took the trouble to grind off the mark, but I can make out Sears.  Well-made, tight, with a nice, sharp blade. This is sanded to #400; a couple of more hours should make it real nice.

Bowie: Day One

I'm thinking of using that piece of brass as a guard. It's a cheap and thin casting, but it has a large, flat back. The slot I think I can do pretty easily by drilling and careful filing. The problem will be to make a flat on the uneven front where it meets the back of the blade. If I had a 1/4" belt sander, I could knock it right out. Then we'll find out if I can solder it on there without making a mess of it.

Already, I can't wait to get more Steel

You get 10% off on Damascus USA if you get two blanks or more. I want to get these guys next.

Intermission

This was one of the grab bag knives I got from SMKW. It was a well-made, unfinished lockback with the tip broken off. I sanded the blade about 90%, but since it's getting kind of thin, I stopped and sanded the handle and bolster pretty well. Just practice, really. 
I could spend a couple more hours detailing it, but it will never be more than a pretty utility knife. Did I mention that I can use the practice?

I'm starting on the bowie soon. I have a silver ingot I was thinking of using for a guard, but I've never worked with silver; I just know it's harder than brass.  I need to make a real precise rectangular square in it to fit the hilt, so I'm going to practice with some thin brass.  If the brass works well, I'll use it instead of the silver, and get some brass pins. I want to pin it for strength and a way to keep me from sanding off too much wood.  I want the bowie to come out 100%, so it may take awhile.

Boot Knife Done

These are what I've finished so far. The boot knife actually came out better than I thought it would. I gouged it out too far and hit a rivet hole, then compounded the blemish by gouging it out some more until I realized what I was doing. So now it's cut too deep, with a noticeable flaw in the bottom, but I tried to compensate by getting the shaping and sanding as close to perfect as I could.
I also nicked the blade edge almost in the middle with the belt sander. It might be fixed by sharpening, but I don't think I'm that good, so it's done. I'm taking off 5 points for hitting the edge, and 5 more for hitting the pin hole and there is a little too much metal on the belly, which I might be able to correct with the belt sander. The wood turned out almost perfect; I think I'm really getting the hang of it. I'm quicker and more accurate, anyway.
The blade looks good in spite of my clumsiness, so I give this guy about 88 out of 100.

Two Finished

After a whole lot more sanding w/ 600 and 1000 grit. I just noticed in the photo that I missed the front radius on the feather. Oh, well, it's done, and not really a glaring error. I'm taking off a few points for minor wood errors and 4 for the botched finger notch. I give myself a 92 overall for that one. The dagger turned out really well; the lines, fit, and symmetry are good, the front cleaned up well. The wood could have been shaped a little better.

Ugly finger notch and slightly mismatched wood - 92 out of 100. I need a belt sander with a small diameter roller, about two inches.

Only minor blemishes and slight lack of finish (which I could still do, in theory), so I'll take off a couple of points, plus two very small detail flaws for a 96 on this one.

What not to do.

Much Hand-Sanding Later

I'm pretty pleased with the way the dagger is turning out. Although I did sand on the steel, I did much better keeping the original curves.  I'm sanding them with 600 grit now, but I need to do a bit more belt-sanding on two of them.
I should have sanded the fronts before I glued them; the end wood will look raw against the polished parts.  I'm using the edge of the workbench to do the concave radii and work around the handle so all the compound curves will look right. I'm deducting about 5 points for the unsanded bolsters and about 2 points for working the damascus. I think this will finish out about 90 out of 100.
I dug into the steel on the boot knife pretty bad. I need a smaller roller. In trying to  work down to an even curve, I took out too much towards the blade and there's almost no metal where it comes to a point, plus sanding into the steel so deeply heated the blank enough so the scale is loose on one side.  I might be able to skoosh just a little epoxy into the gap and re-clamp it. Frankly, I messed this one up.  Minus about 20 points for gouging in so deeply.  If I can salvage it, it should finish out between 75 and 85.  I need to be more careful with the machine tools; it's too easy to take off too much, but I am improving. 
It looks like the epoxy only works well, but the pins are stronger and the alignment can be more precise.  I'm going to get some 1/8" nickel/silver wire and I need some brass for the bowie, maybe from Dixie Gun Works.

A Rainy Day's Work

These are the results of yesterday's glue-up. I spent most of today belt-sanding with a couple of hours hand-sanding the feather using dry 360 and 400 grit sandpaper. I don't have anything between 400 and 1000, so this is done for now, but I'm going to round that v-notch out. I couldn't figure out how to polish the inside radii, so I used the edge of the bench with newspaper under the sandpaper. Learn as I go, I suppose.
The long parts of the back and bottom are pretty scratch free and the back radius worked out pretty well. the scales are only short in one small area and I dug the excess epoxy out of the front grooves without scratching the blank. You have to be careful not to sand the damascus because the contrast goes real fast. I'm only using 1000 on the blanks, but I couldn't avoid sanding the tang. It's real shiny but no contrast. I'd take off about 5 points for working the blank. I should be able to make a 100% job on the classic small tang, because I'm sure I'll have to make whatever kind of handle before I install it. Possibly the bowie, too. 
The finger guard is not satisfactory, it might even be sort of dangerous as there is no sharp transition to warn the user that he's getting near the sharp part, but I might be able to sand the radius a little better. that takes off a couple more points, say 8 and a couple more for the bit where the scale doesn't quite reach. If I can pretty it up a skosh, I'd rate it between 85-90 out of a hundred (for a really simple handle). It's the nicest I've made, so far.
These are the five damascus blanks as they are. tomorrow, wife and weather co-operating, it's hand sanding the two glued-only knives to finish. I think they'll sand real fast without the pins. The fine sanding with pins darkens the wood. I like it, which is good because I'm not going to re-do it.

Classic Modified

Two more views of the Classic Modified. Photos not so good; It's hard to show the damascus in indoor light. They're prettier than they appear, not counting my funky grips.

Is it 24 Hours, Yet?

Some closeups of the French folder. It's something like languile. Too nice for the likes of me.

While Waiting for the Epoxy to Set

Here's my knife collection, including the "Cell Block" series.


This is most of the cell block series, good work knives, anyway. Note the two-handled "Mexican Fighting Knife". It may have been my first. Also note pop-rivets and sloppy glue work. Back to the grinder for those two at some point.


The one in the middle could be nice if I wanted to spend a lot of time getting the scratches out of the blade. After I finish the all the damascus.



The one on the right is the small-tang "Classic Modified" which I'll rehandle, the next is a french damascus folder that I was given. It's really nice. I could never do it. The next is a thrower blank I couldn't finish, because stainless is too hard to drill, I learned the hard way. I might put some sides on it if the glue holds on the damascus blanks.  On the left is my injun knife, or might have been if Indians had large, ugly copper rivets, a grinder and a drill press.