#7 Bird & Trout, looking for feedback/critique

Wow, thanks for all of the nice, positive comments; I really appreciate them!

hurley, I did not receive an email from you but I haven't received any emails at all from BladeForums the last couple of days, so I don't know if there's a problem with the site's notification system, or if it's on my end.
 
Paul:
I really like the overall look of your knife, great shape, the black bolsters really show off the scales, you really brought out the the figure of the wood.
I think you should be happy with this knife.
I think a few miles down the road you will forget the details and find you have a nice knife for your efforts.
Cheers Ron.
 
Very nice, I love the overall shape and design, and looks like some good workmanship to boot.:thumbup:
 
I think it's a beautiful knife, I would be proud to own it.

Did you have any trouble with the dovetail bolsters? I want to move to these as well, but I'm just worried about getting the angles perfect.
 
Mungo and Will, thanks for your feedback!

childzplay, thank you! I had 2 problems with the dovetailed bolsters. To keep the angles the same I adjusted my disc sander table to the angle I wanted and then ground both bolsters and scales without making any changes to the table (ie, you wouldn't want to do bolsters one day, change your table around for another job, and then try and reset it to the same angle later for your scales.)

The first problem was that my disc was probably a little dull and it runs really fast, so the light wood burned/scorched at the dovetail. I did not think this would show since it's the surface mated to the bolster, but it does to some degree. The second problem was that even though I went to great pains fiddling and checking and fiddling and checking to assure everything was clamped right to drill all my pin holes, once everything was done I had a small gap on one side. I don't know if the scales move during drilling, or if it's just all of the tolerances of all the hole sizes, pin diameters, etc. that once it's all put together things change somewhat. Another maker suggested that I first bond one side, then drill the holes, then bond the other side, and drill those holes, all in separate stages, to prevent this in the future. The burnt wood is more visible on one side than the other, and it is probably the side that had the small gap that makes it easier to see.
 
That is a beautiful knife!!! great choice for handle materials and the dovetailing is an impressive extra.

No stamp?
 
Thank you sixth_sense, I appreciate the feedback. No stamp yet...I'm still in the newbie/learning/practice phase so I'm not currently selling anything. I do need to come up with something soon though, as this hobby is getting awefully expensive!
 
Paul, what a great looking piece... great flow, great lines, excellent F&F. Nothing wrong with that one. The only thing that would have put it over the edge of wickedness is a tappered tang.

Rick
 
Thanks Rick, I appreciate the comments. I was just happy to get the bevels ground decently on this one so I hadn't yet gotten up the courage to try a tapered tang. I do have a blank waiting in the wings with a tapered tang, so that will be coming up in the not too distant future (assuming I don't goof it up some other way!)
 
Only your 7th knife? Ok, I quit. I am nowhere near your workmanship after 3 years. Nice work!!
 
Thanks Phil, I appreciate the nice words! It's taken me almost 2 years to get seven knives done, so as you can see I don't exactly work at a blistering pace.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top