We were honored to have Harvey Dean and his wife Deborah and son Dillon visit our shop last weekend. JW and Harvey each made a billet of damascus sandwiched between stainless. I enjoyed watching them. They took turns working on their billets. Lifelong friends developed thru knifemaking are the greatest reward.
Spring KNIFEMAKING ClassES by JW Randall
The Damascus class is for building a strong foundation in patterning damascus. Students will learn many different face patterns. We will be forge welding and drawing under the 30 ton hydraulic press. Every student will be hands on and will produce 2 billets to take home. I am taking five students for this class. The dates are March 30 - April 1. There is only one spot left in the damascus class. You can contact me at 318/426-4007 for more details.
The Into class will start the day with hands on forging. I will take the knife that I forge over the next two and a half days to completion. I will cover types of steel, heat treat and tempering, grinding, hand sanding, design, guards, fittings, handles, pinning techniques and stenciling your name. The knife will go into a drawing and one of the five students will go home with it. The cost of the class is $800/man. I currently have three students enrolled with two spots available. The class is April 27 - April 29. You can contact me at 318/426-4007 for more details.
Damascus Spurs
I just finished this pair of spurs for my sweetheart for Valentine's Day. 38 layers of twist Damascus forged from a single piece. 416 stainless steel fittings, pins, and 10 point rowels. I will say this and leave it alone I am stacking some serious hunting points for the 2017 season LOL Happy Valentine's Day sweetheart and I'm early unbelievable!
30 Ton Hydraulic Forging Press
I just finished building 2 30 ton hydraulic forging presses for Knifemakers. These are based on a design I built 18 years ago. The machine is a brute and will enhance any knife shop. It has a 5" bore and 8" stroke with a 22 GPM gear pump for a fast cycle time, the motor is a 5 h.p Leeson with a heavy duty control valve and a 12 gallon oil tank and micro filtered system. The machine has a positive lock system for die plates spring loaded bottom and gravity top lock. I've been using mine for 18 years and just recently replaced the control valve which is the first thing I've done to it in that time frame. And I have made literally thousands of pounds of steel under it. You can contact me at 318/426-4007 if you are interested in ordering a press. Thanks for looking, JW
Texas Toothpick Ready for ICCE in Kansas City
Here's a photo of a Texas toothpick slip joint I just finished. This will be one of the knives I have for sale in Kansas City at the ICCE Show in late Sept. I would like to give a big shout out to my great friends Harvey Dean, Wes Davis, and Bill Ruple, thank you for your friendship, your help and your inspiration on slip joints. Also I thank my wife for her photographic skills. This knife is all damascus integral bolsters in raindrop pattern with mammoth ivory scales and domed stainless pins. Closed length is 4 15/16".
Below is a ladder patterned damascus drop point hunter, stainless file worked false frame, file worked spacer, heat colored stainless guard and exterior ram horn scales.
An Action Packed 3 Days of Knifemaking
I just finished a 3 day basic Knifemaking class at my shop. We had a day of hands on forging and we took the knife I forged and took it to completion. We had extensive training on proper heat treat techniques and how to draw the knife back. On this knife we edge hardened the 5160 drop point hunter blade and had a nice line on the cutting edge. Even though the knife wasn't fully hardened we went through differential heat treat techniques. I demonstrated fracturing a bar of high carbon steel which I enlarged grain and then by thermo cycling showed how to refine the grain in the same bar. I went over design and proper symmetry and we discussed types of handles and design. I taught them how to mill the shoulder to guard fit and press fit guards. I chose to make a mortise tang scale handle that was dovetailed out of mesquite burl. I taught them how to hand sand and how to mechanically pin correctly. They were also instructed how to set up an edge and sharpen correctly. I tested the blade by cutting a 1 1/2" block of Osage cross grain and it had no change to cutting edge and shaved hair effortlessly. This was a first for these 3 guys to see what a handmade knife with proper heat treat and edge geometry can do. This was an enjoyable class for me and I had 3 great guys to work with, it was a great 3 days of fellowship. I picked a number 1-100 and had them to as well and the guy closest to mine went home with the knife. It was an action packed 3 days and went by fast. I'm looking forward to the Damascus class in August.
