FLK (Funny Looking Knife)

Willie71

Willie71

Warren J. Krywko
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Messages
12,214
I made this knife for my uncle, who is 80 this year. He still loves to fish in the creeks around the cabin, but his arthritis makes handling his pocket knives nearly impossible. Knowing my uncle, he abuses knives, so I went with 1/8" 1095, HT to Rc57/58. He will pry things with it. The handle is shaped so it could be held easily with an oven mit on. He should be able to use it effectively. Its a REALLY UGLY DUCKLING though. I messed up the grind on the clip, taking it too low on the right side. I may try to touch that up. I have 6 coats of Danish oil on the figured Maple handle. I had amazing flames on the right side, but after shaping, they ended up as dust on the floor. Such is life with natural materials. I still have a lot of sanding and polishing to do, but had a few minutes to kill today, prior to an appointment, so I thought I would put up some pics.

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A very unique knife.

I am thinking it would feel good in your hand as well - our eyes don't see things the same as your hand in most cases I have found.

Very nice! I think your Uncle will be proud and very pleased!

Thank you for the pictures and sharing your thoughts.

best

mqqn
 
I'll post better pics when I have it competed. I am making some steak knives for my mother for Christmas, and I think I will use a similar handle. It feels a lot better than it looks.
 
I've seen a whole lot worse. ;)

It's different, but it's clearly an actual knife.
 
The actual shapes are OK, but the proportion is all wrong. But... and this is the important part: it should bring a couple more years of independence to my uncle who's biggest passion in life is creek fishing. He will be able to hold the knife while cutting his line, have good grip when gutting a fish, and should have enough flex when he pries open rotting logs, or lifts rocks to get bait. :) Now the hard part will be getting him to use it. He grew up in WWII Germany, and came to Canada when he was 16 or 18, I can't remember for sure. HE is frugal to the point of denying himself simple pleasures. I will try to convince him I need his to use it to test it. :)
 
Nice knife for the purpose. My Dad had severe RA and I rehandled a lot of his stuff to make it easier to hold.
The next time you have really pretty wood on the outside of scales, start thinning them from the back side till you get close to your finish thickness, then attach and finish.

Stan
 
Thanks Sam for the advice on the scales. Looking at the end grain, I thought I was OK, but the figured part ran at an angle through the wood. I got the idea for this handle from a friend who works in my clinic. She is an OT (Occupational Therapist) and she was doing an in-service on some of the appliances she was trained to design. I had a different knife in line for my Uncle, but abandoned it and started this one. I will be more vigilant with future scales.
 
I don't think it's ugly at all. I think anything you make with your own hands out of love for someone you care about is great. It's a beautiful knife. I don't mind the grind line on the right side. If you don't think you can fix it effectively just match it on the left. Your uncle will love it.
 
Honestly I don't think it looks all that bad. I kinda like funky stuff though. :D

I think if you ground the clip down to match and then redid the filework on that side, you'd be just fine.
 
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