Rainy Weekend

[Cajun]

With a rainy weekend I went by Mike the Knife’s shop to get him to show me how he forged a finger guard on his knives. You forge the handle first before you forge the blade. He used a torch to temper the blade before he did the heat treatment in his oven. We will put the handle on next week n finish grinding the blade.







Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WayOutWest]

I like to see it, I used to forge all mine but been doing stock removal for a number of years. I need to start swinging a hammer again.

[The Old Man]

That finger guard he puts on them is as neat as I have ever seen, just hammer it in "if ya do it just right" then clean it up. Really nice.

[WayOutWest]

I sure would like to see a picture of the finished product!

[Cajun]

WOW, we will probably finish it this weekend. I said we but Mike beat out this knife himself, just to show me how to do the forged in guard.

[WayOutWest]

Excellent,  thank you! I belong to a FB group, Bladesmithing for Beginners with something like 140,000 members of all different skill levels and I have not seen anyone doing what he is doing. Much respect to Mike!

[The Old Man]

That's Mike The Knife's trademark, he should have patented it.

[Cajun]

Actually that forged in guard has been around quite a while but not many knife makers want to go to the extra trouble of hammering one in. I think it does add a extra touch and is very comfortable to the hand.

[WayOutWest]

Cajun, I found a guy named Joe Keeslar who many are crediting with this style of guard. He is pretty well thought of and has u tube videos on it. He is out of Mississippi. 

[Cajun]

Yes, It has been around for awhile. I borrowed a book from Mike a couple of years ago that had been in print for awhile and they discussed the forged in guard in depth. I forgot who authored it.