Here is a quick progression of a hunting knife I forged today.
The steel came from a round bar of W2 tool steel that was 1 1/2" round.:



I weld a piece to the end of a re-bar handle:



Then forge the round piece out flat:



And forge it into the blade shape:



I will add some more photos as I go along.

You are a true craftsman. I look forward to more pictures.

Thanks for sharing Karl!

SunCatcher

Very, very cool!

Thanks, guys.
Building knives is fun.

This is the direction the knife is going.

I won't even get into all the metallurgical fru-fru that goes along with all this. But keep in mind that a knife that doesn't have proper heat treating procedures will be pretty, but completely worthless as a cutting instrument.
So my task is multi-faceted.
Following forging, the blade must be cleaned up and ground to nearly it's final shape.
This carbide guide helps me keep the sides even:



After grinding, the blade is properly hardened and tempered.



I use a specific grade of stainless steel for my guard material - 416 martensitic - that primarily only comes in round stock. So I just make it flat!






The slot for the tang is created using one of my two mills:



Here are the three major components:
The blade.
The guard.
A block of chemically stabilized figured Missouri Crotch Walnut.