A new Dunedain sister (knife pics)

[Eric C]

I'm proud to announce the birth of a sister for my original Dunedain boot knife (that grew a bit too large for the boot). I finished her yesterday. Here are some stats:
OAL: 12 1/8"
Blade length: 7"
Blade width: 1 7/16"
Blade thickness: 3/16"
Hidden tang construction forged from Circular saw steel. The handle is hand carved Cocobolo with leather spacers. The fittings are made of 1/4" mild steel angle iron.

Here are some pics from conception to birth;

http://picasaweb.google.com/919ericc/DunedainKnife#

It seems like I just held 'er in my hands for the first time and now she will be shipping out soon.

[Eledhwen]

Very nice work Eric!

Findesilmë

[Eric C]

Thank you. I took lessons learned from the first knife and incorporated them into this one. IMHO, there are still some improvements to be made, but we'll see what the new owner thinks when I get it into his hands.

[Mirimaran]

Great knife, Eric! How much are your knives going for?

[Eric C]

Hmm, (a sinister glint flashes in his eye ) PM me and we'll talk. I work for cash- cash is good- bartering is also good. Or a combination of cash and bartering isn't out of the question. I DO have a kit to expand after all.

[Mirimaran]

Eric, PM sent!

[Eric C]

And replied to. Hoping I can fire up the forge tomorrow.

[R.D.Metcalf]

Great knife, Eric!

Folks I have one of this mans knives, his blades are tough
and will hold an edge with the best made. In the time
I've had this knife I've used it to dress fish, squirrels and
3 deer, as well as some initial chopping tests on both hard and soft wood
it hasnt been re-touched and will still shave my arm.

And not too long ago Eric e-mailed me to see how my knife was
holding up...I've bought custom knives, axes and swords since I
have been old enough to earn my own money and in all that time
*NO ONE* has ever contacted me to see how the product was performing, until Eric Cartrette.

Many thanks, Eric

[Eledhwen]

I like the distal taper you get in these Eric. I put a similar one into my Elven hunting knife. Apparently they aren't so easy to do for a lot of folk, at least around here. Do you forge these at orange heat? I tend to Aus-forge mine, but I'm a nutjob anyway.

Siani

[Willrett]

great looking blade. I may have to talk to you in the future about one to.

[Eric C]

R.D. humbles me. Thanks for the complement friend. I'm glad the seax is holding up for you.

Siani: It's been my experience that if I don't get this steel up into the orange-orange/yellow range, it doesn't move when I hit it. These saw blades are an impact resistant steel. As for the distal taper, some of it is forged in and some is ground in on this knife. I'm working on a couple of handseaxes that have the distal taper hammered in only.
Aus forging: I'm strange enough that it draws me too. I just haven't tried it yet. I may do a traditional forge until the last little bit, then try the last few heats at an aus forge some time. Impatience gets the better of me. If I don't see results somewhat quickly I get a bit frustrated. But I have to say that forging is working on my patience level. So it's getting better.

Willrett, you know where to find me.

[Eledhwen]

Aus forging can be frustrating...too easy to ruin the piece. The knife of mine was entirely forged that way and that was a royal pita. But I still love it. It gives a better quality blade in my opinion..serious grain packing anyone?

Forge work is awesome for patience, yes. Without it, you ruin pieces or they don't come out so well. In time it will spill over into the rest of life to one degree or another. Useful that.

Siani

[Eric C]

"Forge work is awesome for patience, yes. Without it, you ruin pieces or they don't come out so well. In time it will spill over into the rest of life to one degree or another. Useful that."

Yeah, I'm finding that. Lack of patience is why it took me probably three years to actually finish a knife. Impatience and perfectionism. The perfectionism can work to my advantage, I'm finding. It pushes me to make my next knife better. The impatience is only a hinderance and must be irradicated.

I've read what Jim Hrisoulas had to say in The Complete Bladesmith about aus forging. His praise of it impresses me.

Oh, the sister who brought me the hammers has seen the knife over on Facebook and has asked me if I need another anvil. I told her that my Harbor Freight is little more than a boat anchor so I could certainly use a real anvil.

[Eledhwen]

I had a Harbor Freight 250...I gave it to a friend as I found it essentially useless for what I was doing. I have an old Vulcan anvil..cast but I had a solid carbon steel slab welded to the face so it works...it's 90 odd pounds. I'm after getting a solid Peddinghaus double horn in the 260 range. Ouch. But worth it. I'm teaching my sons blacksmithing so even when I'm gone the anvil and tools will do service.

One of my goals is to aus forge a sword completely. I'm likely to screw up several attempts of course; swords and knives are not the same thing...but worth it if I can manage it. My own Master says that one would be a very, very good project for me. He likes me to challenge myself. It'll be a while, unfortunately, since my forge is packed away in storage though nowhere to set it up.

For now.

Siani

[Eric C]

I'm working my way to a Viking sword with twisted mild steel core. It is a very long way down the road. The knives that I am doing that are longer than 9" are still offering some challenges, so I'm not ready to go bigger yet. And you are absolutely correct in that swords and knives are totally different creatures. I may have said this before, but I started out trying to grind out a Meinz pattern gladius. Then I went longer. Then I worked my way all the way up to a 9" knife.

I don't know anything about the anvil that is being offered yet. I certainly hope it is worthwhile.