The weather is terrible so I thought I might as well start making some knives. The ladder damascus is forged from 52100 and 15N20, first time I have used the two steels together The raindrop is my usual 1080/15N20 but this pattern was made using crushed W's instead of horizontal layers of steel. Handles are G10 and one is Iron wood with dovetail bolsters.
Beautiful work as usual @FORGE. Did working with an alternative mix on the ladder pattern prove to be any different? Or was it business as usual?
52100 is a lot harder steel to move,therefore you really have to watch the temp when forging and make sure it is hot especially when putting the pattern in the billet.
Awesome knives. There's something about ironwood that I am a sucker for, but I like the shape of the blue G10 unit. So hard to choose!
For me, I always like the look of a wood handle. I don't know why but it just looks like it's supposed to be that way to me. Love all of them but the wood handle is the tops for me.
I like wood as well, but there is only one wood that I will use for scales and that is Iron Wood. Most wood even stabilized wood will move,shrink and get that washed out look over time,but Iron wood just stays put and looks great. Because most wood will shrink that is why I build most of my knives as hidden tang,I can't stand the feel of a knife when the tang is higher that the wood scales. G10 or Micarta is still going to look new on a knife 20 years down the road. Even it it dulls just give it a quick buff and it looks new again and it does not shrink.
I have to admit, I have had the shrunken scale problem a few times. It is irritating. I'm still not good enough to do hidden tangs. I wouldn't call myself a beginner but certainly not very experienced. I guess you'd say I've done a very limited subset of knifemaking skills many times. I've done maybe three hidden tangs but they look awful. The third one had issues but, I did correct the problems I was trying to with the hole in the guard. Small victories. : )
