[Richard van Dijk]

Hi All
This is my another Roughie with pewter bolsters, Rewarewa handle (NZ native) blade forged out of coil spring total measure ment 11 inch.



Here as promised before X-mas a tutorial about how I do the pewter fittings.

1 Blade and handle


2 Tang with grooves cut to hold the pewter in place


3 Handle stepped down and funnelled in the inside so the pewter can run easely inside.


4 Have a look how it all fits together, tang just sticking out.


5 Holes drilled and little funnels leading to them I use a burr in the pendant drill for this.


6 Wrap some heavey paper around the area and secure with masking tape.


7 Melting.


8 Cooling


9 After paper removed, try to get writ of as much pewter as possible by hand.

10 Exess of pewter ground away with old course belt, after this hand finish to get writ of the smeared out pewter.
If you would like to polish the pewter make sure to dedicate an old buff just for this purpose.

This post has been edited by Richard van Dijk: 15 January 2006 - 06:24 AM

[DFogg]

Thanks Richard

[Giuseppe Maresca]

Very interesting. The molten metal is tin or lead?

[mete]

He mentioned pewter , which is an alloy of tin with antimony. It melts at less than 300 C [ Pewter = peltro ]

[Bob Ouellette]

Very interesting. Where might one get pewter for such an application?

[sinic]

Thank You Richard,

Awesome tutorial. Nice technique. Have to try that some time.

[Giuseppe Maresca]

Quote

He mentioned pewter

Uh...right! peltro...
when i posted there weren't the explanations under the phothos, so I thougt that "Pewter" was a surname or something similar...
it was a stupid question.
thank you
ciao
Giuseppe

[Alan Longmire]

Good demo! I use pewter on hawks a lot, but not so much on knives. I do the rough cleanup with an old file, and then use a fine file, sandpaper, and #0000 steel wool to polish.

Good point about using an old belt, I tried to use a decent belt on pewter once .

Bob O, you can order britannia casting grains from jewelry suppliers, or places like that. I personally use the lead-free plumbing solder that comes in 1-lb. rolls, since it's 96%tin, 1.5% antimony, with the balance being silver. About half the price of casting grains, too!

[Greg Thomas Obach]

nice tutorial...... very clear and cool

thanks a bundle

Greg

[Bob Ouellette]

Thanks Alan. I might want to try this some time.

[Adlai Stein]

Richard,
Great tutorial. Thanks

Bob,
I use what Alan uses. The lead free solder is the same make up as the stuff you get from casting supplies. The solder is a bit more expensive but you don't have shipping to worry about. Lowe’s is a wonderous place.

This post has been edited by Macabee: 15 January 2006 - 09:40 AM

[EdgarFigaro]

Awesome tutorial Richard.

Now I have a question regarding the rewarewa. Is that the one that's noncombustible? I remember reading in a book my grandfather had about woods, and was looking up the New Zealand woods, well was flipping through and the ones that appeared to be Maori words would catch my eye.

Anyway there was one of them, and I think it's Rewarewa, that it said was used a lot for fireplaces (it didn't specify mantels or anything) because it was noncombustible. Do you know if it just meant decorative wood mantels and trim and such or is it actually used for the encasing that holds the fire?

Also Richard, have you tried any of the Ancient Kauri? I've been wanting to get some to use on a wood working project, but now I'm thinking it'd be great to use for a knife as well. 40,000 year old wood...weee.

Great knives.

[Bob Ouellette]

anything will burn if you get it hot enough (or so I think). I've seen people use buffalo horn for this type thing too. I don't think that the pewter gets too hot, Mete said not more than 300 C, which is 572 F

[Richard van Dijk]

The Rewarewa (native hony suckle) burns all right, I just burnt the cut of's last night in the fire, I think it was more meant as decorative.

The Rewarewa is not all that hard, Black Maire, Rata or Manuka gets a lot harder and with fire you can harden them even more, were used for spears ect.

This little knife has a swamp Kauri handle, the normal kauri is just to soft

[CProkopp]

Beaumont Metals is a good source for casting materials, including pewter, brittania, brass, etc.

[EdgarFigaro]

That's a neat knife there with the swamp kauri.
There's a company that's advertised lots in some wood working magazines my grandfather gets, www.ancientwood.com

Not sure how good their prices are, I would imagine compared to what you'd get it at they'd be marked up a bit due to importing and such.

Still some neat looking wood.

The current growing Kauri in NZ is protected by the government, I know it grows in other locations as well, and I'm not sure if they protect theirs or not.

It probably did just mean it was for ornamental use when it was referring to the wood as noncombustible, unless it was another one.

I agree anything burns if you get it hot enough, but I figured it meant if you just tried burning it like normal. Might have been a different one, I dunno.