Getting back to my roots

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
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I started on a new project the last couple of weeks. The inspiration for the project was to make a knife using the small musk ox horn I bought. I have no idea what you'd call this thing, but I'm sure there is a name for it. Anyway, here are the specs:

OAL 11.5 inches
Blade length: 7 inches
Blade Material: 1084 (from 1.5 x .125 inch stock)
Grind Type: slightly convex

I say I'm going back to my roots because I decided to make this one using files. I started off with the grinder, but decided it wasn't going as well as I wanted, so I switched to files, and will use the grinder primarily for profiling.

First looks:

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Interesting profile. Looks like it would be a difficult one to do on the grinder (atleast for me anyways). Are you gonna go with just the horn or add a bolster of some kind?
 
I like it. I always liked the look of trailing point knives. I think a ferrule would suit that knife nicely. I haven't done one with a file in a long time either, maybe I'll do a little one just for fun after I get back on top of some other projects sitting around.


-Xander
 
Greg, Have you considered a curved plung line? I think it might look good on this knife. Jess
 
I haven't been able to spend much time on the project, since I'm still settling in to my new job. What time I did spend was spent on beginning to work out the handle. I scraped away much of the outer layer and drilled the tang hole, and have begun filing it into shape. You see here how far the tang is going into the hole at this time.

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By the way, the horn piece being used for the handle twists in such a way this is more suired for use in the left hand than the right, so this will be my first southpaw knife.
 
Yep - trailing points. All fun and games till you design the leather...

Interesting work. Keep us posted.
 
\For the first time in about as month I was able to spend some time working on the knife. Now that my travels are done (for a while) and I'm on vacation for Thanksgiving, I hope to find a lot of spare hours over the next several days to make progress.

Today I refined the profile of the blade just a bit to improve the flow between the handle and the blade. I also spent some time sanding the flats to knock out the 50 grit gouges.

Then I spent some time working a piece of mild steel that will become the guard. My intent in this knife is to make it hard to find any straight lines. This one is all about the curves.

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After another seemingly interminable delay, I have made some more progress on this knife. I trimmed the ricasso a bit in order to get a better fit on the guard and handle. At this point the tang is now longer than the hole in the horn, so I'll either extend the hole or put a contrasting spacer between the handle and the guard. I'll make the spacer first just to see what it looks like.

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I decided to do without the spacer. I also began shaping the guard, giving it more of a domed front.

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Today I started carving the handle. At present the carving is still very rough and crude. I'm using mainly triangular files and sandpaper to do this. The design is loosely inspired by a combination of an umbrella handle I have and a dog's paw.

Curvy09s.JPG
 
Spent a little time today getting the blade sanded to 180 grit. I'll push it to 400 grit before sending it off to HT.

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Over the holdays I got the blade sanded to 400 grit and sent off for heat treatment. While the blade it away I'm doing work on the handle and guard. The handle shape has been refined a touch, and I've applied some oil dye to darken the color a couple of shades. I'm currently sanding the guard to get it nicely domed and will then move to finish sanding.
 
Not the best pictures, but here is the current state of the guard, now sanded to 2000 grit.

Curvy12.JPG


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This is magic!

Looking at the first 2 pics, did not think much about this knife. Seeing it transform into a good looking knife is an eye opener for some one who does not make knives and helps to appreciate the many steps and the work which goes into transforming pieces of material into a good looking knife.

Looking forward to seeing the conclusion to this thread.
 
Thanks, guys. At this point I'm just waiting for the blade to come back from HT before I can move it forward any more.
 
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