A few of my knives

[John M Cohea]

Hi pards. Here's a few knives that I made(and their sheaths) for  ya'll to check out.

[John M Cohea]

Here's the missing picture of the bowie and it's sheath

[Gun Butcher]

  Good looking work John, I love the handle on that bowie and I detect a little blacksmithing going on with the folders. They are really nice.

[John M Cohea]

Thanks GB. Yessir, the blacksmith's twist and curls is sorta one of my signitures that appears on a lot of my work. Here is an all steel blacksmith's knife forged from a large Nicholson file.

[Gun Butcher]

 John, Tell me about the forging on that blacksmiths knife. How did you do the annealing and the rehardening specifically. If you don't mind.

[John M Cohea]

Pretty basic really GB. After forging I will bring the piece to slightly above critical temp, which is the point when the steel becomes non magnetic, then wrap the whole thing in ceramic wool to cool down real slow for the annealing.
  Next I will normalize by bring to slightly above critical and cooling to room temp for a total of three times on top of the anvil.
  For hardening bring to slightly above critical then plunge tip down in warm oil( I use half diesel fuel and half hydraulic oil heated to around 125 degrees. Test to make sure it got hard by skating a file across the edge.It should just skate and not cut at all. Then I will put it in my little toaster oven and draw it back at around 425 degrees for two hours. This is the processes I have used for years and they work real well for me.

[Gun Butcher]

  Thanks for the explanation John. Could a guy use sand for the slow cooling process?  I was asking because all the file knives I have made were not annealed before shaping. It works but it sure is hard on sanders and it takes a while.

[Josh Dabney]

GB,

A common medium for slow cooling that is readily available is Oil Dry or Kitty Litter.   As I understand it bury hot blade in the middle of 2" of kitty litter and you'll be good to go.

If using a forge you can also stack fire brick over the openings of the forge to hold the heat and let it cool overnight.  You could also use the wool John mentioned to hold in the heat for a slow cool.

Hope this helps Pard,

-Josh

[John M Cohea]

Yessir GB, you can use warm ,dry sand or wood ashes to anneal. Another thing you can use is the mineral vermiculite. It is usually sold in bags at most garden departments at stores like Lowe's. Files make great knive, but they really should be annealed and re-heat treated after shaping the piece. They are too hard and brittle in their as is state and as you said are a bear to work hard

[Regret Chancy]

JMC, You do great work!  Not only looking authentic but artistic. Good job
                                                                                          Regret

[GunClick Rick]

I always wanted a knife made from a railroad spike.I met a knife maker in Vegas years ago and he had different sizes around his belt and sold them right off the belt.Had spiked from mining car tracks too and the spike tops were twisted.I find spikes all the time.

[Shotgun Steve]

Great looking knives John. You do some outstanding work pard!!

Shotgun Steve

[John M Cohea]

Thanks fella's! Gun Click, spike knives are for the most part ornamental, as even the ones marked HC(high carbon) don't really have enough carbon in them to get hard enough to hold a decent edge. They do however look cool as all get out, and I have made a few of them in the past. I have a 5 gallon bucket full of spikes, but have'nt made one in several years.Now of course that would change if someone were to order one

[Devil Anse Hatfield]

Who  can pound me a knife blade from a chainsaw chain?  I will supply the chain.  I have been told they make great knives  as they have 5 kinds of steel in them.

Devil

[Dave Cole]

Awesome stuff as usual brother John.Dave   

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Gorgeous knives ... I imagine they start conversations wherever they go ....

[GunClick Rick]

Boy Johnny them folders are somethin to behold...Wished i was your next door nieghbor,i'd make ya teach me..

I got this one all rusted up good,now i gotta hang stuff on it..

[GunClick Rick]

Y'ain't buyin it huh???

[John M Cohea]

 

[GunClick Rick]

Ok can't fool ya's it's a fakey,found it in a barn,the barn is a friends antique store,it was in a shadow box,i got it real cheap just to sit on my indian stuff shelf..Made in Paky stan