My Bowie Knives (Lots of Pics!)

[Davey]

Howdy pardner, it's Talk Like A Cowboy Day!* Yeehaw!

Yeah, I know I've been working at many different projects for a long time, the bolt pistol, my rifle (the improved AR-15), and my other knife, an improved Fairbairn-Sykes, but I haven't had the time or the money or the tools to do any of the work on them. I'm still pulling that together bit by bit.

In the meantime though, I've been passing some of the time by drawing up other prints, designs, renders, and concept art for different knives and practicing on NX, hopefully some skills that'll benefit me as a technologist or a technician out in a work environment. Lately I've been very interested in making Bowie knives or large cutters. I like the appeal of big knives and I own a couple myself.

I'm uploading and posting some for your enjoyment and also for some feedback.

The first one of my designs is the Alamo Bowie. The Alamo is among some of the smaller designs I've made, with an 11.5" blade and being 16" overall, from the end of the pommel rivet to the tip of the blade and weighing in at a very hefty 1.76 pounds. More information after the renderings below...











I'm a big fan of some of Cold Steel's Production knives. I have a Cold Steel San Mai Trail Master Bowie with a 9.5" blade, and I love it because of its simple no-frills elegance, it's very easy to wash and maintain. On the other hand I've seen some of their other bowies, namely the Laredo and Natchez Bowies and I haven't been as impressed as I was with the Trail Master, the reason being is that the Laredo and Natchez both have cable tangs, wheras the Trail Master has a full tang.

Cold Steel says that the cable tang is there for reducing the perceived shock that results from striking unyielding objects with the blade, because a cable tang is slightly more expensive to produce than a full tang but as a whole I don't really like cable tangs, the reason being is that if the nut ever loosens, or the wood or the plastic of the handle begins to creep, the lack of tension will cause the knife to weaken significantly.

To solve this problem, I set out to redesign the Natchez Bowie to my own specifications, which included a solid 3/4" x 5/16" tang that went straight through the handle furniture and would be peened in place. This also had the effect of eliminating the need for me to force or shrink-fit pins into the handle scales like I did with the earlier iterations of my Improved Fairbairn-Skyes fighting knife. The blade profile is very similar, but the rest of the knife is not. Like the Trailmaster, the Alamo has a convex grind. I'm constantly re-working that to find a better combination of edge support, sharpenability, and ease of manufacturing, but these renderings should be adequate for now.

All of these dimensions are parametric, no solid models were used in the creation of this knife.



For the blade material, I specified AISI 5160 carbon steel that I want to be refined via vacuum arc remelting for additional strength, the crossguard, two of the four spacers, and the pommel is to be made of 6061 Aluminum in T6 temper, which will be cast in expendable plaster molds, then hand-filed to fit and hand polished afterward. The other two of the spacers and the grip itself are to be made of a linen-impregnated West System LM-105 thermosetting resin composite that I'll be making myself that should be similar to Norplex Micarta, which is fairly strong, dimensionally stable, and it looks good. After quenching in oil, the blade is specified to be double-tempered at 350 degrees centigrade. Expected hardness of the spine is to be around 40-45 Hardness Rockwell C, and the edge around 59-62 Hardness Rockwell C for a good combination of strength and edge support. The differential tempering and the broad blade should give it plenty of flex, as well as plenty of strength when it comes to cutting force.

During a FEA Simulation, the blade was shown to stand up to a force of nine Kilonewtons concentrated on its 'sweet spot' before the yield strength of the material (I used the figure of AISI 5160 OQT 700 for yield strength, which should be close to what I've specified) was reached, with the handle fixed in place. I decided to slap a nice big fat safety factor of two on it and call it four and a half kilonewtons, so it looks like the blade itself should be pretty good in terms of durability!

Here is what the tentative engineering drawing looks like:


The grips of the blade I designed myself, using complex surfacing in NX. I spaced the grooves for the fingers very generously for the use of saber grip, but I didn't make them too deep, so it would be easier for the user to switch to a saber grip or a reverse grip if need be. The handle also features a pommel with a small horn on the end, for style and also to use the off-hand to pull the knife out of something in case in case of the blade sticking.

I've got a few designs and I'll keep updating. In the meantime though, saddle up, and let me hear your Yeehaw!

*Fine Print: Actual day may not really exist or be entirely made up. Please note that the original poster of this message considers every day to be Talk Like A Cowboy Day.



ETA: And argh, oops, I meant to post this in AMP. My mistake.
ETA2: Updated some pictures with a later revision.
Edited again to make everything thumbnails.

[Edi]

*mutters incantation*

Now it's in its proper place...

[Zixinus]

Why carbon steel?

Looks like a solid knife.

[Davey]

Thanks Edi.

Why carbon steel?

Looks like a solid knife.

Thank you!

I picked 5160 carbon steel rather than stainless this time because I felt that the carbon steel might be a little easier to forge and the ferretic stainless steels aren't as tough and elastic as the carbon steels are. I figured that since this blade is going to see a lot of heavy contact use I wanted something that would be tougher and springier. Hmm... doing a 440 stainless steel version of it does sound like a pretty good idea, for the added beauty and reduced maintenance.

[Zixinus]

If this is a custom work, I'd say skip on 440c and go straight for something like VG10 (or even one of the AUS steels) or one of the Böhler N65 or so steels. From what I've read, these stainless steels are more expensive but are better than carbon steels (plus, you have less of a rust problem).

Of course, in the end I would consult with the smith/knifemaker. It is better to get a very-well heat-treated but cheaper steel than to get an expensive one that the knifemaker has little experience with.

Not sure I got, but: how do you plan to secure the handle to the tang again?

[Davey]

If this is a custom work, I'd say skip on 440c and go straight for something like VG10 (or even one of the AUS steels) or one of the Böhler N65 or so steels. From what I've read, these stainless steels are more expensive but are better than carbon steels (plus, you have less of a rust problem).

Of course, in the end I would consult with the smith/knifemaker. It is better to get a very-well heat-treated but cheaper steel than to get an expensive one that the knifemaker has little experience with.

VG-10's supposed to be a sweet steel, no doubt about it! I've been hard pressed to find a source for it though, I think the only place that carries it is in Japan. Something like CPM S30V would be a good bet too, if I could find a way to sinter the powder. (argh!) I'm probably going to be trying to make this here at home, so I might have to start low, because I don't have much experience with practical hands-on stuff.

I still need to find a propane regulator for my forge project, although I bought some proper firebrick and a bucket of furnace cement the other day and I'll start assembling the rest of it when I get the rest of the gas parts. In order to do the heat treatment, I'll probably have to send the roughly forged blades to a company in Mississauga and pay them to do that part, because due to insurance, we're not allowed to use the school's kilns and I don't have any way of precisely measuring the temperature with just a colour chart at night time.

Not sure I got, but: how do you plan to secure the handle to the tang again?

No worries, I'll try to explain the best I can:

In order to secure the blade to the handle, the tang is made as just a single long rectangular bar, without the little 'mushroom' end on it. The metal furniture and the spacers are fitted on after casting using expendable plaster molds (they'll need to be hand-filed to fit, as the holes are going to be cast undersized), placed in a vise to secure them, and then the peen is mushroomed. In order to do this I'm going to make a riveting block using a ball-nosed endmill. To put the grips on, the linen is then soaked in activated West System LM-105 thermosetting resin, wrapped tightly around the handle, made oversize, then placed in a vise and compressed on four of six sides to force the furniture to expand to fit the blade.

As the resin hardens, the pressure of the vise will force it to shrink tightly onto the tang, eliminating any play or air bubbles. After that's done, I'll file away the excess material and polish it up. It's going to be a fairly messy process because the resin is fairly runny before it sets up, so I'll probably need a lot of work with the file or using a burr and a dremel to remove all of the resin, which will also soak into any gaps and undercuts between the metal furniture and the tang and fill them quite nicely. Then all that's needed for me to do is file the finger grooves. It could take me a while. The other approach would be to take a 3/4"x5/16" rod ground slightly undersized and carefully form the handle on that by covering it with grease first, using it as a form, slip it off once the plastic dries, then fit it onto the handle and form the peen immediately. I've decided I'll probably experiment a bit to see what works best when the time comes and when I have the resin.





In the meantime, I also have another design to share. This one is one of the largest knives I've ever designed and I designed it from the ground up to be one for the biggest, heaviest cuts. This monstrosity I call the South Texas Stampede Giant Bowie Knife, with a massive 15" blade, over 20" from tip to butt-end.







Unlike the Alamo, the blade features a recurve profile, much like a Khukri. It's designed so that as it's swung, as it connects on the neck of the blade the action of the cut draws what you are cutting against the curve, or the 'belly' of the blade, making for stronger cutting action and presenting more of the edge to the object being cut.

The South Texas Stampede weighs over three and a half pounds, and it shares the Alamo's two-stage convex grind and a generous clip. Blade material was also originally specified to be 5160, because I didn't want to settle for anything with less strength than 5160, and the furniture is specified as solid cast C260 Cartridge Brass, which should be made in expendable sand molds. I have an entire stash of empty cartridges at home that I can't be bothered to reload and reuse, so I figured I'd just melt them down and make them into brass ingots, and also the weight of the brass will help counterbalance the enormous weight of the blade. The balance point is about two inches from the crossguard, so it's fairly blade-heavy. The South Texas Stampede is not really intended to be used as a weapon because it's too heavy, but I thought that it would be a really cool knife to make and it would look good on display, and I definitely had a lot of fun designing it. Like the Alamo, the grip is to be made from linen-impregnated LM-105 thermosetting resin and peened in a similar fashion.

[Zixinus]

Am I correct that the upper "edge" is sharpened as well on the South Texas Stampede Giant Bowie Knife?

What edge do you want to put on these babies anyway? Convex, hollow-ground or the v-shaped type (forgot the name)?

Also about the resin you're making: have you tried it on a simpler knife to see how it feels to use? Because strength and all is great, but the material still needs to have a good grip even when wet.

[Davey]

Am I correct that the upper "edge" is sharpened as well on the South Texas Stampede Giant Bowie Knife?

Yup, the upper edge, the Swedge, on the South Texas Stampede Giant Bowie Knife is given something of a false edge, for style and also to aid in tip penetration. The Alamo is given a slight edge, so it's slightly sharper. The edge geometry on the swedge on both blades are both V-ground. The reason I decided to put a slight edge instead of a false edge on the Alamo's clip is because a back-handed swing is a very rapid movement and it's not one that many people will see coming, so it's a fighting aid. The spine of the blade past the clip (the part of the tip that looks like someone took a bite out of the blade) though is not sharpened on either of them, it's just flat. I left that section flat so the blades could be baton'd by a branch for doing heavy cutting tasks like say, splitting a thick log when something like a hatchet is unavailable.

What edge do you want to put on these babies anyway? Convex, hollow-ground or the v-shaped type (forgot the name)?

Both the South Texas Stampede Giant Bowie Knife and the Alamo Bowie have what I call a 'two-stage convex spiral' grind. It starts with a fairly gentle section of a logarithmic spiral as the primary grind, then meets a secondary arc that terminates at the cutting edge, almost like the way the curve of a highway is made. The secondary arc runs tangent to both the primary grind as well as a pair of invisible planes that run normal to the entire edge of the blade, intersecting along its edge at a constant angle. This arrangement allows the cutting edge to be made extremely fine while having great edge support, and I think it looks very pretty. On the downside, it means that the knives almost certainly have to be sharpened by hand, and the initial edge would have to be ground by hand using a whetting stone.

It might seem a bit complicated, so I made this quick hand sketch on my tablet.

The black lines are parallel to each other and represent the flats of the blade. This drawing's a little bit crude, it's not to scale.

Also about the resin you're making: have you tried it on a simpler knife to see how it feels to use? Because strength and all is great, but the material still needs to have a good grip even when wet.

I haven't actually made the composite yet, but in terms of execution, it's very similar to Norplex Micarta which is more or less the same thing, comprised of layers of either linen, canvas, or paper held together with a hard rigid thermosetting resin. Micarta feels kind of like wood when you grip it and I've seen it on some knives. Not very many though because it has to be ground or filed to shape, and so is somewhat expensive. After sanding the grips they should feel just like Micarta. Micarta is a trademarked term though, so I can't really say the handles are Micarta, but they should be pretty close.

Like wood and metal, Micarta, or the "linen-impregnated thermosetting resin composite" (yikes, what a mouthful!) can be filed, ground, or sawed, or even varnished and polished to make it appear like carbon fiber. Because of the layers of cloth in it, Micarta looks something like wood laminate once it's ground. If the grip still proves to be a bit too slippery, I could checker, dimple, or pebble it to make the grips something like 1911 grips.





I've also made a couple more renderings, and here's one of the South Texas Stampede and the Alamo next to a new knife I named after a friend, which is shown at the top. I call it "Zac's Bowie" and it was one of the first bowies I've designed, but I didn't post it up here because I was working on the handle at the time. He lives in the South, and he helped me with the specifications for the knife. Really great, really friendly, really pleasant guy, and his experience and expertise with the different techniques helped with the design of the knife, which is modelled after two American classics, the Buck 119 and the KA-BAR knives, and scaled up to a bowie size for extra utility. The blade is 13" long, from the crossguard to the point.

In honour of his homeland, the Southern United States, I put the Southern Flag and Stars on the pommel and on the blade of the knife that now bears his name, and in order to symbolize the unity that made one of my first Bowie Knives possible, I'm in the process of putting a Canadian Flag on the other side. In order to make the flags, after rough grinding, the lines will be engraved a bit deeper than normal, then heat treated and finish ground, leaving the black oxide in the grooves left by the engraving, so the lines will show up black, silhouetted against the steel.

On a technical side, Zac's Bowie features a grip that is slightly longer than the Alamo's, meant for placing the thumb of the on-hand near the spine of the blade in "Saber Grip." During this time, the positioning of the thumb causes the fingers to spread out along the grip, so I designed it to accommodate that style of hold. The blade is just a tiny bit slimmer than the Alamo's, because it's got a broader flat, and it also features a hollow grind to make it much easier to sharpen in the field and so it'll hold a better edge. The furniture is similar to the Alamo and South Texas Stampede, and is made of cast 6061 Aluminum alloy in T6 temper and the LM-105 composite. Like the Alamo, Zac's Bowie features a slight edge to the swedge.

Zac's Bowie is also to be made with a sheath made from thick cowhide leather for extra durability and so it can be carried on the hip, leg, or shoulder. I'm still working on those though.

Here they are, all together. I showed them next to a ruler proxy I quickly drew up, graduated in quarter inch, half inch, and one inch tick marks to show the scale. The ruler is twelve inches long and one inch wide.









Edited to change the pictures to thumbnails.

[Zixinus]

All very nice designs. Do you intend to polish all the blades up like that?

I really need to look up what "grind" is and how they are different, because I think I'm confusing the terminology.

Could you please use thumbnails for the images? Being full-sized kind of disrupts browsing on a more limited machine, like my netbook.

Anyway, did you know that the clip (is that the flat section between the actually sharp edge and the ricasso?) can also aid in creating a bit of an unique fighting grip? I read about it on the topic of fairbairn knives and I actually tried it.
All it means is just grabbing the ricasso between your index and middle finger. I am not a martial artist, but waving it around it is a more comfortable grip than some of the others I've read about.

[Davey]

All very nice designs. Do you intend to polish all the blades up like that?

Thanks! Yup, I will probably polish them all up to be nice and shiny.

That does remind me though, a tactical line might also be a good idea. I should rerender them all with the blades and the handles blacked, that would look pretty cool. With Cerakoting, there's also quite a lot that's possible...

I really need to look up what "grind" is and how they are different, because I think I'm confusing the terminology.
Could you please use thumbnails for the images? Being full-sized kind of disrupts browsing on a more limited machine, like my netbook.

Sure, should work fine now. From now on I'll post thumbnails.

The grind is the way the flat (or in some cases, the spine of the blade, because some blades like the Alamo have no perceptible flat) steps down to the cutting edge. Most of the knives I have designed have two, although some have only one. Back before I figured out the two-stage convex spiral grind, I had one that had a three-stage grind to offset the lack of the spirals but unfortunately I lost the design and I'll probably need to recover or rebuild it.

Anyway, did you know that the clip (is that the flat section between the actually sharp edge and the ricasso?) can also aid in creating a bit of an unique fighting grip? I read about it on the topic of fairbairn knives and I actually tried it.
All it means is just grabbing the ricasso between your index and middle finger. I am not a martial artist, but waving it around it is a more comfortable grip than some of the others I've read about.

The Fairbairn Sykes is a great knife, that's good taste! I'll have to try that out sometime with some of my knives, using the ricasso as a grip.

I'd been working on an improved version of the Fairbairn-Sykes, myself, which was to use a mold-injected GVX-7H Polypthalamide (or Dupont Zytel, I can't remember anymore, it's been a long time ago) handle and a full tang. I think the thread itself where I'd made some improvements is buried, but I'll dig up the pictures and repost them in this one to avoid thread necromancy.



The clip is the part at the very end, at the point, where the spine of the blade is cut out and it tapers down to the point, here I'll get you a diagram with the Stampede...

[aerius]

VG-10's supposed to be a sweet steel, no doubt about it! I've been hard pressed to find a source for it though, I think the only place that carries it is in Japan. Something like CPM S30V would be a good bet too, if I could find a way to sinter the powder. (argh!) I'm probably going to be trying to make this here at home, so I might have to start low, because I don't have much experience with practical hands-on stuff.

Do NOT use S30V, that stuff is a complete pain in the ass to heat treat correctly to the point where no production knives (Spyderco, Benchmade, etc.) using that material have consistent QC. The blades are often too soft and incapable of taking a good edge or they're too hard and extremely prone to micro-chipping, hitting the sweet spot is damn freakin' hard. Most companies run the blades too soft so you end up getting a gummy edge that doesn't cut well. It's also possible to end up with a soft edge that chips. I hate this material.

Since you're making this knife at home do not use stainless, stick with simple easy to use steels such as 5160 or O1 tool steel. They're both fairly tough and quite forgiving, you can be off a fair bit in the quenching & tempering process and still end up with a fairly useable knife, you don't need everything controlled to +/-10°F complete with time-temperature curves like you do with stainless. They're also a lot easier to work with than stainless, easier to grind, easier to forge & shape, less prone to warping & cracking during the heat treating process. Once they're hardened they'll both take nice crisp edges, especially O1.

[Davey]

Doublethanks, looks like I'll be steering clear of that then. I wasn't aware that CPM S30V's problems were more than just metal fatigue properties. Stainless always has been a little finicky heat-wise, but I didn't think it would've been as bad as that though.

Think for the bigger knives I'll stay with 5160 as planned. Toughness really becomes important with longer knives with greater leverage.

[Zixinus]

I have to ask: have you already made a knife? Are you studying how to make one (I'm guessing in a school?)?

Also, can you show me what you have in mind in regards of the Fairbairn-Skyes knife you want to modify? I have heard that the Applegate version is pretty OK.

[Davey]

I have to ask: have you already made a knife? Are you studying how to make one (I'm guessing in a school?)?

Yeah, I'm studying to become a Mechanical Engineering Technologist. I haven't ever made a real knife before, aside from small, throwing darts I used to make out of bits of steel drillrod and the occasional old file when I was a kid by grinding the edges flat using a dremel or a bench grinder. Because I had no way to heat treat anything bigger than a nail when I was a kid (I had a propane torch and that was it) those shivs usually broke down very quickly because the grinding usually destroyed their heat treatment. I don't think I have any more of those shivs because I'd end up losing them often. I have some practical experience at working with machine tools, mainly the knee mill, engine lathe, surface grinder as well as CNCs, and I can sharpen my own lathe tools using a bench grinder, so I've had experience with machining, but nothing in the way of forging. Most of the metal treatments I've carried out have been done as supervised college projects. I figure they never gave us that much time to do a lot of it on our own because they figure we'll probably just be making the drawings or doing the calculations and then chucking the design specifications and engineering drawings over the wall for other people to worry about when it comes time to produce them.

It's something I've wanted to get into for a long time but I never had the time or money to. After I started learning how to use things like AutoCAD, NX, and Inventor, then things really picked up and I started wanting to do it more. But since I didn't have the tools, I just had CAD, I figured I'd just start seeing what kinds of things I could come up with. As time went on and I started learning more in school I started applying it more and more. In the meantime, I've loaned an anvil and I've been saving up to build a forge in my backyard, now that I live on my own. The forge is going to be fired by propane for ease of use and because I can't be assed to put up with the fuss and mess that is dealing with burning charcoal.

Also, can you show me what you have in mind in regards of the Fairbairn-Skyes knife you want to modify? I have heard that the Applegate version is pretty OK.

Yup, I dug it up! This is an old rendering but it should still be good. Aerius in fact helped me back with the design way back some time ago, too; he suggested to and how to redo the handle so it would have a 'handedness' and also about the importance of using a properly shaped point.

I wanted to design my own version of the Fairbairn-Sykes after I tried playing the video game Velvet Assassin; while the game didn't impress me much, I thought the knife that the lead character had was pretty cool so I looked it up and saw there were some (crude) drawings on Wikipedia with dimensions included. I took a look at them and didn't like the wire tang, simply out of principle. Although I try not to abuse my equipment, I rarely baby it, either, and when I look at equipment, I like to think about its ability to stand up to potential mistreatment or abuse as well as its intended use and wear and tear, because nothing's perfect. I also try to buy things that will last, because it could be a long time before I'm able to replace any of it.

A link back to the original drawing

The first iterations that I turned out had half-length tangs that were pressed into wood, fixed in place by pins and glue. After I took a tool design course and learned about how mold-injection worked, I decided to create this version here:

I don't have drawings for this version, so I'll have to make new ones.

The difference with this version from the normal versions is that the handle is permanently molded to the tang. After the blade is ground to net shape after those holes are drilled, the crossguard is placed on, silver-brazed in place and cleaned with a file, and the pommel is screwed onto the back of the tang. The entire blade assembly is then placed directly into the mold itself, and the plastic injected around it. I can't remember whether I specified Dupont Zytel nylon or EMS Grivory Polypthalamide, both of which are thermoplastics. Although clear plastic is shown in the picture above, that's only to show the tang and the pommel. The plastic handle is supposed to be flat black, and it's also supposed to be either pebbled or rubberized but I wasn't able to show that on the model.

I did the mold injected plastic handle concept for a homework assignment, but that assignment assumed that I would have access to a mold injection machine (and a set of mold plates, which could cost something like fifty thousand for the plates and even more for the system). I designed the runner system myself but unfortunately I don't seem to have that file with me anymore. Because of this I'm going to have to design a new handle, one that doesn't need mold injection. I suppose I could revisit it, because now I've got a bit of a better idea of how to do proper peening and such, like on the Bowies - the peening hadn't occurred to me at the time. The new version will probably look exactly the same as the old one outwardly, but I'll change it around and make it share the same peened tang with the composite handle as the bowies do. I've been meaning to revisit this design again.

Edited to add:

Ok, and here's a new version. This version features my two-stage convex grind, and a slightly different tang. This version doesn't need mold injection, as the handle is to be made of the same resin composite that I specified on the bowies. Unlike the Bowies, the Fairbairn-Sykes Improved Mk. IV uses a pommel nut instead of a peen, but the tang is a solid 3/8"x1/4" flat bar which should give it strength.

Normally, I would have put radii on the inside of the hole in the crossguard, but because the crossguard is to be cast, not punched, it shouldn't need it. The tang (where it meets the blade) is going to have a slight relief but this is not shown on the model, as it's going to have to be hand-filed.

Exploded view (note the notches on the pommel nut, which should be used to tighten it)

[Michael Garrity]

Davey:

Do you have the capability of forging your designs? I am particularly interested in your 'Giant Stampede' knife. Please contact me via PM so that we might discuss the details.

Mike Garrity

[Davey]

PM Sent!

[Davey]

Michael Garrity suggested putting a brass spine on the back of the South Texas Stampede Giant Bowie, so this is what I came up with.

I originally designed the blade to have a plain back so it could be batonned through wood, but hey, why not. Although I felt that the brass spine adds more complexity to the blade (as two parallel cuts must be made along the spine to accomodate it, which weakens the blade), I think the added added look of the brass adds to the 'look cool' factor. The brass spine would need to be pressed on and silver brazed in place.

The background is from Atilla Wolf at Deviantart





If anyone's still unsure about how the handles are attached to the knives, I sectioned the hilt of this version and took a screenshot:

I added a small design change, mainly that the transition is chamfered, it's no longer flat. I did this to allow for a more graceful step-down and to allow easier removal from the sand mold during casting. End result is that the shoulders of the rivet will bear less stress, which should net a stronger joint.

[Michael Garrity]

Dave:

I think the idea of recessing the back of the blade so that the brass spine fits more closely is absoluely brilliant. I believe that on the original, the brass spine was simply folded over the back of the blade and brazed into place.
I looked that the pic showing how the tang of the blade is full-length through the handle, and then peened over the back of the pommel. Have you given any thought to making the pommel a 'skull crusher'-type design?

Mike Garrity

[salm]

I wouldn´t render that infornt of that background. They don´t fit together because the background is a very realistic render whereas the knifes materials are rather abstract.

[naldox]

Excessive post quoting snipped - SCRawl

You have a nice bowie knives simple yet cool.. wow! thanks for sharing.