Charlton Damascus Knives

[ZeroGravitas]

...speaking of knives that I wouldn't use but admire, this skinner is more sculpture than cutter.

Diving Falcon by Valentin Baretta


*borrowed from the knifemaking forum on AccurateReloading.

[D5CAV]

I picked up a couple of Charlton knives from Rob Carlton at the last ELGS in VA.

A Capstick African
http://www.damascususa.com/knife_pics/v6.html

and a USMC Fighting knife
http://www.damascususa.com/knife_pics/v1.html

Mine look like the ones in the pictures, with the giraffe bone handles. He told me he hardens them to Rc 52 or so. He says the blades need more stropping and dressing than they need sharpening. He claims most people oversharpen the blades when they really just need dressing.

I was looking for a Randall style knife like ZeroG had, but he didn't have any finished ones on his table.

[ZeroGravitas]

That Capstick is about perfect with those clean Loveless style lines; elegant, useful...all good. Congrats!

I don't have the hardness test file kit but standard Nicholson files kinda skipped across the metal, and drill bits got nowhere. Some work-in-progress on the first one. Guard: 416 SS. Handle: claro walnut (nice leftover from a big blank) and vulcan/nickel silver spacers. Pommel: 7075 aircraft aluminium. Nearly done, need to epoxy the pommel and hidden nut, saw off the hidden nut and rod flush and polish the butt.

[gandalf23]

ZeroGravitas,

Nice knife!

One question, and this may be dumb, but...did you thread the end of the tang for the nut, or weld or something a bolt back there for the hidden nut?

Thanks! Again, veryvery nice looking knife there!

[ZeroGravitas]

I cut a notch in the tang, then welded threaded rod into the notch and cleaned up the weld on the grinding wheel. I thought about tapping the notch for the rod, but the metal was wayyy too hard.

thanks, BTW.

Finished pics in this topic:
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=7693

[SeekHer]

Pictures of a new Ariel Salaverria from Argentina Nessmuk knife...San Mai steel with stag scales and copper/bronze mokume bolster and bead...$199 base and $60 for the mokume -- being delivered after two years -- not mine but photos are close...




Blade Detail

He's stopped taking orders for this year to catch up on his backlog...

He's making a Damascus salad serving set of large spoon and blunted fork and a meat serving fork with some dense, local, hardwood handle matching all three pieces for an anniversary present for my wife...



Damascus Spoon

Rubin Calo, also of Argentina, is making me a set of wedding bands in titanium that looks like mokume with swirls of red, grey, blue worked into it...$110 the pair for one of my 20th anniversary presents (Apr. 2010) to my wife with the above salad set/server...

[Combat Controller]

Busted.
My steel knowledge is 2" deep and 20 years out of date. I asked my brother about one of those "number steels" last week while trying to figure out which blade to make into a project knife. His response sounded like advertizing fluff; "they're really hard and make excellent knives"

If Charleton's ready made knives are $200ish, then what the heck - GO FOR IT- The blade blanks I bought from him were $95 each...and the ugly knife guys at http://www.scrapyardknives.com make $200 knives.

The knife I use (abuse) to open cans, scrape dried grass out out of the lawnmower, and other non-cutting tasks is 440 stainless with a 'chute cord handle. I can lose it or break it, and I sharpen it with a file. So maybe my definition of working is bogus.

Here's the "number steel" blank that got my attention to waver from Charleton's stuff . I had to look again to see about the number: CM154

http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/product_i ... ts_id=1235

That Busse guy with his INFI steel actually is cryogenically treating a high chromium custom steel. That is why no one is able to really duplicate it.

Us cryo guys are a small group, we know what each other is up to. Cryo does wonderful things for blades.