Bowie make over

Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Joined
Jun 17, 2001
Messages
5,705
I was given a bunch of small pieces of ram horn in December and decided to give it a go and use it as a spacer. There's 5 pieces of it glued together to make the spacer in the first picture. My lack of experience with it made me try soaking the whole handle in Nelsonite for at least 24 hours. I let it air dry for a couple weeks and then finished the handle off and let it set for a couple more weeks. I took a look at it after that and the ram horn expanded and every joint of the ram horn separated right at the surface and just looked like heck. I figured I had given it enough chances so I destroyed the handle and fittings removing it. This gave me a chance to try something a little different once again. I had purchased some Koa from Chuck Richards at the Oregon Mini Knife Show this past December and gave it a try. The fittings were made out of iron wagon wheel and the blade is W-2. What do you think?

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I like the first one but lOVE the second one. The stacked look for the handle is interesting in breaking up the wood. Its hard to tell but in the first one is there a slight swedge from the guard to the tip? The second one appears to have one as well.

I like how you went without a gaurd on the second one and the pommel just looks different and unique to me. I could see using it as a camp knife as it probably slices very well. W2 is one of my favorite steels, it holds an edge very well to me.
 
a fishtail bowie with a fishy tale!:D
I like how you change things up every now and then, Ray:cool::thumbup:
Interesting how both handles are fairly symmetrical.
I don't know if the refit makes a better looking knife. The before and after both look great to my eyes.
 
barrabas74 said:
I like the first one but lOVE the second one. The stacked look for the handle is interesting in breaking up the wood. Its hard to tell but in the first one is there a slight swedge from the guard to the tip? The second one appears to have one as well.

I like how you went without a gaurd on the second one and the pommel just looks different and unique to me. I could see using it as a camp knife as it probably slices very well. W2 is one of my favorite steels, it holds an edge very well to me.
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Both blades have a full length swedge. Its the same blade in both pictures although I did remove a little width of the blade on the redo.

Lorien, Fish tail? I tried to make it look like the joint end of a bone. :D Actually I liked the look of both knives. Nothing I hate worse than having to destroy a piece of my work. Fortunately I don't do that often. There was a lot of time wasted on the first one not to mention a really nice piece of African blackwood down the drain.
 
sorry Ray. It's my coastal lifestyle skewing my perception towards all things aquatic.
great, now I have to think up another dumb joke.:rolleyes:
 
Ray I like both versions but I am leaning toward the first if I where asked. I usually do not like spacers but the horn looks great. Don't get me wrong The new version is very nice
 
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They're both gorgeous! :thumbup:

I do prefer the second one tho'; it speaks to me... :eek:
 
Lorien said:
sorry Ray. It's my coastal lifestyle skewing my perception towards all things aquatic.
great, now I have to think up another dumb joke.:rolleyes:
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Not to mention your Canadian. :D I bet I know what you have been up to also...

Joe, I think you more partial to S guards. I like both but realistically there's only one that survived.
 
That first one may be my favourite of yours yet. I think the combination handle looks absolutely beautiful - too bad it didn't work out. I hope you can figure a way to make it work because it would be worth pursuing. Maybe you could try for a similar look, but with a lighter contrasting wood for the spacer instead of horn? The re-handle looks great also - though hard to recognize as the same knife. Koa is one of my favourite woods.

Roger
 
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RogerP said:
That first one may be my favourite of yours yet. I think the combination handle looks absolutely beautiful - too bad it didn't work out. I hope you can figure a way to make it work because it would be worth pursuing. Maybe you could try for a similar look, but with a lighter contrasting wood for the spacer instead of horn? The re-handle looks great also - though hard to recognize as the same knife. Koa is one of my favourite woods.

Roger
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Roger, I'll try it again. I think the trick with the ram horn is to just leave it natural and put a coat of wax on to finish it. Maybe the koa would be the wood to use with it. Its a pretty light colored wood when it left natural.
 
Man that's beautiful Ray. I like both versions, and really wish that spacer had worked out. But the koa is so pretty I'm really partial to that one too. Now I'm all mixed up. Too bad we can't have everything, huh? Not fair! You're one hell of a knifemaker man.
 
beautiful, love the handle on the improved version:thumbup: but i hate to say it im kinda partial to the guard on the first
either way thats a winner
ivan
 
I agree with Roger that you should try that first one again. That is a stunning knife that really appeals to me. I also think that is one of my favorite of yours yet.
 
Great save Ray :thumbup:

Although I am sad the first one didn't pan out, it sure was beautiful --- you know how I feel about those s-guards :)
 
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