First Commissioned knife

[Nathan L]

I have not been making knives for very long, so this knife presented a lot of firsts for me. It was the first time I ever worked with Damascus, the first time working with dessert iron wood and the first time making a one pice bolster and liner. The guy that I made it for wanted me to take pictures of every step involved in making it. So I did, but I wont post all of those. I am sure there are already plenty of WIP's by people who are far more talented than I.
The knife is made from Devin Thomas Stainless damascus, twist pattern. Dessert ironwood and handles with blue, black and brass liners. What do you think?

note the small nick in the edge, these pics were taken before I sharped the knife. It was sharped out and the point was made pointier. The guy I made it for owns a jewelry store and carries a 10x loupe and a small set of calipers in his pocket. Needless to say he would have probably noticed any mistakes. Not to say that I did not make some though. Thanks for looking. Comments welcome.
Nathan Longshore

 

[blixxx]

The knife is very very nice, very elegant. The handle shape is awesome! What do you call it?

 

[Lorien]

I think it's an interesting and useable looking design, but the forward pin looks a little too far back, and just judging by your pics, the edge bevel looks like it might be a little fat for a knife like this. Couple little fit and finish issues here and there, (might be the lighting), but I really like the one piece bolster/liner assembly- that's pretty trick.

 

[stereo.pete]

Beautiful if I do say so myself!

 

[Bigfattyt]

Great looking knife.

 

[Steve Nuckels]

Great looking knife! I like all the materials and the look of the liners next to the damascus! I like the brass.
The handle is very nice, reminds me of a gunstock design. Nice sheath too!
Very nice.

Steve
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Member, W.F. Moran Jr. Museum & Foundation

 

[Nathan L]

I think it's an interesting and useable looking design, but the forward pin looks a little too far back, and just judging by your pics, the edge bevel looks like it might be a little fat for a knife like this. Couple little fit and finish issues here and there, (might be the lighting), but I really like the one piece bolster/liner assembly- that's pretty trick.

Thanks for the reply. I wondered if any one would notice the first pin being far back. The story behind that is when I first started the knife we were going to use a bolster that was shaped like a keystone and about an inch long. So I drilled the holes accordingly, then after the knife was heat treated the customer decided he wanted to have a bolster that was about a 1/4 inch wide. I did not know if I could drill holes in hardened steel. My pin holes were also too far back for the thin bolster so that's why we did a one pice bolster and liner and why the pin was off. If all that makes any sense, it did while I was typing, but reading back over I don't know.
Thanks
Nate