How did they do the handle designs in these images?

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Yayo_Blades

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Aug 6, 2015
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So I found the most beautiful knives I've seen. His prices are wayyyyyyy to ridiculous for me ($800 to $10,000+) but I can't figure out how he did the pattern designs and coloring on the handles. Any ideas? I would love to practice this method to learn it down the road.
fens7p.jpg
 
The black and white part is basically scrimshaw. I've seen short documentaries on YT that show similar work being done, but they aren't really tutorials. I don't know how the multi-colored bits are done, but I suspect it's part engraving/etching, part plating.
 
The handle looks bone or antler and is carved/engraved and then coloured in scrimshaw style. There is a handle maker, CarlMichael Almqvist, who does this style and has a couple of WIPs out for it. The blade and pommel look engraved and either plated or inlayed with gold or copper. I suspect gold if those are rubies in the handle. A lot of work, knowledge and practice. The handle portion is relatively easy to learn, the rest is much more difficult.
 
I'm curious, I had to google scrimshaw since I never heard of it. So it's basically an engraved style of art. But how does he engrave this? Does he prints his designs, traces it (stencil) and uses a pin to engrave with ink? I can see how this would work with bone/antler/wood but does he uses the pin to engrave his blade (the steel part)?

Didn't want to post the artists name since I don't know what's the policy of advertisement but it's Andre Andersson, http://www.andreandersson.com/?page_id=1461

Please remove the name if it doesn't comply with the forums policy.
 
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I saw a guy doing intricate scrimshaw on a knife once. He cut a piece of paper the same size as what he was working then used that as a guide to draw it on the handle then went to work and just moved slow and checked his work often
 
I would say it would be scrimshaw or inlay but to be honest with you, it looks fake. Especially the blade. Im not saying it is, just looks that way.
 
The metal is engraved and inlayed with gold. The engraving is done with chisels that remove metal. Grooves are cut, then undercut on the edges, and gold is then fitted to these grooves. The soft gold is then hammered into the undercut groove. The surface is then finished flush.
 
Most scrimshaw is drawn directly on then a sharp pin or other pointed object is used to trace the lines. The style on this knife is probably done with a small blade and actually carved out. Ink is then spread over the lines and allowed to sit for a bit, then a damp cloth is wiped over to take off the excess ink on the surface of the handle. As for the blade, look up Julie Warenski.
 
That is a good looking knife. As was mentioned scrimshaw, engraving and inlay look like the techniques used.

I've done a little research into these skills as I'm interested in making sole authorship art knives as I progress. What I can tell you from my research is that all three are very difficult and costly. I would venture to say inlay is the easiest and cheapest to get the hang of but that is only because the tools and materials can be cheap to start out. I'm only guessing though. If you want to try it and don't plan on making your own gravers and such plan to spend a lot of money and time. Gravers, engraving vices, jewelers tools, etc are pricey and it is a difficult skill to master.

The engraving and some scrimshaw is transferred from art and a type of ink paper (no idea what its called) similar to how they layout tattoos. There are schools out there that teach this stuff and i would recommend it but I lost my book marks. I had a thread on art knives I posted a while back that has some info on these schools. You can search it but I'll post it if I get the time.

For inspiration I also recommend Julie Warenski, I am a big fan of her and her late husband Buster's work. Kyle Royer is also a good person to look at as he is younger and doesn't have decades of experience making knives or engraving but he does both. I do know hes had some training, maybe a lot so take that into consideration.

-Clint
 
As to pricing, I don't think it is unreasonable for a very well established art knife maker to expect $100/hr for their work. I would guess this knife has well over 100 hours in it. As they say in business, the real value is what the market will bear.

Bob
 
OH boy.... when I look at that, I just feel crushed, want to quit. :P

But seriously, I was curious on how he does it and thanks to everyone's response, I understand now. I think, it's better to start as early as possible since this looks like a skill that will take decades to master. I won't be going into it soon but definitely something I will try and teach myself in the future. I am also planning to buy Julie Warenski's book ($95 ouch!). Sounds like she's polish, so am I. So I think it's pretty cool. Hehe.

First, I would like to try buying a routing plunger to do some emblem tracing on the handles so I embed the emblems within the scales. This will give the right beginner option for me.

I don't judge anyone selling anything for hundreds/thousands of dollars. It's his work, and it looks beautiful. To beautiful... Then again, I like knives for using them. The demographic he produces for are buying it for decor only (can't see why anyone would use these knives for outdoors..) maybe even big movie productions buy his knives for movies. Plus if I went camping with a buddy who had this knife, I'd steal it, bury it, and come back couple days later to take my precious.
 
If you go to one of the big European knife shows like SICAC in Paris, you will see a fair amount of this type of work and some really wild deep carving and sculpting of the blade steel itself. A number of those guys come to Blade too.
 
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