Bruce Bump MS - Winding Feather Fighter - WIP

That pattern looks amazing! Ain't serendipity great? Thanks Roger for posting these pics and Bruce for taking them!
 
Great piece, I love the long clip blade profile. More of a fighter than a bowie IMHO, but it's really a point of detail.
 
I don't know why, I had the word "bowie" in my mind, yet the thread is clearly labelled "fighter". Brain fart...
 
hey Bruce congratulations you have figured out the river of fire pattern that I developed back a while ago. I knew that you would get it it was just a matter of time.
 
hey Bruce congratulations you have figured out the river of fire pattern that I developed back a while ago. I knew that you would get it it was just a matter of time.

:D The differance is yours was intentional, mine was from grinding out deep cracks along the edges.:o
 
:D The differance is yours was intentional, mine was from grinding out deep cracks along the edges.:o

Well heck Bruce that don't matter you still have it figured out and can do it on purpose next time. you can use a deep ladder die instead of grinding notches.:thumbup:
 
Bruce, Bill,
I was there when Bill worked out River Of Fire. It was quite involved and took a lot of thought. Bruce aint it cool when great things happen by accdent.
Gary
 
Update from Bruce:

Today I lathe turned the finial nut and sawed a cross slot into it. It is drilled and threaded with a 10-24 thread pitch that matches the tang. I used a fine checkering file on the outside of the nut.

I also filled the handle with epoxy screwed it together and let it set up and removed the handle. The release agent, teflon tape and vasoline allowed it to come off very nicely.

I also had time to true up the handle and pommel so it is semetrical and flush with the wood. I did the shoe shine method with 320 grit. I actually want the wood about .010" proud of the guard and pommel but I needed to finish shaping and sanding everything first and now will remove that extra .010" from the guard and pommel.

I think I will use a Tru-oil finish on the wood. It will take some time but it the results are professional looking. After the wood finish it will be checkered.


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:eek:Wowza!! that sure looks great Bruce. Thanks for posting the pics Roger:thumbup:
 
Further update from Bruce:

"I sanded all the scratches out and applied a coat of the Watco brand oil stain."

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"After talking with several custom rifle makers they all had about the same thing to say about oil finishes. It seems the Tru-Oil is a good finish but its way too thick and you cant go by the instuctions. I emptied out 1/3 the oil from a new bottle and re-filled it with mineral spirits. I use a new bottle because this stuff has a short shelf life after its been opened especially. The unused portion turns to jelly so dont waste money buying the big economy bottle.

Anyway apply the oil with your finger and sand it with used 320 until it makes a slurry and looks to be drying up. Just leave it that way for about a week, yes a week. Smell it once in a while to see if it still smells wet. It needs to dry completely to seal the pores. That slurry filled the pores with its own wood dust and if you fuss with it before its dry it will have open pores again and will take a hundred coats to re-fill them again. That may be a slight exageration but you know what I mean.

I have done this on over 150 pairs of pistol grips and it does work. I know other people do things other ways but this is how I do it so no arguments. Its time consuming to say the least and thats why others do it differently. My super glue finish is much quicker but I want to show how my professional gun maker friends taught me. Yes this means this thread wont be over quick but I can do other things on the guard and spacers etc. between coats. After the seal (slurry) coat finially dries I can put one coat on per day or so. I will put it on and sand it back off with finer and finer grit paper until I reach about 4000 grit. The idea is to add oil and polish it at the same time. It builds slowly but believe me the results are worth the trouble. Have you ever accidently spilled oil on your cars paint job and tried to wipe it off? It doesnt come back off all the way, it always has that thin film of oil. This is the same principle. Wipe on, Wipe off. This is actually the extent of my karate skills.

Stained and put together one last time before applying the Tru Oil finish."


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Roger
 
Bruce had saddle maker Robin Severe do up a fine tooled sheath for the knife. Bruce will add a nickel-plated steel tip to the sheath and will also nickel plate the fittings of the knife.

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Roger
 
Lovely sheath, Bruce's tip will make it even better. Thanks for the pics Roger --- Bruce's work is inspired.
 
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