An Original Mizo Bowie

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Lever Action
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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by Lever Action » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:14 am

Yes Jonah, keep up the good work and count me a buyer as well.

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Post by Bruno22 » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:30 am

I second Olly on that. Maybe a bit streamlined and a little more tactical in nature. Also a black finish to the blade as an option would be very cool. Have a Mulay combat knife that has a very cool black finish and simple darkwood handle. Had picked up quite a few Mulays in diffrent shapes and sizes thinking I would 'mod' them but never got down to it. The term Bowie to every person is diffrent. My dad had a simple knife he bought from Sri Lanka in his school days and always reffered to it as a 'Bowie' That to me was the greatest bowie ever made!! It had a red indian etched on the blade and a antler handle.

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Post by mundaire » Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:58 pm

marksman";p="29775 wrote:the suggestion of having IFG logo etched on the blade by a member is a swell idea.
Errr... the use of the IFG logo and/ or name requires my permission...
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Post by marksman » Sat Oct 27, 2007 3:07 pm

Hey Mundaire,
why not have IFG logos on certain interesting items that are created by the IFG fraternity, subject to your approval. NRAI does it too. We could maintain quality control as well. Take a certain % as royalty for the logo and we could create funds to fight off certain govt. policies legally regarding the shooting sport. Maybe one day we'd become a bigger body then the NRAI. No harm dreaming,right?
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Post by mundaire » Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:18 pm

marksman";p="29792 wrote: Hey Mundaire,
why not have IFG logos on certain interesting items that are created by the IFG fraternity, subject to your approval. NRAI does it too. We could maintain quality control as well. Take a certain % as royalty for the logo and we could create funds to fight off certain govt. policies legally regarding the shooting sport. Maybe one day we'd become a bigger body then the NRAI. No harm dreaming,right?
Marksman
Not a bad idea... would help offset some of the costs of running this website as well, maybe even help pay for us to migrate to a better hosting plan - so as to finally lay to rest those pesky "CPU overload - site temporarily down" type of messages we keep on getting!

However, I am also open to allowing the use of the name/ logo on a piece of merchandise, so long as ALL proceeds go to a worthwhile charity... In either case, permission can only be given if someone requests for it... ;)

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Post by Pran » Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:06 pm

mundaire";p="29794 wrote: would help offset some of the costs of running this website as well, maybe even help pay for us to migrate to a better hosting plan - so as to finally lay to rest those pesky "CPU overload - site temporarily down" type of messages we keep on getting!
It's a good idea to set aside some of the profit to help host this forum.

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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by jonahpach » Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:57 am

Keep the Ideas comming guys.. But meanwhile I'll just stick to what I set out to do first and come up with a product.

Here are some more photos to keep the interest up..
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... owie_1.jpg][/img2]

The dark piece of wood on the top is what the handle is going to be made up of
Can u guess what the other three pieces of wood are for?
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... owie_3.jpg][/img2]

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Post by eljefe » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:56 am

Jonah, Would you be open to thinning the Tang thickness and height and selling blanks too?
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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by jonahpach » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:59 pm

Jonah, Would you be open to thinning the Tang thickness and height and selling blanks too?
Best
Axx
Sure thing doc.. I dont think there should be any problems! But It's not as if they are churning them out on a production line..

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Post by eljefe » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:22 pm

Sounds good then Jonah.
I would want a finished blade, as shown in the LEFT pic.
Tang thickness 2.5mm, tang height 8mm, tapering distally to about 3 mm like a an awl, no birds head profile.Actually, I dont mind an existing blade , as it is, will refinish here.
No handles/ slabs please.Have some ideas for this one...
Thats good looking Rosewood you have there..The lighter wood blanks for sheaths?
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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by Risala » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:26 pm

I fancy the one on the left too,it's looking good Jonah

Cant wait to see the finished product :)

Sanjay

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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by jonahpach » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:40 pm

After a few weeks of procrastinating and being a bit 'down under' I finally got my 'Mizo Bowie' project up and running again. Today had me bunking sunday service and lighting up my charcoal furnace to try and melt some brass fittings for the bowie..
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... C00055.jpg][/img2]

This thing can get really hot.. (Good thing winter is setting in here in Mizoram)
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... C00062.jpg][/img2]

First melt on the Graphite cricible Wow! 10 minutes and the bottom just melted away.. have to do it again.
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... C00061.jpg][/img2]

Second try.. on a different (brass melting) crucible
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... C00064.jpg][/img2]
Thats charcoal inside the crucible with the little pieces of brass door knobs and handles etc..

Luckily the wife is not at home.. I always knew there was another use for the blower on the vaccum cleaner..
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... C00066.jpg][/img2]

The bloody thing is hot even with the leather gloves.. oops! dropped it, have to try again..
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... C00068.jpg][/img2]

By the time the brass melted completely, the batteries on my camera ran out luckily the mobile camera came in handy (Sorry for the poor quality)
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... /melt1.jpg][/img2]

Closeup of the opened moulding box with red hot brass!
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... /melt2.jpg][/img2]

After cool down!
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... /melt3.jpg][/img2]

[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... /melt4.jpg][/img2]

Heck, I dont have a grinding wheel at home so this cutting thingmajig will have to do! (It's getting dark out here already, and I started out at 1:00)
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... /melt6.jpg][/img2]

Almost finished! Complete finishing will be done on a friends milling machine tomorrow!
[img2=http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225 ... /melt7.jpg][/img2]
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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by Pran » Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:13 pm

Jonah,
How thick are the walls of your furnace and have you used any insulating material on the inside? What crucible did you use the second time?

btw, how thick is your casting?(I'd guess around 10mm) I've seen long rectangular strips of brass of different thicknesses being sold.I'd bought some of it(about 3 mm or so) for a knife I was making.I'd say these strips may save you a lot of time and trouble of looking for brass knobs :-)

Thanks for the update.

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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by cottage cheese » Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:51 pm

Hi Jonah...

Nice progress...procrastination and metallurgy are partners :)

Me included.

From what I've learnt, the furnace seems rather large for your purpose. You end up with too much heat and not so nice results. Its surprising how efficient substantially smaller furnaces can be. Also, too much air with too much force will also cause a burn out like you described. You could try having a simple hinged flap regulator between the vac and the furnace.

The thongs you are using are pretty risky. They ought to be more substantial and fabricated to 'fit' and support the crucible you are using...that is assuming you are using standard sized crucibles.

Apparently you or your helper doesn't value the gift of being able to walk too much....:mrgreen:

The sandals are going to provide awesome protection in the event of a spill or spatter... :mrgreen:

Good work though. Keep it going!

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Re: An Original Mizo Bowie

Post by jonahpach » Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:14 pm

Jonah,
How thick are the walls of your furnace and have you used any insulating material on the inside? What crucible did you use the second time?
Hello Pran, the walls of the furnace are about 3" thick! Well I couldnt source any insulating bricks so I had to makedo with some homemade stuff basically adding lime to the cement sand mix...
btw, how thick is your casting?(I'd guess around 10mm) I've seen long rectangular strips of brass of different thicknesses being sold.I'd bought some of it(about 3 mm or so) for a knife I was making.I'd say these strips may save you a lot of time and trouble of looking for brass knobs
I am hoping to be able to get 4 pieces of brass hand guards from this casting and regarding the brass strips, I have looked all over here in Aizawl but couldnt get any that would do the job.. also melting your own brass from scrap is quite fun!
From what I've learnt, the furnace seems rather large for your purpose. You end up with too much heat and not so nice results. Its surprising how efficient substantially smaller furnaces can be. Also, too much air with too much force will also cause a burn out like you described. You could try having a simple hinged flap regulator between the vac and the furnace.

The thongs you are using are pretty risky. They ought to be more substantial and fabricated to 'fit' and support the crucible you are using...that is assuming you are using standard sized crucibles.

Apparently you or your helper doesn't value the gift of being able to walk too much....

The sandals are going to provide awesome protection in the event of a spill or spatter...
C.C. Yup! I have some tongs that I fabricated sometime ago.. couldnt find them during the first two failed attempts but finally found them in the attic before the last and finally successful cast! I regulated the air inflow by blocking the air intake with a piece of plywood.. Will comeup with an original blower sometime.. This is the first time I am using charcoal and the furnace was designed for a cooking gas system.. Since we are facing a shortage of cooking gas in Aizawl at this time of year, I couldn't risk it.

About them sandals.. Well ahem.. guess you are right but so far so good!
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