Steve Culver Knives

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Blade Show 2013 winner of: Best of the Rest Award

This is the first combination weapon built by me.  The completed piece was test fired on April 22, 2013.  Except for the top jaw screw, all of the damascus parts are made of 1084 and 15N20 steel.  The top jaw screw is 1084 and 1018 steel.

The barrel is 3 1/2 inches long, in .50 caliber. It is a spiral welded barrel in the damascus pattern, two iron Crolle.  The breech plug is also damascus steel, with ladder pattern in the tang.

The flint-lock mechanism was designed and built by me.  All of the exterior lock parts are made of damascus steel.  The lock plate damascus pattern, matches the damascus pattern used in the knife blade.  The only parts of this lock that are not damascus are the tumbler, sear, bridle, main spring, sear spring and internal screws.

The 12 inch long blade is in the Woodhead pattern.  In this style of blade, the spine slopes downward towards the point.  This provides for the blade to be out of view when aiming the pistol, so that it is not a distraction.  The blade's tang is sculptured to resemble the lock mortise on the opposite side of the pistol stock.  The lower portion of the tang lies flush with the surface of the pistol grip.  The blade damascus is w-pattern, that has been pressed with West Texas Wind dies.

The pistol stock is made from fiddle-back maple.  It is styled after French dueling and target pistol stocks of the late 1800s.  The fluting on the grip is reminiscent of decorations commonly found on French pistols of this era.

The damascus steel ramrod screws into the ladder pattern damascus butt cap and stores in the grip of the pistol stock.

The trigger guard is in ladder pattern damascus.  It was forged to shape and hand sculptured to its final form.  The trigger and trigger plate are also damascus steel.

Each of the screws used on the exterior of the piece have been engraved with a flower design.

The overall length of this piece is 17 1/4 inches.  The overall height is 6 3/8 inches, from the top of the cock to the bottom of the pistol grip.

Below is a video of the first two shots fired from the finished piece.  The load was 26 grains of FFF black powder.  .490 round ball with a .015" patch.  FFF powder was also used in the flash pan.

Click on this link to go to my Damascus Barrel page, where there are pictures and a video of the making of the barrel used on Laffite's Revenge. Damascus Gun Barrels

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