Finished hand forged knife

[ZeroGravitas]

This was forged from a Mustang rear spring. I tried to echo classic mid-century American designs, which may or may not mix with the neo-primitive forge marks left on the blade and the pimped out sheath.

• 5160 blade
• 416 stainless guard
• Nickel silver and black fiber spacers
• Red coral and sambar stag handle
• 7075 aluminium butt
• Lizard skin inlay on the sheath

Thanks for looking.

[Cobar]

Looks good

[Darrell]

Verrrrrrrrry nice!

[Fivetoes]

That looks real sweet. I like the forge marks, they give it a nice touch.

[Timo]

Excellent, it must be very gratifying. I'm at this moment raising a bottle of cold Stella Artois , in your honor.

[308Mike]

Looks good - have you tested the hardness and how easy it is to sharpen/hold an edge?

[ZeroGravitas]

Thanks for the good words gents.
Mike, I rough tested it after I heat treated it - a file skipped across and wouldn't bite. The 5160 is great steel for the home smith; works nicely under the hammer, is forgiving during heat treat and 5160 blades are extremely resistant to breakage. It's not a Crucible uber-steel, but I couldn't forge or HT something that high-tech.

[Highspeed]

I like that a LOT.

The Nepalese bladesmiths use truck leafsprings for their khukri's and they make extremely durable knives.

What's next ? how about a tombstone handled bowie, with a buckskin sheath....

[Dub_James]

Nice job!

[Denis]

Mmm. Shiny!