VIDEO – ABS Journeyman smith “Performance” test – PASSED

I PASSED the first part of my JS test.

Preparation:

It was a hard week leading up to “test” day on Saturday. Thursday night at 8pm it seemed like it was falling apart. I was finished with my test knife. It was all hand sanded and looked good. I started hacking at some more 2×4. A few hits into it and I hit a knot. The edge wrinkled. Failed. I had pushed the heat treat to close to the edge of the blade. How could I get a knife heat treated with all of the crucial steps in one day? To my relief I had made nine blades and had not finished #5 to test because I had figured out my process. Well, I weighed the pros and cons of the heat treat being absolutely correct, and # 5 became my new test blade. Saturday morning the blade passed with flying colors. My test blade is made from 5160 high carbon steel.

my JS practice and test blades

Test Day:

Geoff Keyes, Rick Lucas, Jim Wernex and I all tested together. Master smith Tom Ferry and Master smith Michael Rader were there to witness and sign off on the test. About thirty people turned out to watch us test. After the test we had lunch. Geoff’s wife made us her award winning chili.

the four of us all Passed !!

JS Test Blade Before & After

After lunch we all went back out to the shop and I forged a blade. Many in the group had not seen a blade forged out before. When I was done I had a drawing for anyone interested in having the blade. I finished heat treating the blade and sanding it. The winner has a nice blade and memento of the day.

Forging Demo

Whats up next:

The second part of the ABS JS test is to make five near perfect knives and submit them for judging. I had Planned on trying for the “Blade Show” in June, but with input from others feel like that is not enough time to get them ready. So I will be getting my five knives ready for the ABS show, in San Antonio, come January 2012. Stay Tuned….

A special thanks to MS Ed Caffrey who wrote a great post “creating a blade that will pass the ABS JS performance test”. It definitely helped me through the process.