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Bagman

40 Cal.
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Made this out of old buzz saw blade mystery steel. It spark tested well and I was able to anneal it. I nomalized the blade, hardened...and tempered it. The finished blade seemed to work like modern 1075. Terry Briggs had some scrap American walnut. I had Roy Stroh run it thru his antique Walker Turner band saw. I stole a can of Jim Chambers traditional oil stock finish for the scales.

Knife is 9.25" overall with a 4.25 inch blade. The thickness is a eighth of an inch.




Still cleaning some things up. But, I really wanted to post a pic of the Chambers 1st coat finish on walnut. 2 more coats to go after sanding. It ought to really pop!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Striker also said..

However, "it's certainly within reason that they would have needed trade goods," he said. "There's a very, very solid record placing this knife in the hands of folks we know existed."
 
I'm going to make an educated guess and say that the blade on the original is subtly different from either either bagman's knife or the one on ToW - that the top edge is a bit more rounded over without a false edge, kind of shaped like a banana, and that there is no ricasso (though it may have a bit of a bump there from sharpening wear).

Someone dig up a picture of the original and see if I am right.
 
I think we need to discuss the Harper Ferry knives purchased for the expedition....versus - was the Clatsop one forged on site.

I'm recalling they had a blacksmith on the journey.
 
Bagman said:
Striker also said..

However, "it's certainly within reason that they would have needed trade goods," he said. "There's a very, very solid record placing this knife in the hands of folks we know existed."
Click to expand...
The writer appears to be making an assumption that isn't backed by evidence.
Trade knives existed - yes.
The people existed - yes.
We know they had/used trade knives - yes
This particular style - Maybe.

I'd be curious to see the "very, very solid record". My personal experience with newspaper writers is that they never let the truth stand in the way of a story....
 
Ken Karsmizki, an archeologist digging for evidence of the Corps' winter fort at the memorial, had noticed the knife and asked permission to study it, he said. Officials removed the knife from display and placed it in the archives until it could be tested.

The testing was never done.
 
Bagman said:
I think we need to discuss the Harper Ferry knives purchased for the expedition....versus - was the Clatsop one forged on site.

I'm recalling they had a blacksmith on the journey.
Click to expand...

IIRC, there is a record of them forging knives along the way.

I am looking at the one posted here and the one ToW sells and thinking about a situation where, hypothetically, someone who has spent a lot more time looking at modern knives instead of old hand-forged ones looks at a small or slightly fuzzy photo of an original "American Primitive" knife and doesn't quite understand what he is looking at, then makes a loose interpretation based on modern aesthetics. One might hypothetically, go from a very typical old hand-forged profile into something superficially similar but quite different in certain important respects....

Just knowing how whoever manufactures those knives for ToW distorts the designs of other knives allows me to make a guess at what the original looked like.
 
Back to the scale finish....almost off topic at this point. :hmm:

One coat is enough. It leaves the knife "grippy". Anything more would make it slick when wet or bloody.
 
Great work on both the blade and handle! Hard to beat Chambers finish. I don't think more coats will make it more slippery. GW
 
Besides being a beggar and a thief :shocked2: :wink: ye are pretty good at knife building. :thumbsup:
Authentic? I'll let others argue about that.
I have a recent made copy of an L&C tomahawk. But, the story (got that? "story") is this style was contracted for the expedition but not completed on time and they never went west. I dunno. :idunno: But it's a neat story.
 
Post pics... :thumbsup:

I'd love to see a 1803 Harpers Ferry knife as contracted by the expedition. Lots of references but so far can't find a surviving example.

Sometimes we just get the story...and no artifact.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wes/Tex said:
Lot of mystery with this one. Some sources claim Harpers Ferry made knives for corps members and others say it was 288 knives to give as gifts tot he native population they encountered. The museum there says these are examples of what was made in tomahawks and knives for eh corps....a fine example of the difference between "a knife" and "the knife"!

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.c.../48aaf73c463c8cf74e9aa357c6cd3b9b.jpg[/quote]

WesTex,

Though there does seem to be documentation that Harpers Ferry made the tomahawks and could have made the knives, I seriously doubt they would have made the knives with only around 25 workers in the Armory at that time and who had more important work.

Is that a guard or spacer between the blade and handle in your photo? I also wonder if that was a "stick" tang or was it full tang?

Neat photo and thanks for posting it.

Gus
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:

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