Looking for a Meat Cleaver

[General Zod]

The Bonechopper has successfully quenched. Tempering will begin as soon as its cool enough to touch.

 

[General Zod]

Fresh from the quench. The black finish is from the oil and hot steel. It would wear off if I tried to keep it (it's pretty uneven as it is) so I'll sand it back to a shiny finish.

 

[General Zod]

All cleaned up and ready this morning, before I fit the brass pieces. And you can see my greatest frustration, a double image on the touch mark. Dammit.

 

[Byrd666]

And you can see my greatest frustration, a double image on the touch mark. Dammit.

Just makes it worth that much more.

 

[glenbo]

What do you expect its finished weight to be?

 

[General Zod]

What do you expect its finished weight to be?

It's hefty. I'm gonna have to find a scale that'll measure more than 12 ounces. I think it's somewhere around a pound. The brass and wood will add some to that.

 

[deemus]

Don’t think I’ve posted mine, but here it is. It’s a beast, and sharp as a razor. It weighs 3lb 1oz.

Got it at a garage sale for $2 I think.

It was pretty rusty. I cleaned it up and wrapped the handle in paracord. I love this thing.

 

[Sasquatch]

 

[General Zod]

Okay. The current state of the Bonechopper:

The blade is under a protective layer of tape while I deal with handle fitting. The brass pieces are shaped and installed, and I did some grinding, sanding and cleanup tonight. Next step, the walnut handle scales.



Pictured here with the walnut blanks I'll be using:

 

[deemus]

Love the brass on there

 

[General Zod]

Love the brass on there

It's my first time using brass, and I'm pretty pleased with the whole process. So much easier to work than steel hardware.

 

[glenbo]

It's getting interesting now, close to the finish.

 

[General Zod]

It's getting interesting now, close to the finish.

A lot happening real quick. Tomorrow the handle scales, and Sunday it'll be sharpened. Maaaaaybe tomorrow, if the epoxy sets well and shaping the handle goes fast.

 

[LL_Spartan]

That looks great man! Keep up the good work!

 

[jrbfishn]

That is looking really nice. Nice work on the brass. And don't rush the scales. It won't take much to ruin the fit and look terrible. I found that out the hard way.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

 

[General Zod]

A little cleanup of the work bench before cutting the handle scales...this is all steel shavings and powdered brass from the grinder. The brass is as fine as talcum powder.

 

[no2gates]

That brass on the handle looks great ! Can't wait to see how it looks when the wood is in place.

 

[paknheat]

All your hard work is paying off. I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.

Also looking forward to seeing Hoji go all Leeroy Jenkins on a beastie with it too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[General Zod]

Ok. Handle fit-up was...interesting. The Bonechopper is still fighting me every step of the way. In my previous knives, parts fit-up went smoothly and I was able to dry-fit the bolsters and scales and pin them in place before grabbing the epoxy and everything went smoothly.

Well, my experience the other night fitting and epoxying the brass bolsters told me I'd be in for a challenge today. Parts that had gone together just fine for rough shaping suddenly didn't go together right for final fitting, and today was no exception.

So once I got the wood roughly cut and in place, I drilled the pin holes so they would line up perfectly when the scales are snugly between the brass guard and pommel pieces. The time came to dry fit and...

Nope. No good. The pins couldn't go through. I sanded the pins and...nope. They'd go through each scale and they'd go through the tang, but not through more than one at a time.

So I lost a couple of hours driving to town to buy 30 minute epoxy, because my usual 5 minute epoxy was going to guarantee a disaster.

When I got home, I cut the handle pins extra long and tapered one end like a sharpened pencil.

Then I mixed the epoxy and slathered it on, slid the handle scales in place and tapped the pins in like nails.

Here's where we are now.




Closeup on the tapered pins

 

[popsgarland]

Ok. Handle fit-up was...interesting. The Bonechopper is still fighting me every step of the way. In my previous knives, parts fit-up went smoothly and I was able to dry-fit the bolsters and scales and pin them in place before grabbing the epoxy and everything went smoothly.

Well, my experience the other night fitting and epoxying the brass bolsters told me I'd be in for a challenge today. Parts that had gone together just fine for rough shaping suddenly didn't go together right for final fitting, and today was no exception.

So once I got the wood roughly cut and in place, I drilled the pin holes so they would line up perfectly when the scales are snugly between the brass guard and pommel pieces. The time came to dry fit and...

Nope. No good. The pins couldn't go through. I sanded the pins and...nope. They'd go through each scale and they'd go through the tang, but not through more than one at a time.

So I lost a couple of hours driving to town to buy 30 minute epoxy, because my usual 5 minute epoxy was going to guarantee a disaster.

When I got home, I cut the handle pins extra long and tapered one end like a sharpened pencil.

Then I mixed the epoxy and slathered it on, slid the handle scales in place and tapped the pins in like nails.

Here's where we are now.

View attachment 413750

View attachment 413751
Closeup on the tapered pins

Looking good.