Custom chopper WIP

[trip]

Beautiful... Makes you appreciate the amount of work that goes into a great knife.

 

[mohd]

Other names for lignum vitae include palo santo (Spanish for "holy wood") and greenheart; lignum vitae is also one of the numerous hard, dense woods referred to as ironwood.

Lignum vitae is hard and durable, and is also the densest wood traded; it will easily sink in water. On the Janka Scale of Hardness, which measures hardness of woods, lignum vitae ranks highest of the trade woods, with a Janka hardness of 4500 lbf (compared with African Blackwood at 2940 lbf, Hickory at 1820 lbf, red oak at 1290 lbf, Yellow Pine at 690 lbf, and Balsa at 325 lbf).

What can you say about working with lignum vitae (i.e. compare to other woods) for a handle of your knife, Phillip?

The final grit used on the grinder was 240. Now I use 180 grit silicon carbide to remove those scratches.

What kind of liquid is that Phillip?

Or anybody please?

mohd.

 

[Phillip Patton]

What can you say about working with lignum vitae (i.e. compare to other woods) for a handle of your knife, Phillip?


What kind of liquid is that Phillip?

Or anybody please?

mohd.

Hi Mohd,
Lignum vitae, is, as the article you quoted says, very hard and dense. I like working with it. It takes a very high polish. The only things I don't like about it are:

It's very oily, so getting adhesives that will stick to it can be tricky.

It does turn green after awhile.

It seems to take a long time to dry out, so the finished handles may move.


I use Windex as a cutting fluid when hand sanding. It helps the sandpaper cut more aggressively, and last longer.

 

[butcher_block]

nice looking chopper cant wait to see the finished knife

 

[blad5]

Philip, I love the blade design. I am surprised at the buffed polish you got after a 240 grit finish.

Couple of questions. Do you find that Windex works better than WD40 as a cutting fluid?

I note that so far you only did the thong hole on one scale. Is there a reason you have left for later drilling the second scale?

Paul

 

[petah]

windex is cheaper and dosen't attract grit/dust/dirt.

 

[theblindog]

seeing a good knife is one thing...seeing one being made is an enlightenment.
thank you for sharing this phillip.

falah

 

[Phillip Patton]

Philip, I love the blade design. I am surprised at the buffed polish you got after a 240 grit finish.

Couple of questions. Do you find that Windex works better than WD40 as a cutting fluid?

I note that so far you only did the thong hole on one scale. Is there a reason you have left for later drilling the second scale?

Paul

Hi Paul,
I've never actually tried WD-40. It just sounds too messy, plus I like to keep my exposure to petroleum products to a minimum. And like petah said, Windex is cheaper.

I drill one scale after gluing the scales one because sometimes the scales move in relation to each other. This way, I know they'll line up, and there won't be any gaps.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Here I've drilled the other scale for the lanyard tube:

the tube:

Epoxied in:

I use 5 minute epoxy for the lube, so I don't have to wait all day to work on it.


Here I've used the bandsaw to cut off the extra length of the bolts:

Starting to shape the handle:

 

[on_the_edge]

After you polished the front of the scales to 240 grit, what exactly did you use to buff the front of the scales?

 

[Phillip Patton]

Here I've finished shaping, and also finished to 240 grit with the belt grinder:

Here I've clamped it in the vise to hand polish it:

Here's the sanding stick I use for curved areas:

Ready to buff:

After buffing. The knife is essentially done now. There's a few scratches to remove, but I'll wait until the sheath is finished to do that. I'll take some "glamour shots" when the knife and sheath are both finished.

I used Goo Gone to clean the residue from the tape off of the blade, and also the buffing compound from the handle. The Goo Gone also turns the handle from green to brown.

 

[Phillip Patton]

After you polished the front of the scales to 240 grit, what exactly did you use to buff the front of the scales?

Hey Chris,
I use a fairly hard buffing wheel, with green chrome compound.

 

[on_the_edge]

Thanks for that info, Phil. This has been a great thread.

BTW, I still have that big bowie you made for me sometime back and yes, I still love it. I think someone with a few of your knives may have mentioned it, or at least alluded to it, earlier in this thread, but one of the many things I love about my knife is incredible edge on it. It cuts like a much thinner knife (and I have some very serious cutters) yet it holds up like you would expect only a thicker edge would be able to do. I don't know that I fully understand why that is; I'm happy just using a great knife. I'm sure your customer will be just as happy with this knife. It's beautiful! :thumbup:

 

[Le Seb]

What a beauty Phillip, I'd like to see this one into the wild !
Congratulation on your work.

 

[Algonquin]

Awesome pics. I really enjoyed your step by step process. You sure make it look easy, but I'm sure lots of effort went into this piece of art.

 

[richard j]

phillip makes some amazing knives. i had the pleasure of meeting him back in 2007. i was amazed that someone his age was making knives that you would expect from an older maker.

 

[S.Knowles]

That Is SWEET! Thanks for the photos along the way Philip.

Shawn

 

[Lorien]

chop chop

 

[mohd]

Thanks for that info, Phil. This has been a great thread.

Agreed, Chris!

Lots of pics and info in here and lots of thanks to Phillip for all the efforts involved.
Looking forward to see the shots of the finished knife and the leather sheath from various angles, pretty please Phillip

mohd.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Agreed, Chris!

Lots of pics and info in here and lots of thanks to Phillip for all the efforts involved.
Looking forward to see the shots of the finished knife and the leather sheath from various angles, pretty please Phillip

mohd.

I have actually been working on the sheath on and off, but the last few days have been struggling with some very tenacious spyware on my computer. Things seem to be stabilized now, and I was able to edit some more pictures. So here they are: