Eastern Trade Assassin's Boot Dagger

Thanks a lot everybody...

Steve... I like bucks too. But we don't have em anymore up here.

Thanks for the very nice compliment Lorien....
 
Wow, so many wonderful details to enjoy here. I love the knife - the asymmetry doesn't bother me one bit. The copper wrap of the scabbard is off the hook. As always, just tons of character with your pieces.

Roger
 
Thanks again folks for the warm response.

Allen... Habakis are all fun and games until it comes to doing the final fitting and keeping the solder from breaking. That's when I start wondering.


I think they are kind of fun myself. But, they can make you sweat a bit.
 
Really cool piece Scott! :) :thumbup: :cool: :D

I have a couple san mai blades in the drawer that ended up too far off (mine were WAAAAY off). In a rustic styled piece like this, it doesn't jump out as a flaw at all (IMHO).

This knife has really nice lines and a really pleasing overall effect.

I'm sure Mark will be THRILLED!!! :) :thumbup:
 
Maybe if I wasn't the only one to ask.....

It would be really cool if Scott would do a WIP thread showing how he hand forges the Wrought Iron/Nickel/Steel billets and then shapes them into a blade. I am sure a lot of you guys already know how to do this, but I don't. I really like the raw, dramatic look that comes with this sort of blade.

What do you guys think? Should we ask?
 
Scott, After all the praise and atta boys, I started not to post at all, but since I have a "non-binding" opinion, I'll share it with you.

Your knife is what it is and if it suits you and your customer, then that's it.

When I hear one of the guys I'm teaching sheath work say "it's good enough", then I assume it's perfect, because anything less is not good enough, and that's just what I tell them. You probably have already used this knife as a very, very valuable learning experience and that's really good. The fact that it looks neo-tribal makes the asymmetry acceptable and, in fact adds to the charm, but if that is not what you were trying for, then you quit before you were finished.

I am not a knife maker, so you can blow my opinion off if you like, but the next time you make one that looks that good just don't advertise the mistakes that happened getting there. Had you done that I would be saying atta boy! great knife!.....but if you knew it wasn't what you were trying for, then it should never have seen the light of day.

I hope you accept this in the spirit in which I meant it, 'cause I'm really on your side.;)

Pul
 
Heck yes! Let's ask him!

Scott, it is amazing how quickly you have progressed, your the man! I can't wait to see where you go next! Also I'm a little disappointed you let me hanging on the hammer modification and texturing technique. Your holding out on me Bro!

Steve
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Potomac Forge
 
I don't mind doing a WIP at all. I have more to weld up next week.. I will take some pics.

Paul.. I agree in some respects and I almost put it away several times. But I think there is a difference between going with the flow and just accepting something as 'good enough'. Hand hammering laminated steel without power tools is a huge investment in time and labor to simply discard it. In my mind, the interesting effect of the nickel patterning added something unusual to the piece and I decided that the dagger deserved finishing. If that side ended up looking like crap, I never would've considered finishing it.. for a customer at least. Also.. I bet there are very, very, very few of us knifemakers that ever feel we have made a perfect knife.


BTW.. I hope you don't honestly mean that I should have said to everybody 'Here is my dagger with two sides. I wanted one side to represent the beauty of symmetry in nature and the other to represent the chaos of humanity!'. I think in terms of craftsmanship, honesty is the best way to go. We all know too much about how things go wrong to accept the line of BS that 'I meant to do that'.
 
Steve.. lol... I just welded some crap onto the end of an inverted rail to act as a receiving surface so I don't hammer out the texturing each time I flip over! I just use a wirefeed welder and start laying down stuff until I get what I want.
 
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