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An Appropriate Use of Shrapnel
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| An Appropriate Use of Shrapnel |
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I got an e-mail a while back from a customer of mine. He was
inquiring about the possibility of making a knife similar to the one he
had just purchased from me. He said a friend of his had been admiring
his knife and wanted to know if I could make him one too.. So, far this
conversation was sounding like a no brainer....
Then he want on to ask if there was any way that I could use the
shrapnal that the doctors took out of his friend's body, in the Damascus.
Apparantly his friend had a not so friendly mortar explode and tear his
lower body and legs to pieces while deployed at everyones favorite war...
I told him that I had never attempted to use something like that in
Damascus before and had no idea if I could even make it weld to the rest
of the billet. He assured me that he understood and if it didn't work
out then there was no problems.. The shrapnel was just sitting in a jar
in a closet anyway..
A couple weeks later I received a package with a jar containing a piece of
shrapnel just a bit smaller than a golf ball.
I tried to figure out what I was going to do with it. Knowing full well
that this was a one time shot.. If I screwed it up, there were no 2nd
chances to make it work..
I decided to put the piece into the forge and try to forge it into a
small square bar. The whole time it was in there I just prayed that it
didn't burn up or melt, since I had no idea what this stuff was made out
of.. I was assuming it was something like old smashed up Fords or
Chevys or something...
God was kind enough to let that part sorta work out. But when I was
done, there wasn't really that much to work with. I mean it was a huge
chunk of steel to have thrust into the human body.. But, not much in the
whole scheme of a Damascus billet.
I wanted the shrapnel to be readily recognizable within the knife
blade. I wanted to be able to point to it and say, "this is the shrapnel
from your legs, right here!!!". So, I put the bar of shrapnel into a
can and encapsulated it in powdered tool steel and nickel. I then forged
that into a bigger bar that would work into the overall scheme of the
Damascus pattern I was trying to develop.
I wanted the Damascus pattern to look like an exploding piece of steel,
with the shrapnel as the center piece. So, I built a bar of W's and re
squared the shrapnel into the corner of the bar. I then 4 wayed the bar
and re welded it all back together.
I accordion cut the bar and ended up with just enough steel to build the
knife blade and bolsters.
I finished off the handles with camo green G-10, titanium liners and a
Damascus back spacer.
I did a lot of praying while I built this knife.. I prayed that I
wouldn't screw it up.. I prayed for the man that I was building it
for... I prayed for all the fine men and women who have had their lives
so drastically changed keeping me and my family safe...
I have to say that finishing this knife was probably one of the proudest
moments of my 10 years of knife making.. And, that I feel so honored to
be able to give this knife to such a fine man.
Simple words of gratitude can never express the thanks that we owe to so
many unselfish people who assure that we can wake up every day living
in freedom!!! |
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