"Rising Sun" Bowie

[ckluftinger]

Hi, all,
Here is a new project I just finished. I call it the "Rising Sun" - for obvious reasons - forged from 5160, differentially heat treated. 8 1/4 inch blade, 5 inch grip. The wood is a mosaic of walnut and purple heart, bordered by black and tan leather spacers. I heated the guard and pommel to this nice dark blue and quenched in water (is there a technical term for this practice?). Looks nicer than cold chemical blueing, I think. The rig is a two-piece holster-type sheath which is reversible for left-handed mounting. Hope you like it.
Thanks,
Chris

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[Doug Lester]

Absolutely fantastic package. I love the handle. The process for the patinization of the guard and pommel I believe is called heat blueing though the techniques can vary. I read one process where the steel pieces are heated in a container full of charcoal and then the container and everything was dumped in a bucket of water. However, I don't recall the exact temperature or time.

Doug Lester

[CJS Knives]

that is an awesome knife Chris! great job. i love the sheath idea.

[Frankallen]

Beautiful Work Chris!!! Love the handle!!

Frank

[huntforlife]

Chris that is awesome!

[ckluftinger]

Thank you, gentlemen. After looking at the picture I thought it might be nice to try and heat-blue the concho, too. Next time...
Thanks for the info, Doug. years ago, before I was married and had kids I used to collect hand guns. I had a little Savage 1903 semi automatic in need of some serious repair and re-blueing. I heated the frame and slide to about 250F and then dunked it in chemical blue. Worked better than just brushing the stuff onto the cold steel. It gave a nice deep blue like this knife, but no matter how much you oil it, chemical blue always seems to make the surface go dull. I used this technique on some guards for swords, and ended up warming the guard and brushing it with melted parafin. That gives a somewhat permanent luster when polished. However, the heat blueing method still works best for me so far. I'm really excited to have discovered this!