Bowie Build-along

[Sandstroem82]

Thank you for this thread, Will! This is very is impressive and informative

 

[tedinatl]

This is great! thanks for sharing, Will!

 

[Shaw Blades]

Thanks mate. Having crazy eyes is the key to accurate guard slots.

Here's a better picture of the guard shaping fixture:

There's a threaded hole in the round bar.

Thanks

 

[Leethal Cutlery]

Wicked work brother!! Thanks for taking the time to put this together!!

 

[Lorien]

I can only think of one other WiP thread that's as good as this one.

 

[giedymin]

That is a great WIP. I've learned a lot. Thank you very much Sir.

 

[Liam021]

Wow this is outstanding! I cant wait to see it finished!

 

[Bgbdwolf]

Great W.I.P., really good pics too.

 

[jobasha11]

Great wip. I never really thought about how much work goes into the guard.

 

[FullyTorque]

Awesome WIP, I'm learning a lot. Using facets and multi-stage templates to keep the handle symmetrical is something I'm definitely going to try.

 

[MARSUS]

Very good,thanks for sharing-

 

[custombuff]

I love these detailed WIP threads, especially when the maker is so meticulous in their methods. Thanks!

 

[jeffsaul]

This utterly mind blowing the amount of work that goes into a project like this, absolutely amazing, beautiful work!

Jeff

 

[Aboo]

Thank for sharing this work and your way, specially how to grind plunge line.

 

[Will Morrison]

Next I round over this edge, and give the handle another coat of oil.

Once the second coat was dry I scrubbed it back with 0000 steel wool, and then polished it with some rottenstone on piece of old t-shirt.

The finished handle.

 

[Will Morrison]

Finishing the blade. I finish the spine, choil, and clip before the bevels.

Cleaning up the bevels.

For the final finish I back the sandpaper with some fairly hard rubber.

 

[Will Morrison]

With The blade, guard, and handle all finished, it's for the final assembly. I begin by filing the tang a bit to give the epoxy something to hold on to.

Using a chainsaw file I cut some shallow notches in the end of the tang, again, to give the epoxy something to grab on to. This is really overkill, but it only took a minute.

After thoroughly cleaning the tang I pressed the guard on one last time, this time with JB weld in the joint. I could glue the guard on at the same time as the handle, but I like to worry about one joint at a time if I can.

I did 90% of the clean up with the tape still protecting the ricasso, but the final clean up had to be done tape-free.

With the JB weld set I squirted some epoxy in the handle and clamped the knife up in my glue-up fixture. I cleaned up the excess epoxy with Renaissance Wax.

Once the epoxy had cured I installed the pin. This was a nerve wracking process, so I only managed to get a few pics.
I got one side peened before inserting it into the handle with a drop of epoxy.

When both ends of the pin were expanded sufficiently, I shaped them with files, then sandpaper, then finally buffed them.

 

[Will Morrison]

The next step was to... take some photos of the finished knife! All done. Thank you all for following along!

 

 

[C_Becker]

That is a beautiful knife and thanks for taking the time to give us a look at your work :thumbup:

 

[bobbywett]

Young Mr Morrison ... You Kick Ass!!!