Carving knife I finished up today

[pwheeler]

Haven't posted a knife in shoptalk in while. I am quite pleased with this one so I thought I'd throw it up. I'd love to hear some thoughts for improvement. I'm running out of new ideas a bit, although I do have a few new things to try in the near future. Finish on S35VN continues to be a bear, I got this one to where I'm happy with it, but there always seem to be that dark streak running down the middle on many of the knives. I believe its because the steel dulls the paper so fast, the center of the paper ends up being effectively a higher grit than the edges. I'm now taking just one swipe with the edge of the sanding block before moving the paper and that is working alright but it's still a pain, and finishing takes hours on end to get where I'm reasonably satisfied. Thanks for looking gents, cheers.

 

[Augus7us]

Looking good. I love the handle. Spalted wood is among my favorites and I can't tell but it looks like copper you have in there. Whatever it is it looks real nice.

On finish sanding if you haven't already, you might try to put some thick cork on the back of your sanding paddle for higher grits. It seems to help me. I bought a cheap variety pack of gasket material from Amazon that has come in handy for backing on my sanding sticks.

-Clint

 

[pwheeler]

Looking good. I love the handle. Spalted wood is among my favorites and I can't tell but it looks like copper you have in there. Whatever it is it looks real nice.

On finish sanding if you haven't already, you might try to put some thick cork on the back of your sanding paddle for higher grits. It seems to help me. I bought a cheap variety pack of gasket material from Amazon that has come in handy for backing on my sanding sticks.

-Clint

I use leather, but I've wondered if maybe it's too firm after a couple years of getting compressed. Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

 

[T.Saslow]

Nice Work :thumbup:
I love the transition between the dark wood (I really want to say figured walnut?) and the spalted wood. Elegant, yet not so subtle that the eye doesn't notice it. The mosaic pin in the "Bolster" is a nice touch too! Well thought out

 

[pwheeler]

Thanks backyard, it's claro walnut from burlsource and spalted hackberry, both stabilized.

 

[Matt Rochester]

I also have problems with the dark streak down the center when doing a hand rubbed finish. I will have to try the cork.