5160 & Black Walnut Camp/utility w/SS bolsters

PIndelicato

PIndelicato

Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
1,577
Hi guys,

I haven't been around all that much and have been a little slow making knife progress lately, but I finally have one finished (except for sharpening and sheath top-coating) that I plan to offer for sale sometime in the near future. This is a stout knife, being of 1/4" stock, but has a nice feel and balance with the tapered tang.

This is my first attempt at dovetailed stainless bolsters. This is also my first time doing a tapered tang, and I'd like to thank my friend and mentor Mike Mooney (www.moonblades.com) for showing me how to do so!


Here's some info about the knife:

-1/4" 5160 blade steel, stock removal
-blade length ~5"
-OAL ~9.5"
-Blade hand sanded to 600x, spine to 2000x
-Natural (not stabilized) figured Black Walnut with Birchwood Casey Tru-oil gunstock finish, rubbed to a satin finish
-1/8" Mosaic Pins
-stainless steel bolsters, buffed
-tapered tang


And the sheath:

-Tooled Wickett and Craig 7/8 oz. shoulder
-Hand saddle stitched
-Fiebings dark brown Pro Oil dye


I'd appreciate any feedback, critique, etc. on design, construction, material choices, etc. that anyone is willing to offer on the knife or sheath, either here or in PM if you prefer to make them privately. Thanks in advance for looking and for any comments!

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Thank you very much, gentleman; I appreciate the nice feedback!

Dan, the tooling on the leather is a randomly struck pear shader tool which is bordered by a camoflague stamp. Hope that helps!
 
Thanks Nathan!

Burton, I believe I bought this particular piece of walnut from you...probably a year+ ago???
 
Absolutely beautiful. The dovetailed bolsters, the tapered tang, and I really like the handle contour. I like that you fattened up the butt to offset the larger blade. I bet it feels great in your hand.
 
Very nice and very CLEAN all around! Also nice job on the pic...
I personally would like to see the first pin move a little bit forward, kinda where the contour is. I don't like having that much material @ the front unpinned. Just some constructive crticism, take it or leave it. It's really nice to get the atta boys, but more important to get the criticism IMHO....:thumbup:
Matt Doyle
 
Matt, the 'atta boys' most definitely feel good, but my primary hope in posting is for honest constructive criticism so that I may make improvements in my work. I find that when I stare at a knife for so long, it's difficult to be objective about both it's strengths and weaknesses.

Would you mind saying a bit more about the pin placement, because I found myself a bit uncertain where to place them with the bolsters added to the equation. Is your preference an aesthetic one, or a structural one (or both/neither?)

Thanks much for the input!
 
P J 234 said:
Would you mind saying a bit more about the pin placement, because I found myself a bit uncertain where to place them with the bolsters added to the equation. Is your preference an aesthetic one, or a structural one (or both/neither?)

Thanks much for the input!
Click to expand...

Both aesthetic and structural, really. As far as the looks...I have looked at this knife SEVERAL times, and every time my eyes go to the pin placement of the first pin. To me it really looks like it could come forward toward the bolster a bit. I'm not sayin a LOT, just a bit. If you look @ the second pic, see the stripe in front of the pin toward the bolster ? To me I would like to see the first pin just a bit to the left of that stripe, along the same vertical plane of course. I realize the bolster does add some containment, but in my experience, if you are going to see movement in the handle material it will be @ the front or back of the knife, and usually in the front as the handle is generally thinner there. This is especially true given that the walnut is not stabilized.
Again this is just one opinion, and I was just trying to be honest with you. It doesn't change the fact that it really is quite nice. Reminds me of Tracy Mickley's work, and you can surely take that as a compliment!:thumbup:
Matt
 
Thanks for the additional suggestions and nice compliment Matt! When I choose pin locations for non-bolstered scales, I eyeball and/or measure off the front of the scale and the back of the scale. Having the bolsters throws my eye off a bit, since that front edge is still there but obviously you have a second edge (rear of bolster) and material change. On this one my visual references were the rear of the bolster and the rear of the handle, but even that changes as the dovetailed bolsters get thinned down (the rear of the bolster effectively moves forward.)

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and I'll keep working on how to best locate pins with bolsters!
 
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