Lot's of different pics of this sign.

Lot's of different pics of this sign.
"I don't make hell for nobody. I'm only the instrument of a laughing providence. Sometimes I don't like it myself, but I couldn't help it if I was born smart."

1st Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden.
"From here to Eternity"

Paul Valery

"You are in love with intelligence, until it frightens you. For your ideas are terrifying and your hearts are faint. Your acts of pity and cruelty are absurd, committed with no calm, as if they were irresistible. Finally, you fear blood more and more. Blood and time."

The Wisdom of the Ages

"When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed',"

Mikhail Kalashnikov
"Here lies the bravest soldier I've seen since my mirror got grease on it."

Zapp Brannigan

Saturday, May 01, 2010

I'm A King Bee, Baby



Wicked, eh?
I call it the King Bee (See Mickey's Malt Liquor cap. Twins separated at birth?).
Based on an example shown in "Fighting Knives" by Frederick Stephens, it's a modified, Punch Dagger, like those made by Robbins of Dudley.
Stephens had little to say about it. "Overall, black color", no blade-fullers - and of course, the butt-spike.

This is where it gets interesting. It's a .303 bullet.
Bitchin'-cool looking but I have my doubts.
It would most certainly put a major owie on anyone hit with it. I just don't think the spike would survive.
First off, the whole aluminum-copper-lead relationship isn't one that lends itself to solid attachment - and the hole drilled for the bullet can only be around 3/8" deep.
I drilled into the casting and epoxied the round in. Then, just as a proof-of-concept test, I center-punched the metal around the base of it. I suspect that's how the original was attached. That tightened it up and maybe the connection would survive an impact but the bullet would bend in any case.
The round used from 1910 to 1938 was the Mark 7.
"The Mark 7 (Mark VII) used a 174-grain (11.3 g) pointed bullet with a flat-base which gave a muzzle velocity of 2,440 ft/s (740 m/s).[6] The Mark 7 was different from earlier .303 bullet designs or spitzer projectiles in general. Although the Mark 7 round looks like a conventional full metal jacket bullet, this appearance is deceptive: its designers deliberately made the front third of the interior of the Mark 7 bullet out of aluminium or tenite (cellulosic plastic), or compressed paper, instead of lead."
We certainly can't fault Tommy Atkins for the design flaws inherent in his field modification but we can take his concept and push it farther.
I have no idea how Robbins did it back in the day.
Before I cast one of these things, I weld the blade and knuckle bow into an armature with a length of 3/8" steel that runs the length of the handle.
I'm going to reduce that to 5/16" steel and extend it.
Grind a point on it prior to welding and, hey-presto.
Like this:






























Coming soon.
$130 shipped.
Product roll-out complete; some tunes.
Sorry, I couldn't embed the vids where John's in the bee costume.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome piece, brutal and intimidating! nice addition to the range...W

Anonymous said...

I love mine for sure Big W. Did you ever get one for yourself? Warty

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