been gone for a while... still trudging along... ground a pre-cut blank sharpfinger

G

gotmike

Joined
Nov 26, 2012
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was given a sharpfinger blank from a buddy... he said he got it from the factory or something like that... not sure on how, or any other details... but he has a pile of them... so i decided it would make a nice gift for my dad... from what i can tell the blank was heat treated... made it a bear to grind... but it came out pretty good... had some chunks of purpleheart wood for handle scales... and some micarta spacers...

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the grind isn't perfect... but the flaws are minor... and i know my dad's going to be thrilled with it... it turned out very very sharp when i put the final bevel on the blade (just after the pic's were taken... lol...)
it's not a true sharpfinger... i have one and it doesn't have the finger grooves, or the lanyard loop on the end... but this fit's the hand well... and seems pretty easy to handle... tips for future builds and constructive criticism welcome...
 
Very nice gift.

In the future, don't make the handle drop down in a thin pieces at the finger rest. The grain runs along the handle, and that small section will snap off at the first bump....especially on a softer wood like amaranth ( purpleheart).
 
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yeah... i thought of that when i was gluing it... so i was extra careful to get glue spread evenly down into the point of the finger loop... though i thought that amaranth was a hardwood... when i was reading on it, it's supposed to be good hard wood... hadn't done much with it before... though i know it's a bit finicky about being sanded... it'll quickly turn that deep purple if you put too much heat to it in sanding...
 
Hardwood and softwood are species types. It is not necessarily a reflection of the "hardness" of the wood. Bass wood is a hardwood that can be cut with a butter knife. Heart pine is a softwood that will bend nails and dull drill bits.

Normally, we consider hardwoods as coming from deciduous trees, and softwood comes from conifers. Technically, it is hardwood = angiosperms and softwood = gymnosperms.
 
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