Fish guttin', tater peelin', rustic knife

Sylvrfalcn

Sylvrfalcn

Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
3,930
Sometimes, I'll make a knife just for relaxation, odd as that may sound. Nothing fancy or complicated, just something quick, simple, and "down to earth". Thought y'all might like this one. Handle is simple, but strong, maple with a steel ferrule, over a tapered stick tang that runs three quarters the length of the handle. The five inch blade is convex ground, and being only 1/8" thick at the spine it cuts and slices with authority, but is still plenty stiff enough to punch a hole in an oil drum. It won't chop, hammer, or saw, but it'll do any job a knife is supposed to. My kind of knife. ;) :D

attachment.php


Sarge
 

Attachments

  • Picture 146.jpg
    Picture 146.jpg
    40.1 KB · Views: 178
Josh Feltman said:
I really like that one, Sarge, especially the handle.
Click to expand...

Thanks Josh, I'm glad you like it. Nothing real original though, the style is old as dirt. I respect cutting edge, no-kidding knifemakers, that are constantly developing new designs, but as for me, I figure if a certain design's been around a few hundred years, there must be a reason for it. ;)

Sarge
 
VERY nicely done! And a revolutionary concept too! whoda thunk it, a knife made with nothing but a hellaciously good razor sharp blade and a comfortable sturdy handle? I really, really, like that knife, and envy your having the talent to make it.

Thanks to you and your influence however, I now have to log off to go grind on a file and a piece of walnut! (If it turns out half as well, I'm gonna be a very happy man!)
 
Good luck and git 'er done RWS, but don't let enthusiasm to get to work make you forget little things like eye protection or a dust mask, safety first. I'll share a trick with you that I use when fitting stick tangs in handles. I take a jigsaw blade (straight tooth fine cut) and mount it in a simple handle. Then I grind the spine of the saw blade down to make the thing skinny. This can then be inserted into a drilled pilot hole in the knife handle, and used to open up the hole into a slot shaped to fit the tang. Good stuff huh? Cheap too. ;)

Sarge
 
Sarge, that is exactly the knife I'm looking for with a 4" blade.......how much do you want to make one????????????? Or do you do any bartering...........let's see I have an MRE, spaghetti, cool old german helmet, ummmmmmm and this cool knife I got from Yangdu that I don't even remember now what it is called. Haven't seen any for a long time.........must be a collectors item............LOL:D
 
mamav said:
Sarge, that is exactly the knife I'm looking for with a 4" blade.......how much do you want to make one????????????? Or do you do any bartering...........let's see I have an MRE, spaghetti, cool old german helmet, ummmmmmm and this cool knife I got from Yangdu that I don't even remember now what it is called. Haven't seen any for a long time.........must be a collectors item............LOL:D
Click to expand...

Same knife, but with a four inch blade? It could happen. But you can't pay or barter for it, that would mess up my amateur status. Can't say when it'll be ready, my creativity tends to be a bit sporadic, and I just bought a fishing license. ;)

Sarge
 
Simple is best for me . Nice handle . Your gonna have to tell me how you get such a good tang fit . I always wonder why they don,t pull out without peing peened over or pinned in .
 
Kevin, combine a good tight friction fit (i.e. gotta tap the handle the last 3/8" or so onto the tang with a hammer) and some two part epoxy, and you'd be amazed. Once upon a time I decided to change the handle on one of my knives thinking "how hard can it be to get the old one off?". About a half hour, a hacksaw, and a hammer and chisel later, I found out. I've never had a handle fail on any of my knives (knock on wood), but I suppose it could happen. :D

Sarge
 
Mmmmm nice knife! though I'm a paranoid nut-I'd put a pin through...just in case ;)
 
Kevin,

somewhere in some post from some time..

(vague enough?)

someone talks about heating the tang, wrapping a plastic bag around it, and jamming the sumbich in the hole in handle while the plastic is still ..er..plastic (gooey).

Kami trick, if I recall correctly.
 
I guess if you can,t pull it out by securing the blade and pulling on the handle it is more than I need . I wonder if it ever happened that a blade would come loose during a fight in the old days ? You can,t exactly say "Oops , my bad ,) and go home .
 
Sarge, You could just be my favorite knifemaker. Hmmm, knives that cut stuff. Radical idea. :o Not sharpened pry bars, just knives that cut stuff.

I like the artsy stuff too, but......

knives that cut stuff.:thumbup:

Steve
 
Yes, I like knives that cut stuff. Sports car and death knives really aren't for me.



munk
 
Thatuns a sweetie Sarge.

Been out in my garage a little today. Seems like this cold thing is dissipating and I can breathe and everything. Got a couple of blades in the "hand polish" stage. Man that stage takes forever. Gotta glue up a handle blank today too.

You da man.
 
munk's right about the death knives. I carry a kitchen knife instead when I'm out camping or whatever. Most of the jobs are about food anyway.

That's another beauty Sarge : )
 
Nice knife sarge...:thumbup:

My tastes run towards the 3" and a little bit thicker end of the spectrum, although I have wished at times for a slightly larger blade...:o

ahh quick question...I have having a similar problem as Kevin with my knife handle...instead of wood I am using surplus deer antler as my handle...Problem is I keep splitting it...Do I need bigger guide holes or what??

ohh yea...You should sell a few of your creations everynow and then...Some dudes like my LIKE the smaller "work" blades:D
 
Leatherneck?

Thinner tang or larger holes. Antler doesn't stretch. If you're drilling out the pith, you can angle the drill up and down to enlarge the hole inside, and have the tang be a rat-tail shape.

I use JB Weld.

Sarge does artisan caliber work. I make pieces stick together.


Have fun.
 
Kismet,
thanks for that bro...I cannot seem to grasp the glueing together much less anything any nicer..anyone that can do it as my respect

BTW..
The tang is already a rattail..It is one of the small DOTD chitlangis or something that I got last month...Was gonna give it away and decided to keep it to try my hand at making some knife sheaths from scrap leather I had laying around from my other hobby/obsession...Noticed that it had a cracked handle on it and figured I could replace it no sweat..Ahhhh well the sheath turned out really nice BUT the handle didnt...I am very glad I am better at making holster's than I am at making handles or my kids would starve!:D

After cracking 3 pieces of antler I just stuck a 8" file handle on it and called it a day:barf:

Sister said it was FUGLY and now I gotta change it to something nicer..

backon topic

Sarge...That design kinda reminds me of a large Opinal (sp?) I had when I was much younger (when it was opened anyway)....Or am I thinking Moray??...It wasnt tacticool so I traded it or sold it...Wish I had another one..There is a reason that designs like that last as long as they do..THEY WORK!!! Kudos again SIR!
 
As we guys will do, whenever I'm in a sporting goods or hardware store, I'll gravitate over to the knife display case, "uh, no thanks, just looking". What I see there doesn't sing to me, doesn't even whisper. I can't hear the bullfrog's croak, or the alligator's rumbling bellow on the Saint Mary's river at night. I can't feel the biting cold as shivering hands urgently work to get a fire lit. I don't see the young fawn, standing alertly on trembling legs, in the dim forest off the edge of the trail. I stand there before that glittering display case, saddened by the soulless, lifeless, objects, made by machines for people who themselves have become more and more machinelike.

I know why my crude home made knives have such an effect on people. They see in them, something they've been looking for in themselves, innocence, simplicity, authenticity, to be real, nothing more, nothing less. We live in a world where so much is artificial, so much is an imitation of life, but it's not the real thing, and we know it deep in the place where we keep our true hearts. A fish swims, a bird flies, a knife cuts. It doesn't get simpler than that.

Sorry about meandering so, reckon I'm in a bit of a mood. Just got off the phone with my best friend and longtime hiking/camping/canoeing partner. She has a way of bringing things out in me. Hard to say how much I love her and miss her, I am the grass and she is the dew.

Sarge
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top