Damascarbotanium-----Chris Moss WiP

SharpByCoop said:
The vid is revealing and instructive. It's making me cringe at shooting that handle. It will be hard to replicate THAT action. :)

One critique, Chris: finial nut wrench: 7MM ???!!! That must be a 'bike shop' size. My 7mm wrenches, sockets, etc are all minty, because NO ONE uses 7mm nuts. :eek: :p

Coop
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Haha.. better you shooting it than me, but if anyone is up to the task, you are. i am really excited to get a professional photograph on my knife. it will be the frist. and honestly this is the first one i have felt in any way comfortable sending to you. I wanted the fit and finish to be just right. I do alot of motorcycle work, so i almost never use my standard stuff. sorry if it is a bother. there might be enough fudge to get a 1/4 on it...

Lorien said:
Coop, it's funny I laughed to myself when Chris mentioned the 7mm wrench. Needless to say, as a Canadian, a Volkswagen owner and a bicycle mechanic, I was very pleased. I'll trade you my standard wrenches for your metric ones! lol
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i honestly didnt think about that. but if i had known you had a Volkswagen i would have i would have known... when i had one all my metric stuff got a work-out.

SBranson said:
I've been watching and waiting to see the finished piece but that video shows it clearly.

The workmanship on this is fantastic. I really liked seeing how snug that handle fit before you cinched it down with the nut and the shimmer in the handle is mesmerizing.

Knowing Lorien and his uses, I'm a little surprised about the slickness of the grip and that I suspect that that "S" guard will be snagging on salal quite a bit..
or is this not going into the rotation? It looks like it would be a fast blade with the thinness of it, the titanium and CF. Was the weight mentioned? I don't recall seeing it but I bet it's light and fast.

Nice work guys.
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I dont know if this will be a heavy user or not. However, it should be up to the task. i had to bend the blade almost 45 degrees to get out any of the slight warp the blade got during heat treating. this is a resilient blade. I am very happy with how snug everything is. Molding the handle around the tang made it a perfect fit that certainly is reflected in the solidity of the knife. The slickness of the blade was primarily to show off the carbon. the duller it is the less detail and reflection you get. the benefit is... if it turns out to be too slick. all you have to do is pull the handle off and run some 320 grit paper over it for a grippier handle.


Also, i wanted to report, that the balance point for the blade is right at 1/2" in front of the guard. Though, if you slide you had down that handle a bit you can get a really hefty swing on the blade and the swell in the handle allows for a really secure grip. Your hand position changes it from a light and fast fighting knife to a hefty machete.
 
SBranson said:
I've been watching and waiting to see the finished piece but that video shows it clearly.

The workmanship on this is fantastic. I really liked seeing how snug that handle fit before you cinched it down with the nut and the shimmer in the handle is mesmerizing.

Knowing Lorien and his uses, I'm a little surprised about the slickness of the grip and that I suspect that that "S" guard will be snagging on salal quite a bit..
or is this not going into the rotation? It looks like it would be a fast blade with the thinness of it, the titanium and CF. Was the weight mentioned? I don't recall seeing it but I bet it's light and fast.

Nice work guys.
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I'm hoping the quillion on whatever it's called will give my knuckles a bit of protection against the prickly stuff.
I think this knife will eat salal and salmon berry voraciously. I'm a wee bit nervous to use it for chopping lumber, but I have other tools for that job. The low weight, high speed, reach and 'butt kick' should make this a wicked trail recon knife. I often spend months if not years scouting for that perfect line, which is so hard to find because of salal, salmon berry and ocean spray, and this blade is born for that stuff.

I initially intended for the handle to be texturized by blasting and in my mind, I thought it would look a little like blasted wenge wood. I doubt I'll have many issues with grip though, I can add skateboard deck grip without damaging the finish and put the traction right where I want it.

I've been working on a trail for about a year and a half now, and I just need to cut through two small sections filled up with salal and other spindly stuff. I've been waiting for this knife to be complete so that I can record the work with my gopro.
 
Lorien said:
...I can add skateboard deck grip without damaging the finish and put the traction right where I want it....
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:p:p

Had to quote that as that's kinda what I meant about the slickness of the handle. At least you have the video.. Ha.. Just kidding!
 
Chris,

Glad to see you back in the shop! I wondered what happened to that billet. I'm digging the final product for sure!

-d
 
Lorien and Chris really great project

Lorien I did not know you where a VW fan just bought my third TDI jetta and the old lady a Toureg love um
 
JParanee said:
Lorien and Chris really great project

Lorien I did not know you where a VW fan just bought my third TDI jetta and the old lady a Toureg love um
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The only REAL VW's are Air-Cooled and the engine is in the back. :) And you won't need a 7MM wrench but you'll use the hell out of a 10mm, 13mm 15mm, 17mm and 19mm, A LOT. :)

Just kidding guys. The new VW's are cool, can't wait to see a 2012 Beetle.

And BTW, the knife is outstanding.

randy
 
I am with ya I love air cooled rear engine bugs :)

6b3c6b04.jpg
 
mine is a scabrous '74 Campmobile which has been off the road for, um, about 8 years? Keep meaning to give some love to the very first vehicle I ever owned, but it's hard to find the time.
 
Coop has delivered!

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Wow Coop, you really outdid yourself! Beautiful job on everyone's parts.
 
I'm only the messenger. Chris (and Lorien) deserve the accolades. Positioning lights simply shows what's there.

I was duly impressed with all the components: Blade, handle, fittings, and sheath. The fitment was very tight. Chris, you did good. (I drew a tiny 'up' arrow with a pencil on the backside of those pair of spacers. I had to ensure I'd get it right upon reassembly.)

The carbon is VERY visual. There's a new show at every twist.

Unlike the heavy choppers I've handled, this one is going to be fast. It's still front heavy, as it should be, but it whips around quick.

Lorien will have a specific brush for this one. :)

Coop
 
Coop, your pictures are excellent, the background color is perfect for me. I am very pleased, thank you.
 
Lorien was kind enough to have Coop send me the knife for a look-see on its way to him. I had expressed an interest in seeing it first hand, but had no idea that would actually come to pass—thank you, Lorien. Very generous of you. He also asked me to post my impressions of the knife, so without further delay:

My first impression on opening the package was, with a blade length of 10 5/8” plus 6” of handle, this thing is light! I set it on my postal scale and got 16 oz on the nose INCLUDING SHEATH. Bare naked it comes in at just 11.75 oz. By my caliper, blade thickness is .165” at the ricasso tapering to .135 at the top of the clip and then down to a very fine point which should penetrate efficiently with the sharpened clip. The clip is not a razor and not a danger with the current bevel, which is nicely convexed, but obviously could be sharpened easily for self defense purposes. The primary edge pops hair.

The longitudinal carbon fiber looks different in hand than in any of the pictures. On close inspection in bright light, to me it looks like black glass shards welded together. Wonderful depth and light play, obviously. The feel is much better in hand than I had anticipated, with almost a little “give” as you’d have with a phenolic or acrylic, but obviously much stronger. Even polished, the grip feels secure to me because of this, plus the ultra-light weight of the piece.

The titanium is indistinguishable from bronze patina in my eye, and is a wonderful weight savings and strength enhancement over bronze. The spacers/collar are subtle and nicely done. The fitment of the take-down handle looks and feels every bit as solid as “one-piece” construction.

When I swing the blade, as in a machete/chopping stroke, I get no interference from the wide-open guard, which was something I wondered about. I don’t know if it will serve to protect the hand from brush and thorns, but it seems like it could. The knife is very fast. When I choke up on the handle, there’s not quite enough room to get my forefinger into the choil, but smoothing off the heel of the edge would make that maneuver possible. The knife balances at the plunge, so this choke hold results in neutral balance and would make finer work with the rear edge very easy to do.

I can see Lorien in my mind’s eye hurtling down a forest path on his two-wheeler, and this knife definitely fits the image. Something akin to a cross between a space-age-materials, high-tech fighting machete and the blade of some medieval warrior wizard ensconced in his forest primeval.

When I look at all the beautiful knives in the Best Bowie thread, I’m reminded how much we admire style and form in our knives, and in some genres we are happy to give form the nod over function as an artistic expression. That’s how I first saw this knife, and to me, there are no apologies to be made for exploring creative possibilities. In so many cases, what first appears as purely a style touch eventually leads to more, as design cues are picked up and evolve.

I think as an original piece, the elements incorporated into this knife are more interesting than many such “free-style” efforts, and the final product when held in hand is really a lot of fun. I like it.
 
Will, thank you so much for taking the time to eloquently sum up your impression of this knife!
I especially enjoyed the following bit;

Will York said:
I can see Lorien in my mind’s eye hurtling down a forest path on his two-wheeler, and this knife definitely fits the image. Something akin to a cross between a space-age-materials, high-tech fighting machete and the blade of some medieval warrior wizard ensconced in his forest primeval.
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One of the great joys of custom knives, and it really hit me at AKI, is that the knives are only part of the equation. The communal, human aspect is arguably more important and by this I mean that custom knives shine much brighter when they are shared with others who appreciate them.

I'm pretty isolated proximally from many of the great knife shows which occur, and also by my work which allows little time to get away and little money to spend on getting away. As much as I'd love to attend some shows, (mostly for the interaction aspect) it will be some time before that's possible, so in the meantime I have to do what I can to achieve that interaction which I value so highly. So, Will, thank you for attending my mini knife show! Perhaps we will do another, next time I acquire a knife from the states:D.
 
Thanks so much again, Lorien, and as I was reading your post I thought of a tie-in between the "woven" pattern of the carbon-fiber inlay in the sheath and the more "antique" look of the knife--chain mail as used with armor by the warrior knights. I had thought the look of the carbon fiber on the sheath was overly modern for the piece, but in this context, the inlay works for me. :)
 
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