3rd knife, 1st handle: hunter with hamon & Celtic Knot inlay on wenge handle

B

BFrancios

Joined
Jul 9, 2012
Messages
65
Pics of my first knife handle are attached. This is the 3rd and last blade from my first batch of 4. The first two had antler handles (1 shown on previous post) and the 4th blade was warped and won't straighten. This last blade is the only knife I have made that has not gone to someone else on completion. I am keeping this one as a souvenir from my first batch.

1095 blade with hamon
Rope filework on thumb depression
4 1/8" blade length, 3 3/4" cutting edge and 9 1/2 overall length
Wenge handle with walnut and maple inlays in a celtic knot pattern
Nickel Silver bolsters, pins and tube


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Was getting ready to make some kitchen knives on my next run but have requests from buddies of my first 2 knives to make 3 more of these. Hoping to talk one of them into a clip point and will probably reduce the width of the blade on the next run. Also may try to go bosterless on at least one to simplify assembly.

Anyone who is interested in doing the celtic knot can google it under "woodturners celtic knot". There are several methods, I used the one that leaves a sliver of wood in the blank after each cut. This requires a table saw but makes lining things up during clamping and gluing a lot eaier. The required miter jig is simple to make, especially for someone who is already making knives. I used a scap piece of angle iron for my jig.

Interested to hear from the hunters out there who use skinning and hunting knives.
For a general pusose hunting knife - Do you prefer a thiner or thicker blade width?

Critique to help improve the design & build for my next round is welcome.

Thanks for looking.


Barry
 
Good looking effort. I question the filing along the spine and the dip downward in the handle to meet the filing. The bolster or guard appears bulbous; slimming the handle in this area always helps the fit.
Building blades that are as thin as possible while still being able to complete the required task is the best approach to choosing a steel thickness.

You obviously have skills; spend time on the skills you are least proficient in and use the ones you have already refined to support your next effort.

I like the knot work, Fred
 
:-) Thanks Fred. Always thought thinner was better. To me, a thinner blade looks better visually, also keeps the weight down to help with ergonomics. Thanks for the design advice.
 
Ithink that is very impressive work for your 3rd knife and the celtic knot looks great. I´ll have to try that out myself some day.
If I may say so, I would prefer the spine of the blade and handle to be a more flowing, uninterrupted line and I would round the handle more. It looks a little bit blocky as it is. I think thats a quite common beginners mistake and I´ve made it myself many times, it just takes a little time to develop the eyes to see it (or at least it did to me).
I earn my living as a gamekeeper so I obviously spend quite some time getting my knives bloody. I like my general purpose hunting knives to be around 3-4mm thick (.120-.160") depending on the size of the knife, with a full flat or hollow grind. I do know of some very experienced guys, who like their skinners even thinner, around .100".
In Sweden, where I live, it is however quite common for hunters to use their knives for other duties too, such as cutting feathersticks for the lunch fire or simply a stick to hold your sausage over the fire. Theese tasks can be too much for a very thin hollow ground knife and may cause the edge to chip. If such tasks are required of the blade, I would rather use a flat or even a slight convex grind.

Just my 2c, lets see some more knives from your hands, you obviously have talent.

Brian
 
Thanks for the advice Gody, and others for their kind words.

A NOTE ON THE CELTIC KNOT: I realized something while shaping the handle, the loops on the thin dimension become shorter than the loops on the long dimension. This is something that is not covered in the woodworking tutorials since all those items are round in shape. This issue could be avoided if the handle blank is installed at a 45 degree angle. The handle faces would then be shaped into the corners of the blank. Changes the look some but would keep the loops equal size on the handle.

Take a look at an example posted by KHall that avoided this "unequal" loop appearance.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...c-knot-in-a-knife-handle-Example-pic-attached
 
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