A Knife with a Secret

[John Cahoon]

Hey all, here is a knife with a secret! Way back on Nov 13 I did a post on hidden pins and this is the result. Back then I realized I needed to grind the front choil area higher post heat treat (bad planning) and when I did the front pin was too low. So I took the good advice of setting things aside and thinking of solutions and they will come eventually. I had plenty of other things to work on of course. But this turned out pretty well. The hidden pin is 1/8 threaded rod going about 3/4 into the scale on each side. I taped the drill bit so I didn't go too far and thankfully did not break thru when final shaping. The front copper pin(s) are for looks, the rear pin goes all the way through. I think it's rock solid and happy with the way it turned out.

The scales are Vitex Agnus Castus for all you wood guys. It's pretty hard and grows in the Mediterranean and into Asia, and also in the back of my office building in mid-town Phoenix AZ where a handful of dead branches has been waiting for me for 5 years to trim them. Glad I did, I think it's beautiful wood. Down side I only have enough for maybe three more.

So, knife and scales are sanded to 600 grit, with a danish oil and carnauba wax finish. It's not sharpened yet but should take a fine edge.

Back to the pins, they are an attempt at homemade "mosaic", 1/16th copper tube inserted into 1/8th copper tube. Even though I spun them while inserting they did not center perfectly. Is there a trick to this or do we just takes our chances?

And please, any other critique of knife is also welcome.



For my next trick I'm making my first two piece/double pinned scales with threaded rod pins, from Black Limba and Ironwood, no spacer, from smaller remnants... waste not and all that. They are curing now, so far so good.

 

[JTknives]

Not bad.
I would have moved the pins much closer to the ends of the scales. 1/2"-3/4" in from the ends of the scales. With them being that close to each other and not being aligned it looks a little off. A question, why did you use the pin hole in the middle of the handle? Where you trying to save the scales? I would have ditched the scales if thy allready had holes and drilled new holes in the tang and mated up new scales with pins in the correct location.

But all that said it finished out nice. Good job on finishing a blade that you set aside.

 

[John Cahoon]

Hi JT, if I understand correctly no, the scales were not drilled initially and frankly I didn't want to go buy a carbide (I think?) drill bit for the hardened steel. I was concerned I'd have to buy a whole set likely worth more than the knife, so I thought this was the way to go. Maybe my reasoning is askew.

I used the middle hole because it was not affected by my revised choil and I saw a way to make the knife look "normal" with visible pins front and aft. My initial idea when I set it aside was full hidden pins with no faux pins at all. Normally I try to be equidistant between the lanyard, middle and front pin but now I wish I'd moved the faux pins forward a tad. I saw that the middle pin was a bit low but until it was all done I did not realize it would look off that much.

Of course any end user would be made fully aware of the "secret" and I thank you for the valuable observations. Any idea how to improve the centering of the mosaic tube in a tube for next time? They were installed and curing before I noticed they were that far off. Maybe I could force a patina? Or should I call them eccentric mosaic pins and let it be?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

First, the mosaic tube:
Use spacer wires on each end to hold the tube centered. on each end, insert three 1/4" long pieces of thin wire spaced at 120° so they center the inner tube.

Rivet size - The rivets look far too small, especially for mosaic rivets. I would have gone with pins roughly equal to the thong tube.

Carbide drill bits - If you are going to make knives you will need a few carbide bits. Generally a 1/4" bit will do most tasks. Having a 3/8" and 1/4" bit will do 95% of most tang drilling tasks. Remember that the tang hole should be roughly 50% larger that the pin size. Be aware that you will break a few while learning to use them properly.

The answer to all the issues you had are in planning. Make drawings/sketches, modify them as needed, if doing something for the first time, make a model out of cardboard or wood to see if the shape works. Don't cut steel until you have the bugs worked out .... and don't drill tang holes until after all bevels and profiles are finished. Plan the pin size before drilling any holes, too.

 

[John Cahoon]

Thank you Stacy, The wire centering is very clever, never would have thought of it on my own and it should work great. I will get carbide bits and I've seen threads here on proper use. As for planning this was ground last spring when my processes were re-developing (with huge help from you and all here) after a long hiatus. It's the only post heat treat modification I've done so going forward issues like this should be minimal (I hope) and I learned a lot.
Thanks again, John (or is it.....John I can never get that straight)