2 Hunters and a Caper

Cajun Kamikaze

Cajun Kamikaze

Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
598
It's been a long time since I've fired up the forge but this Saturday I took a break from the normal adventures to address the void I've created in my knife making hobby. These 3 piece all came from scrap pieces I hot cut off of several vintage Blue Diamond files. Just dropped an order with Aldo and Tru Grit so I should be working with some good materials soon. Definitely wanted to get my feet wet again before I go grinding on some higher quality steel.

Think I'll outfit the caper with nickle and stag. If anyone would like to see otherwise, please feel free to critique.... The small hunters will def be fit out with some nice wood and black micarta, trying to figure that out now....

Here are a few pics of the trio after forge and rough grind. I'll clay temper them all.





And here is what I drew up for handle design.




Tear it up and tell me what I need to hear
 
I like the top one....would look pretty darn good in my collection.....and you know I'm not that far away from you.
 
dredd8 said:
I like the top one....would look pretty darn good in my collection.....and you know I'm not that far away from you.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dredd, I've seen your collection and I take that as a very big compliment. I built this one for a friend who brought me on a very successful deer hunt a few weeks back... I just received some steel from Aldo and will be working on some small and large hunters along with a couple camp knives...
 
David Stifle said:
Are you putting in a pin from the bottom of the handle? I can't make out your drawing.
Click to expand...

No sir, I believe what you are looking at was my original idea of using two different materials for the handle and how they would mate up on approx a 45deg angle. But, that is no longer the idea. The hunters will both get forged steel guards and wood handles, one with cocobolo diamond wood and the other will get Kingwood. The caper will get a nickle guard with a antler tine.

Also, I went out to Tunica Hills WMA to make a hunt Friday, and while I didn't have any luck bringing home the meet I did find a fresh piece of downed Osage Orange I was able to harvest from. Can't wait to get this stuff processed. Got it debarked but now I have to seal the ends and cure it.


I finished heat treating them this weekend and the hamons came out excellent when tested with vinegar.


 
Well, here's the dry fit. Now I just need to drill for pin, detail them out, hand sand them to 600 grit and slap them together.

 
Thanks guys for the encouraging words!

Hope that I can get everything sanded and assembled this weekend. I'm seeing issues with the final finish having those J hooks near the plunge line. I started to just make singular and directional strokes but they don't seem to be fading so maybe I'll have to start over with the 400 grit again... No biggie, I'm learning...

My favorite part is seeing the blade start to polish up and the hamon jump out.

I'm in the process of removing the black and white handle material from that fighter in the above post showing the blades with the hamon's etched in. Going to put a real nice piece of wenge to make some scales and polish it up to 1200 grit. It use to be a Tanto but was super heavy and didn't do what I wanted proficiently (shanking hogs) or as easily as I thought it should. So, I gave it almost a full flat, just need to even it out once the handle material is removed and then doctor that blade up to perfection. I carry it everyday and show it to many people so I figured I should start representing properly.
 
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