I hope this turned out as good as it looks in real life . I can almost feel the heat in my pocket and the spines in his tale !
You can tell how truly small it is by the size of the oak table grain in background !
Thanks Gary your the man !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2014 11:53PM by kurt wag.

Very nice, it's a bit out if focus but I can imagine the real thing. I might need one of those in a future item



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2014 12:03AM by Sal.

Very nice detail to that piece.

Thanks for posting it Kurt,

Glad you like it. There is a lot of detail there. And, it's one of those carvings where - at different times, what is cut in the concave looks to your brain, like it's standing out. For instance - the hips of each leg. Hard to convince the mind that those are cut down into the steel and not standing proud of the steel.



Gary

Thanks for posting that Kurt. Great pic!

Thanks guys ! I should tell you that I'm not a dragon guy or any kinda medieval thing . It happened to be on the knife I loved and there's a great story behind ( pun intended) the dragon carving that Gary told me at the time of purchase . I hope he will share the story with all who read here. I have really used the heck outta that knife too and the lightweight aluminum body is great . I don't even know it's there till I need it! One other big thing about Gary's knifes that amaze me is that the special snoop rivets he uses are extremely durable and still really tight . I thought mixing aluminum and other metals it would wear out faster or oxidize some but besides being a little more dull than when new, it still has that new knife smell.

Hi Kurt,

Worn tonight. But thanks for asking. Here's the Thumbnail:

I should look up some info first. But ... This is a forge welded laminated steel blade. About 1981, I decided to make a torture test of different steels. Document it. Write it up. Submit it to the KNIVES 81 publication. They wanted it. Featured it. I think I had a knife on the cover that year too.

There were period torture tests that were well known then. Cutting segments of 1" Minila rope. I think I cut well over a hundred segments with the best blade. Maybe 150 or so. Have to look it up. Then you'd see how many times you could cut thru a 2by4 and still shave with the edge. I'm guessing but I have 16 in my mind. Then I cut aluminum flashing. Might have been others too.

I'd made one handle, and it had a socket area and machine bolt. The blades were as near alike as possible. They attached to the same handle - thus giving as near possible a chance of being fair to each blade. I did a forged blade of 1060 steel. I did a forge welded Damascus laminated plate blade, and a 1500 wire Damascus blade. Might have been a 4th.

Well - the 1500 wire blade won. I had had a small pc of the steel left. Marked. It moved here and there for 34 years. It was the end of the bar. They are usually not perfect. I kept it for sentiment sake.

Now - the Master Japanese Bladesmith's went thru quite some work to make a blade. These forge welded blades require quite a skill set. There are thousands of things that can go wrong. When a blade came up exhibiting a tiny cosmetic flaw - they would carve a small dragon or other of appropriate designs oner the flaw. If the flaw is deep - the blade is compromised - and scrapped. If it is shallow, as are most - then once carved out - it is gone. The Japanese have specific names for everything. These small carvings have their own term, which I forget. BTW - most readers probably do not know that I was awarded the title of "Master Bladesmith" in Oct 1983. I was the youngest man to be so honored at the time. At the New York Custom Knife Show - Debbie Harry (BLONDIE) presented the awards that year. Therefore; since - I've had that Ranking, and now am one of those who has had it the longest.

Now - I seldom keep a knife of mine. I get talked out of them. Usually, I can't afford to carry a the shop knife once it's value had been established by an offer. After I sell a knife I've carried - it worries me until I work back into another. Well, I like the model 97s very much. Can't afford one. But, this little section of questionable Damascus 1500 Wire worried me. I made a very plain sister version of the model 97. I used this steel. It did, indeed; prove to have a small cosmetic flaw. I decided to carve a dragon into the area. The flaw either fully came out or it would open up and reveal worse.

The steel came clean. Right at the last minute. The proof - etch the blade. IF there were still a cold shut (bad weld line) the acid would follow back under the layer and fester. You'd never get rid of it. The etch was clean. I also carried the knife for a couple of years. It never festered. The steel came clean and a very highly detailed dragon came to live there. Once I had the Studio partially set up, I wanted to carve. I carved the case. This became THE FIRST item which had been begun in Maryland's BPN and finished in Florida's BPS. I needed a term to denote these special projects. As I thought if the melding of work from the two shops, the word ALLOY came solidly to my mind. An alloy is the mixing of metals to achieve characteristics of each in a new complete "Alloy".

Of course - life played its games. Since I had a neat finished knife - it became obvious that it was now too good for me. Haha. I put it on the site. I had been showing its progress as a matter of interest that I had not lost all skills up time.

Kurt liked the knife. I told him its story, in a PM. Well - as one of those happy instances of stars colliding ... Kurt had worked, for several decades, at a huge metal fabrication plant called .... Are you ready? ..... ALLOY. He bought it - and evidently likes it. He's been quite kind, as a good friend, and purchased several items from BPS. It's been a big help. Thank you Kurt.

As you see - I woke up some after I started writing ... Haha.

Gary