Receiving cattle

Here are three little knives I finished this morning while waiting on daylight. 5160/8670/15n20 damascus. Amboyna, spalted oak, and ironwood handles.

We started getting in some calves today to put out on some wheat pastures. These calves are weighing 450 pounds and are fresh off their mama's. we run them through the chute, vaccinate, and brand them, then turn them out on the grass in a few days,  hopefully to gain a lot of weight and make a few bucks.
These little darlings came out of Mississippi, were in surprisingly good shape, and bawled for their mama's very little today. We will get these straight and out of the lot pretty quick.

The cattle, just off the truck

Getting started

The tub, a simple way to describe a cow funnel.

Bringing the cattle to the tub was my job today, when I wasn't busy taking pictures.

Branding, vaccinating, and dehorning. This is run kind if like an assembly line. If nothing breaks, we can run 100 head an hour through the chute pretty easy.

Knives and cattle

Some knives I finished yesterday. Three are one owner, mesquite/stainless handle, 5160/8670/15n20 damascus steel blade. The fourth is a left over piece from the billet with black locust burl on the handle. I will put it up for sale.

These have a 2 1/2" cutting edge, and a 3 1/2" handle. Just right for an every day carry.

Random stuff from around the ranch.

Two feet

Branding

The cut

Spurs, and a castrating knife I made

File knives

Well, rasps actually. These two were made for my horse shoer, who saves all his worn out rasps for me.

Rasps are a little tricky to make knives out of  sometimes. The steel they use seems to vary a little bit, some will be good high carbon steel, and some will be case hardened, and not suitable for a knife. and it is hard to tell the difference sometimes until you have already done a lot of work. I have kinda figured it out by brands, but even then you can get a dud.
These turned out good, and will serve him well for a long time.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Knives with sheaths

 http://www.armoralleather.com/ did their usual fantastic job on the sheaths for these knives.

I love the look on these inlays. They are classy enough to wear any where, and tough enough to wear everywhere. Alligator, lizard, and snake.

I have one more  delivery to make tomorrow, and Christmas is officially over at the factory (thats the way it has felt lately). I might even take Christmas day off and go ride my horse or something. I'm sure he is feeling a little neglected lately.

Some knives

I finished these 2 today. The top is lacewood and mokume' handle on damascus, the bottom is black locust and stainless. It is a match to one I have shown in an earlier post and they are going to the same owner.

Ironwood, bois d'arc, and camel bone.
It's been a busy month!

WIP

Knives in various stages of handle installation. For these, I'm using Gorilla glue between the wood and steel, and 2 part epoxy between the wood and pins. I've tried every epoxy known, and the Gorilla has never failed me. A few of the others have. You just can't have any gaps between the wood and steel, but I really shouldn't have any way.

5 of a 10 knife order. Amboyna burl on 4, mesquite on the middle. These knives are 6" overall length, with a 2.5" cutting edge.

2 are 5160/8670/15n20 damascus, the middle is 1095/nickel.
I finished 2 more this afternoon, and should finish the other 3 tomorrow, unless something goes wrong. Then its off to the sheath maker.

Ready for a show

I got these back from Armoralleather. Dwayne did a heck of a job as usual.

The next is my personal favorite. I might make one for myself some day, right after the cobbler makes his kid some shoes.

This has a 3" damascus blade, 4" handle with paper micarta and stainless bolsters.

Around the ranch

It's been a hard luck week in the shop. Snapped the handle tang off a stainless steel damascus blade trying to drill pin holes in the handle. Drill bit binded just right and ruined what should have been a a pretty expensive knife. I quenched a kitchen knife this morning in oil, put it in the tempering oven, ran off and had a piece of pie with the neighbor, came back in 2 hours and the blade had a slight bow in it. Not enough to really hurt any thing but I wouldn't feel right about selling it. I guess Kim will get another for her kitchen.
Been getting ready for the knife show, here are 14, I have 13 more on the way from the sheath maker. When it is all together, I will get some good pictures to post.

These are some I took while riding and looking the other morning.

Military build

Cell phone picture that I had to send to the new owner, so I thought I would post it here as well.
This knife is 13 inches overall length, with an 8 inch cutting edge, and 1.5 inches wide. Brass guard and canvas micarta handle. I used 52100 for the steel.
 This knife is headed for Afghanistan, and I have been promised that I will be the first knife maker on my block with a confirmed kill.
 Ssg David Murphy, a heck of a knife maker from Conway Arkansas, has agreed to build the sheath for this one, as I have no idea what a soldier really needs. Private Nix and I are extremely grateful.

Knives for sale

These knives are made from W2 tool steel, with micarta handles. They have a 3 inch cutting edge, and are 7.5 inches overall. Both are flat ground and are razor sharp. The sheaths are custom made by http://www.armoralleather.com/ .
These knives sell for 165.00$ plus shipping. Email if interested.
I have lots of area cowboys using these every day, the horizontal sheath keeps them handy, but out of the way, and the W2 steel holds an edge, yet is easy to sharpen in the field.