Indians For Guns

Started with an old file that I had of unknown steel. Its a standard metal file used by automotive shops to shape sheet steel. Sat with a local smithy and had him soften it and beat out the general shape and refined it on Carborundum universal sanding cloth at 80 and 120 grit.


After a lil handheld disc sander work


Working with the stone and sandpaper


Post shaping, grinding and HT. HT was as follows
1. Heated to nonmagnetic plus 2 minutes. This happened surprisingly fast. In 15 minutes it was glowing bright red so I tested it with a magnet and it slid off.
2. Quenched in fresh peanut oil for 90 Seconds after the flame went out. It flamed for maybe 4 seconds as I dipped and moved the blade around.
3. Let it cool until I could hold it in my hand.
4. Heated it until I got a dull glow again. Took another 3 mins and a few seconds.
5 Let it cool in its own time.
6. Hardness testing-
Tested with another file on the edge and it slid right off. Also I had banged the edge against a granite counter top to test hardness and to see if the edge chips or rolls before the HT. Edge rolled about a mm. I tried the same thing after HT and there was a little silvery edge roll but I had to look with a hand-lens to find it. And there is a small chip on the kitchen counter top I am hoping my wife doesn't notice




Dim: 7.5 Inches with 3.5 to 4 inch blade depending where UR measuring from. 4.5mm thick at the base of the grind tapering off towards the tip.
Inspirations
Spyderco Mules- For the blade shape and the proper FFG with the distal taper.
CRK Nyala, J. Neilsen BUK, Lon Humphrey Brut de Forge were my inspirations for the general shape of the knife.

Very nice work and good pics. I especially like thick spine and even taper to point and edge. Nicked countertop is a small price to pay--unless it's noticed at a bad time. Yours is similar to the Ontario rat 3 but beefier.

Awesome Vasu, did'nt know you would do this so quickly. Looks damn good. All this now needs is some nice scales and a sheath.

Great job.

Best
Moin.

Is this the same b'smith next door ? Did u not take any pics during the heat treat ?

Moin. wrote:Is this the same b'smith next door ? Did u not take any pics during the heat treat ?

Unfortunately no. This is the same smith. He sits on the side of the road outside this Steel Ball company on Saki Vihar Road maybe 300m from Sakinaka. After I met him however I have discovered plenty of small metalwork shops that are willing to work on small stuff like this. This bloke argued the crap out of me before I managed to get him to do it as I wanted. He was claiming it was enough to quench in oil once and not temper this steel. He says he only tempers water quenched carbon steels and so on and so forth.

halftrack wrote:Very nice work and good pics. I especially like thick spine and even taper to point and edge. Nicked countertop is a small price to pay--unless it's noticed at a bad time. Yours is similar to the Ontario rat 3 but beefier.

Thank you halftrack.
I actually wasn't even thinking about the Rat-3 when I designed it but I guess that goes to show exactly how difficult it is to get a truly original knife design

thats a beautifull piece of work,how much did you spend on it,do you have any motives of mass production i might be intrested in buying one.

doctor wrote:thats a beautifull piece of work,how much did you spend on it,do you have any motives of mass production i might be intrested in buying one.

Hey doc, hows it going?
If I had any motives for mass production I wouldn't be telling you my costs now would I?
The steel I got from the b'smith for about Rs.100/- along with the annealing and shaping.
I spent near Rs.500 so far on sandpaper, stones, brass rod etc and the use of another metalwork shop's power tools.
I expect to spend about another Rs. 250/- in total for the handle and Sheath.

I'm also planning 3 more knives I have designs for. I am trying to get hold of any of the following. 1084,1095 and 5160 because these will be bigger. And better planned. I have found a shop that lets me use their tools for a small fee and will do HT to my specs. Moin, I will do proper WIP with pics and progress then

Raghavachari, awesome man!! This smith is between Saki Naka and L&T, isn't it? You have actually inspired me to take the rather painful drive! I was thinking of having a small 3-4" SD blade made. Something known as a "shiv", I believe.

Why don't we try to do a meetup and "smith tour", like the photo tours? 3-4 of us go to some of these smithies? Maybe get a bulk discount, what say guys???

essdee1972 wrote:Raghavachari, awesome man!! This smith is between Saki Naka and L&T, isn't it? You have actually inspired me to take the rather painful drive! I was thinking of having a small 3-4" SD blade made. Something known as a "shiv", I believe.

Why don't we try to do a meetup and "smith tour", like the photo tours? 3-4 of us go to some of these smithies? Maybe get a bulk discount, what say guys???

Sounds good to me
Lets organise it.

Oops. Didn't mean to knock the originality of your design. Blade weight and tang length are very useful on yours--definitely not rat 3. Envy you guys and your smithy tour. Do they set up at the same spot most every day? How do they procure materials, or does the customer supply his own? Anyway I bet you have access to some neat scales.

halftrack wrote:Oops. Didn't mean to knock the originality of your design. Blade weight and tang length are very useful on yours--definitely not rat 3. Envy you guys and your smithy tour. Do they set up at the same spot most every day? How do they procure materials, or does the customer supply his own? Anyway I bet you have access to some neat scales.

I didn't see it as a knock, its cool. I wasn't trying to be all original.
I made it for the kitchen. My wife is uncomfortable with the full sized chef knives I am partial to so I am making this for her (apparently) .
Yes the smiths set up at the same spot. Some of em have lil shops on Andheri Kurla Road. The materials depends on you. They will supply a limited set like files and old leaf spring. You can bring them better materials if you want but be prepared to put in the time and supervision so the treat the stuff right.
I don's have access to much but I am seriously considering making my own micarta.

OMFG its a bloody b****h to grind after HT........................