A pair of Mosaic Hunters.

[Salem Straub]

Here's a pair of mosaic hunters. I spent 15 hours of July 4th finishing them, and somehow the fire and explosions seem to have migrated into the work!

These knives are slightly dissimilar from each other in style.
Knife #1 is 9” in overall length, with a blade length of 4-1/4”. It is the sleeker of the two, and has a curved/tapered handle.
Knife #2 is 8-3/4” in overall length, with a blade length of 3-3/4”. The handle has a slight finger notch.

Both are forged from the same tiled-out billet of coarse w's steel, with bolsters from the ends of the same billet forged on.

Both have handles of some incredible cocobolo I recently picked up, finished with Teak Oil.

The nickel silver handle pins are domed, and the grips are heirloom fit.

Lemme know what you think!

 

[Lorien]

beautiful work, Salem

 

[Craig Daniel]

Those are outstanding Salem!

 

[BP_]

absolutely stunning, thanks for sharing!

 

[Chris Montgomery]

Those are beauties! Well done Salem.

Chris

 

[MT Damascus]

Great looking knives, Salem, glad to have scored one. Will post a pic when Paul is done with the sheath.

 

[bobasaurus]

Those integral bolsters are slick. Do you forge weld pieces just where the bolster is going to be for later grinding to shape?

 

[watermule]

Those are sweet brother!

 

[T.K.C.]

They are beautiful knives!!

 

[Salem Straub]

Sorry guys, I was away for a week...
Bobasaurus, yes those bolsters are forge welded on and then the whole knife is mostly forged to shape.
Thanks for the good comments y'all!

 

[Shane W]

Both are fantastic, but I like Knife #1 just a little more.

... and the grips are heirloom fit.

I have never heard that before, heirloom fit, what does it mean?

 

[Eduardo Berardo]

Wonderfull knives Salem. Congratulations my brother!

 

[Jonathans]

Beautiful. I love the heirloom fit of the handles.

 

[Erin Burke]

Great work Salem. I really like these... especially the one without the finger notch. Knowing your work, I bet they both feel great in-hand. :thumbup:
Erin

 

[Salem Straub]

Thanks guys!
Shane, "heirloom fit" refers to the handle wood being slightly, and evenly, proud of the adjacent metal furniture. It serves a few purposes- the most important being that if the wood shrinks or swells a little over time, the dimensional change should not be readily apparent at the joint. If the metal and wood are finished flush to begin with, the metal may begin to feel proud of the wood, with a sharp edge- and that is no good.
It gives a certain look that is popular as well, as long as it is not too pronounced or looks in any way unintentional. As an added note, I'll say that at least for me, although it adds a little difficulty in a way, it is a convenient way for me to prepare an added handle piece to an already-etched damascus bolster.

 

[Shane W]

Excellent! Thanks for the education and taking the time to answer a newbie's question ... I appreciate it!

I had seen it done before on other knives and liked the way it looked, so I did it on the last Bowie knife that I made. I didn't know it had an official name and what the reasoning behind it was.



Thanks again.

 

[Big Rick]

Awesome work Salem. I'm loving that Damascus!