Bulldog

[JayFisher]

This is one of my most popular combat knives for Close Quarters Battle (CQB).

United States Marine Corps "Bulldog" Combat, Tactical, Fighting Knife. Blade: Mirror finished and custom etched 440C high chromium stainless tool steel, hardened and tempered to Rockwell C58.5, with fully tapered tang and rear finger ring. Bolsters: mirror polished 304 high chromium, high nickel austentitic stainless steel, dovetailed and pinned. Handle material: Cocobolo exotic hardwood, naturally self-sealing, oily and resinous, secured with bolster dovetails and 304 stainless steel pins. Red, white and blue vulcanized fiber spacers for color. Sheath: double layer Kydex®, hot formed with aluminum welts, aluminum belt loops, and blued steel Chicago screws.

This knife is worn on the non-leading hand side (the hand that is not carrying the firearm), in combat. The edge faces forward, and the forefinger of the hand glides into the finger ring first, pulling the knife from the sheath. The knife is then positioned for a backward or blind side thrust toward opponent. The point is thinned with a topside half-length swage, yet is still strong enough to support a major forward thrust. The spine is fully thick for three quarters of the blade, supporting the thrust, stab, and slice. Held in this tactical grip, the forearm is protected by the spine, the knife is locked into the hand. It is remarkably comfortable and solid.

Here's a bead blasted version with a D2 blade and micarta handle with gray kydex

You can see how the knife is drawn and the grip style here. This is a devastating blade, designed to punch through seven layers of clothing (typical in the current operational field). It is held in a defensive tactical grip.

And here's one with a more artistic touch, with Ziricote hardwood and a black rayskin inlaid sheath:

 

[McAhron]

A wood handle?! He he
cool design Jay.

 

[JayFisher]

A wood handle?! He he
cool design Jay.

Yes, McAhron, it's true. I've made hundreds and hundreds of wood handled knives, too. I've even got a new page on my site just to handle the woods. I'll bet it's one of the best wood knife handle detail pages you've seen. There are descriptions and pics of 50 wood species, over 200 alternative names, and common Q and A about the woods used in knife handles. Here's the link

Let me know what you think!

Thanks,
Jay

 

[KnifeHead]

Wooooooo! Sexy and Dangerous. Well done Jay:thumbup:

 

[McAhron]

I have visited your site before.I love your use of stone and wish to do some myself someday.You have stated before the stone holds up well and you have never had a warranty issue.I have a lapidary saw,what other specialty tools do you use to form stone?

 

[JayFisher]

I have visited your site before.I love your use of stone and wish to do some myself someday.You have stated before the stone holds up well and you have never had a warranty issue.I have a lapidary saw,what other specialty tools do you use to form stone?

I often tell my wife that I don't have to worry about someone challenging my tradecraft of making gem handled knives. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. It is not. Gemstone is the toughest, hardest, most frustrating material in the world to work with. To work with rock, you must have a complete lapidary shop. I've seen some beautiful stone ruined by guys that think they can work it on their belt grinder (the mainstay of the knifemaker's shop). Gem must be worked with under oil or water, and never heated during cutting and grinding. It must be cut with diamond saws that run under a special pure mineral oil coolant, and the feed rate and cutting speed carefully controlled. I have eleven rock saws, from a 24" diameter to a 4" diameter. I also have dozens of small, hand-held diamond saws, cutters and grinders. To shape rock, it must be ground with either diamond or silicon carbide lapidary wheels under water or oil. I have six separate wet grinders for such a task. The finishing of stone is very tedious and sometimes tricky. You must wet-sand with specialized belts (either silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, or diamond abrasives) under water or oil. To properly finish a rock, it must be ground through ten steps of grade of abrasives, and the polishing method for each stone is different. To polish, I use cerium oxide, tin oxide, aluminum oxide, numerous man made polish materials, on many different mandrels and tools, including impregnated phenolics, hardwoods, hard and soft felts, diamond impregnated bands, leather, muslin, cotton, and canvas.

But it isn't just the equipment. If it were, every jeweler and lapidary would have the ability to mount and finish gemstone handles on knives. It also takes a tremendous amount of skill, patience, and knowledge to work with rock. Every single rock is different. Every one responds to a different abrasive or technique, every one must be handled different. Some respond poorly to vibration, but are tough and solid when mounted on a knife tang. Some are a bit flexible (really)! Some are more brittle than others, some have inclusions to work around, eliminate from the material, or accent for a specific look. Some are so incredibly hard that it takes three times the effort to cut them. Some will check and frac if the slightest bit of concentrated heat builds on the surface, some actually benefit from high heat and pressure! Some rock dust is toxic, all is abrasive and dangerous to breathe. There is also a tremendous amount of tactile practice in working with lapidary carvings (that is essentially how gemstone handles are made). You must be able to feel the cut happening, judge when the feed pressure or tool speed is correct, sense the balance and weight of the piece. Lapidary work takes a great deal of time, which most knife makers are not willing to invest. You may be nearly finished with a gem and reach a void, vug, or pocket that requires you to start over with a new piece of material. You may have to cut a 90 pound, 12 inch thick block of rock into thirty slabs before finding a piece that is suitable for handle scales. You may have a material that looks stunning, but as you cut it and grind it, it literally falls into crumbs. You may have rock appear on the market for a year, then never see it again. And you have to have hands like hawsers, yet sensitive to the lightest touch, and if you don't, they will be, or you won't be successful.

--from my gemstone knife handles page here​

Funny I should post all this without a gemstone knife handle picture in this post, so here's one!

Here's a pic of one of a dozen or so wet grinders I have in the studio. It's a dirty, wet job!

 

[Andrew Taylor]

I happened to see your work last night and decided to look at your website. I cost me 3 hours of my life, and I only scatched the surface! As a professional chef, I was enthralled by your chef's knives and your curved knife block is just an amazing piece of art. I showed my wife the knife I liked and she said "buy it if you want it, it is beautiful". I may well be in touch before Christmas.

I used to do tumble-stone lapidary jewellery and always wanted a diamond saw, but at 22 years of age couldn't afford it.

 

[JayFisher]

I happened to see your work last night and decided to look at your website. I cost me 3 hours of my life, and I only scatched the surface! As a professional chef, I was enthralled by your chef's knives and your curved knife block is just an amazing piece of art. I showed my wife the knife I liked and she said "buy it if you want it, it is beautiful". I may well be in touch before Christmas.

I used to do tumble-stone lapidary jewellery and always wanted a diamond saw, but at 22 years of age couldn't afford it.

Hi, Andrew. Thanks for posting. And thanks for taking the time to look at my site. I hope it was informative. I spend a heck of a lot of time there myself!

Professional chef's knives are picking up momentum in the industry. I think that is because as factory prices keep going up, and the factory knives essentially stay the same, people are beginning to question why they would pay so much for the same junky knives, when they could spend a little more and have a knife (or set) that would last them for generations, something extremely well made and beautiful. Consequently, I have several custom order projects on the bench right now, sets and individual knives for the chef. Look for them to be posted there before Christmas.

Right now, my orders are running from 6 to 10 months. I guess that is a client's biggest complaint, but as the work becomes more popular, that is how it should be. I've heard of makers who have a 7 year waiting list, and other makers who just make what they want and then a potential client would have to get on a list to be called when the knife comes up for sale! So I guess my lead time is not too bad...

Lapidary work is cool. Not too many people have the patience for it, as you probably have discovered. Working up a piece of stone is a whole lot different than working with steel, wood, or antler.

 

[TALEL]

Jay, the one with micarta handles is truly a bad ass.
Exactly the kind of mate that won't ever let you down.
My kind of blades.

 

[JayFisher]

Jay, the one with micarta handles is truly a bad ass.
Exactly the kind of mate that won't ever let you down.
My kind of blades.

Check out this new one just up on my site for sale. It's got an Australian Blackwood handle and bead blasted hot blued blade, mate!

 

[cybrok]

That's a nice knife

 

[McAhron]

Thanks for the thouruogh reply Jay

 

[Keith Montgomery]

That Bulldog is one fine looking fighter.