IWG week 14 & 15 - Knife forging

Skipping few weeks between, but I wanted to post this Knife making weeks so here you go!

As for wilderness guide and all the traditional woods craft enthusiasts, you really should know well about a knife as a tool. To learn about it, what would be the better way than to make one all by by yourself from scratch? It give you very intimate understanding on what makes a Knife and at same time, you get to learn metal, wood and leather craft basics.

Because of this reason (... or I am guessing that it is...) we have had forging a basic knife week at school.

we have started off with basic theory lessons of what involves in knife making. then design one. I have had very clear Idea of what I can do in time and what I wish to make. It is a small version of IWG leuku. the idea of it is to test new ideas and solution of the IWG leuku design. also I wanted smaller more agile knife.

Forging and grinding completed.

Not many new things on overall process, but I got to see and learn details which makes the forging process easier and better. This was very beneficial for me as I never had anyone taught me of how to forge anything.

About the forging process, one difference I have noticed was the use of water. The one I have experienced on this week was what I could call a "dry forging". basically, throughout the forging, there was absence of water around. My usual forging method uses water for cooling tang to descaling of work. but at this class, there was not even tang cooling. Perhaps it was just because the facility did not have the availability of water, but got me bit interested in.


basically, I was the only person with some blacksmith experience but on the end of the week, every one has got some usable knife. Some went  after the traditional, some went wild with imagination and all are great looking knives.

however, here is what I came up on the end.

I will call this a "IWG Puukko" as contrast to my other one "IWG Leuku"

It is same design but shorter and the blade shape is much closer to puukko.







Blade length :8cm
blade thickness: little less than 4mm
diamond profile with scandi flat / convex hybrid.
Wood: Rowan

Here are the 2 knives next to each others. I have also changed the blade shape a bit. much closer to Puukko because I wanted it to have more pointy tip. 

The cutting edge line is continuous curve, this was a idea I got from Mors Kochanski's knife.

Here I am trying out different method of knot on making loop. One I used on leuku looked nice and smart, but was not strong enough. So far, this seems to be doing well.

Here is other experimental change I have added on the sheath. left is from Leuku and the Right one is of Puukko.
Notice the puukko's sheath has thickened edge. This was intentionally made, so can use finger to push the sheath. like thumb push on some of kydex sheath.
I have noticed that when the handle or the sheath is wet, time to time the leather sticks to handle causing difficulty of releasing knife. It is not much of a issue because if using 2 hands, then it comes out. but I found that quite annoying, so this is the solution for it.

裏山ブッシュクラフト - #15 ナイフ研ぎ (#15 Knife Sharpening)

年末、家の掃除も大切ですが、ナイフのお手入れも忘れずに！
ということで、今回はナイフ研ぎの紹介です。

通常はポケット砥石などで手早く切れ味を回復しているので、何度も繰り返しているうちにベベルの平面がダレてきてしまいます。そこでたまには本格的に砥石を使ってピシッと研ぎなおしてあげる必要があります。

研いだナイフは愛用のナイフ。ベベルはスカンジ・グラインドと呼ばれる小刃無しのフラットグラインド。このタイプは研ぎ角を保持しやすいので、砥石での経験が無くても比較的簡単に研ぎだせると思います。

砥石は３種類、粗砥、中砥、仕上げ。これに革砥を最後に使って仕上げました。
通常は中砥（約＃１０００～と、仕上＃６０００前後）があれば十分だと思いますが、今回はダレたベベルの平面だしを行いましたのでダイヤ粗砥＃６００から始めてます。

砥石が無い場合は耐水の紙やすりを利用するのも良いと思います。自作の器具に紙やすりを固定し、それを砥石と同じように使うことで良い平面にとぎだせます。


In Japan, there is a tradition of doing serious cleaning around the house on the end of the year. This is meant to clean up all the "mess" of passing year and start the new year, clean and fresh.

this also applies to the tools you use, my/our case would be a knife. so, I will be showing how I harp my knife to restore its sharpness to proper condition.

I usually use pocket sharpener for quick sharpening. it is good and effective for restoring the needed sharpness. but this often causes dulling of bevel / edge geometry, which affects to performance of knife's cutting capability. Sharpening knife with sharpening stone, I think is the best way to fix this type of issue and should be done periodically.

the case this time is to restore scandi flat bevel. so before start the actual sharpening I need to flatten the bevel with coarse stone. then move on to middle coarse then to finishing.
I use diamond sharpening block for coarse and using #600 grid. it is coarse but still fine enough so no need to spend too much time on clearing the scratch marks it makes.

If you do not have a sharpening stone, you can make one with plywood, grass plate and sand paper. it is easy to make and effective as sharpening stone.

自作シャープニング・ブロック（砥石） / DIY sharpening block.

 


ではビデオをお楽しみください！
OK, hope you enjoy the video!

裏山ブッシュクラフト-#14スプーンナイフ (#14 Spoon knife)

　ククサやスプーンを作る時に必要になるナイフ、スプーンナイフの自作です。ベントナイフとかクルックナイフとも呼ばれますが、インディアン式のクルックナイフと混同しないようにここではスプーンナイフと呼んでます。覚えやすいですしｗ

　スプーンナイフの形状についてですが、べベルはノミなどと同じ方刃、ベベルのつく方向は２種類。ブレードの曲がりの内側につく物（今回作った物）と外側につく物とあります。違いは内側ベベルの方が削りやすいと思います。外ベベルの方が使いやすいという人もいますが、私の使った感想では、内ベベルの方が確実にスムーズに切れているように感じます。

　最後に、刃をつける方向ですが、このナイフは基本的に引いて切る使い方をします。右利きか左利きかによって刃をつける方向が変わりますので、作るときには気おつけてください。


The knife you will need when making kuksa, spoons and so on. It is also called bent knife, crook knife and so on, but to avoid mixing up with crooked knife of Canadian natives, I am calling it a "Spoon knife" here.

There are 2 different ways of putting bevel on this knife.
One is to make bevel inside of curved blade and other one is on out side. In my opinion, the biggest difference would be the cutting capability. bevel inside of curve makes much smoother cut than other. of cause some prefer the bevel to be out side so that would be yours to try out to see. however, ether case, chisel grind is common and recommended.

One thing you need to pay attention when making this knife is which side (left or right) to put bevel on. right handed or left handed will determine this difference and this knife is commonly used with pull cut. So keep that in mind.

ではビデオにて作っている様子をどうぞ！
OK, here is the video, and hope you like it!

裏山ブッシュクラフト-#13プーッコ (#13Puukko) Part 2

今回は前回作ったブレードに白樺の樹皮を使ったナイフハンドルを作ります。

プーッコのハンドルに白樺の樹皮を使った技法はとても一般的で、濡れ手も滑らない、腐りに強い、湿気に強い、寒くても冷たくならないなどさまざまな利点があります。ただ、樹皮だけでハンドルをつくる場合、ワッシャー状にした物を積み重ねる方法以外ありませんのでハンドルの形にはある程度の制限がかかりますので、あまり複雑な形のハンドルを作るには向かないかと思います。


作り方＞
基本的にレザーワッシャを使う場合と違いは有りませんが、しっかりと圧縮する事、樹皮の繊維の方向を確認して積むことが重要になってきます。また、接着剤を使う方法もありますが、接着剤の硬化時間との戦いになり、最終的にしっかりと圧縮できない可能性が高くなります。伝統的な方法と同じく、しっかりと圧縮した方がより確実にハンドルを作ることが出来ると思います。





This time is making of birch bark handle on the blade made last time.

using birch bark on Puukko handle is very common and there are few advantages using this material. does not get slippy when wet, does not rotten/moist does not damage, does not get cold in freezing temperature and so on. How ever there is also a disadvantage. When using birch bark "stacking" is pretty much the only option. this can limit the possibility of handle shape you can come up with. If making complicated shape or very long, it might not work as well as other one piece material.

Making:
Basically same method as using leather washer, but after stacking, it needs to be compressed quite a bit.
Some people may use some glue when stacking, but I find it that using glue will becomes the battle against setting time of glue. even I managed to stack all in time, I might not have time for compressing it properly. So the traditional "No glue method" is the sure way and the result is as good as with glue or better.



材料 - Materials＞

ボルスターとポンメル（エンドプレート） - Bolster and end plate.

コッパー管　（外直径3cm程）　- Copper

ハンドル材 - Handle material

白樺樹皮1mm～２mm厚 - Birch bark 1-2mm thickness.

道具 - Tools＞

金ノコ、各種金属ヤスリ、ハサミ、丸頭ハンマー、木片ｘ２
Hacksaw, few metal files, scissors, ball peen hammer, small wooden bricks.

万力もしくはクランプ、樹皮圧縮用クランプ（自作）
some vise or/and clamp

パンチ（レザークラフト用の物で十分です）
Hole punch (one used for Leather craft is good enough)

各種紙やすり（＃８０から＃１２００までの物を各種）
Several sandpapers. (#80 to # 1200)

では作業の様子はビデオの方で！
OK, here you go the video of handle making . hope you enjoy!

裏山ブッシュクラフト-#13プーッコ (#13Puukko) Part 1

今回は、ブッシュクラフト道具中で最も使われるナイフ関してです。さまざまなナイフがブッシュクラフトでは使われますが、フィンランドの伝統的なナイフ「プーッコ」を例に取り上げてみました。プーッコが出来る過程を見ることにより、ナイフという道具への理解が深まればと思います。

プーッコ作りの全工程を10分前後で紹介するのは難しいので、3回に分けてのアップとなります。
Part1　鍛造から熱処理まで。
Part2　白樺樹皮の柄を作る。
Part3　シースつくりと仕上げ。
になり、内容はそれぞれハウツーというよりも工程の紹介となります。


This time is about the most important bushcrafting tool "Knife". There are all kinds of knives used for bushcrafting but I have picked Finnish Puukko as an example to show how it's made. Hopefully this will give you some more understanding of its contractions and better understandings of knives.

It is very difficult to show all the process in about 10 min video, so I have divided in 3 parts.
Part1 Forging and heat treating.
Part2 Making birch bark handle
Part3 Sheath making.
the contents are not "How To" but more of introduction of process. but it might give you some idea of what involves.