1st WIP: Mini Chopper

Looks pretty good so far. I like the shape/design.

You need to thin your scales down a little more and round them off a lot more, they look very blocky will cause painful hotspots during use. Also, next time radius the front of the scales some more before attaching them, bringing the top, front of the scales back about 1/8"-1/4" and rounding it out to the bottom, front will make it flow better, aesthetically anyway, to me. You should have the front of the scales nearly complete, to your desired finishing grit, before attaching them to the knife. This will minimize scratching the blade while you are finishing the scales.

It looks like you went fairly high on your sanding grit on the blade. What did you finish at? It could just be the angle/lighting, but it looks like there are a few leftover, errant scratches from the previous lower grits.

Looking forward to seeing the final product.
 
Scales have a long way to go...just getting started shaping. And I have not even started on finish sanding on the blade just a belt finish so far, but good tips thanks. And FYI the scales are not glued, just on for the first time to get some shaping done.
 
Here is another quick pic. Closer on the shaping. I'm fairly happy.





Just after the pic I popped the scales back off. I eased the front to the top of the scale transition. Next onto finish work on the blade. (Nick Wheeler will be proud of my hand sanding jig.)
 
Went back over with 220 belt then the fine scotchbright. Shooting for a nice hand rubbed finish to ~1000.

Quick pick starting with 400 using my NW inspired jig.

 
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Haven't done much with the blade, should make some progress this weekend.

I did "win" get this fella on the ole auction site, and it came in yesterday. Here is a quick pic of the newest addition to the shop:




Nothing particularly awesome, but was about what a similar one from HF runs, and feels like it is of better quality. And def should be an upgrade to that tiny joker I was using. I also picked up a real mask, something I've been needing to do.

 
Thanks Allen!

I finished sanding the bevels to 1200 this morning. Then attached the scales. Here's a few quick pics of the glue up.



Apparently this one was too quick, and thus blurry. Oops


Also pretty blurry. Hey cut me some slack I had epoxy mess I was tryin not to get on my phone.
 
Well mostly finished. Last steps will be to etch my initials and build a super simple kydex sheath.









 
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