- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
Greetings all.
As a general rule, time spent talking with a knifemaker is time well spent. First of all, they are by far and away mostly good people that are enjoyable to be around. Secondly, you are almost always guaranteed to learn something if you manage to open your ears. Thirdly, on occasion, opportunities can present themselves right out of the blue.
Such was the case when, some months ago, I was chatting with David Wesner about knives and handle materials and a bunch of related subjects - including his "Gus" model camp knife, which I found very much to my liking:
We found that we both had an emerging appreciation for nice Koa wood - and it was David who tipped me off to the availability of one of the nicest boards I have seen:
David was kind enough to take delivery of that piece for me and cut it up into generously-sized knife blocks. Which all led to the idea of maybe putting one of the blocks to use on one of his camp knives.
The project had to wait until post-Blade due to a large project scheduled for completion then (see avatar) - but we recently got back on track.
The first point of departure from the original plan was to do the blade and fittings in damascus, which Dave had been working on quite a bit in the interim. The second was that this piece would be built as a takedown.
As for tweeks to the design, Dave drew up a sketch of his basic model with hidden tang as a starting point. I find this is the most effective way for collector and maker to get on the same page (literally and figuratively) when they can't stand close enough to rub shoulders. This is the starting point:
We traded some e-mails, bouncing ideas back and forth over some possible tweeks and alterations - some his, some mine - and went with two dimensional changes right off the bat - a slightly longer and slimmer blade. A slightly longer guard was suggested by Dave and I agreed.
Looking at version 2 - I figured we were real close - I though that just maybe I'd want to see the point come down a touch, and also suggested that a swedge running from the tip to the commencement of the curved plunge might give the blade a faster, leaner look. I have to credit Dan Farr with that last bit, as he had mentioned that very point when I was making my own recurve camp knife.
Dave had a visit from Aldo this weekend, and along with some good laughs (if you know Aldo, you know that's a given) and some quality steel (also a given). He's ready to get started and has kidly agreed ot share some pics of the process as it unfolds.
One small point - a miscommunication on my end in talking about overall length resulted in the handle being shortened by a 1/4" to 5" total. We're putting it back to 5 1/4" where we both feel it should be.
Roger
As a general rule, time spent talking with a knifemaker is time well spent. First of all, they are by far and away mostly good people that are enjoyable to be around. Secondly, you are almost always guaranteed to learn something if you manage to open your ears. Thirdly, on occasion, opportunities can present themselves right out of the blue.
Such was the case when, some months ago, I was chatting with David Wesner about knives and handle materials and a bunch of related subjects - including his "Gus" model camp knife, which I found very much to my liking:
We found that we both had an emerging appreciation for nice Koa wood - and it was David who tipped me off to the availability of one of the nicest boards I have seen:
David was kind enough to take delivery of that piece for me and cut it up into generously-sized knife blocks. Which all led to the idea of maybe putting one of the blocks to use on one of his camp knives.
The project had to wait until post-Blade due to a large project scheduled for completion then (see avatar) - but we recently got back on track.
The first point of departure from the original plan was to do the blade and fittings in damascus, which Dave had been working on quite a bit in the interim. The second was that this piece would be built as a takedown.
As for tweeks to the design, Dave drew up a sketch of his basic model with hidden tang as a starting point. I find this is the most effective way for collector and maker to get on the same page (literally and figuratively) when they can't stand close enough to rub shoulders. This is the starting point:
We traded some e-mails, bouncing ideas back and forth over some possible tweeks and alterations - some his, some mine - and went with two dimensional changes right off the bat - a slightly longer and slimmer blade. A slightly longer guard was suggested by Dave and I agreed.
Looking at version 2 - I figured we were real close - I though that just maybe I'd want to see the point come down a touch, and also suggested that a swedge running from the tip to the commencement of the curved plunge might give the blade a faster, leaner look. I have to credit Dan Farr with that last bit, as he had mentioned that very point when I was making my own recurve camp knife.
Dave had a visit from Aldo this weekend, and along with some good laughs (if you know Aldo, you know that's a given) and some quality steel (also a given). He's ready to get started and has kidly agreed ot share some pics of the process as it unfolds.
One small point - a miscommunication on my end in talking about overall length resulted in the handle being shortened by a 1/4" to 5" total. We're putting it back to 5 1/4" where we both feel it should be.
Roger
Last edited:
Maybe next time Dave!!:thumbup:
