How does busse combat finish their wood handles?

[Last Visible Canary]

So I got this a while ago (custom shopped sar5):

and modified it into this:

This next picture has TOTALLY inaccurate color representation on the handle. I tried to darken the handle in photoshop to reduce the effect of the flash, but it ended up making it dark reddish brown, when it's closer to the pic above, a lighter beige with dark lines and hints of green.

It's now lignum vitae scales held on by 1/4 20 allen bolts and nuts (both of wich are counter bored/carved/sunk into the scales), and encased in epoxy. The way I have this finished is kinda weird. The lignum vitae is green, and I don't think it would move to much, but knowing it's green and knowing that it does do a kind of spider web checking at the end grain, I've covered the entire thing in a layer of epoxy and sanded that down to a 200/400 grit finish. the flats are 400 and the spine/belly is 200. the blade was satin finished to a rough 600 grit. I don't think theres any chance (With the bolts and the amount of epoxy I have in and on this thing) of it moving around, but I'm not sure I like the smooth finish on it. I don't even know if you can kiln dry lignum vitae since it's so resiny?

How does busse finish their exotic wood handles? do they only use stabilized wood? Are they slick/slippery in the hand?

I tried to make this thing as close to as strong as they are with the micarta and flared tubes, and I think this might be stronger as far as keeping the scales in place. I would have prefered micarta, but I do not have enough money to buy any, and was only using what I had. I'm looking for function more then looks, and I'm curious what the stock custom wood handles are like...

 

[GregS]

Wow! I like it a lot better. I like it without the talon hole.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

Wow! I like it a lot better. I like it without the talon hole.

the talon hole that was there is now filled in with epoxy. I thought about leaving it open for a wrist thong should I ever be using it in open water, but I figured I'd benefit more from the anti-checking epoxy fill...

 

[I'mGatMan!]

That thing is fantastic, LVC. I didn't even know there had been CS Sar5's, as Jerry said he hated the design. Yours seems to be an improvement, though.

If I'm not mistaken, BC typically uses stabilized wood for their natural-handled knives. I did own a beautiful CS SFNO Variant with Ironwood scales, and while there were some little fisures and knots on the slabs detecable through whatever finishing compound they use, the knife as a whole had a pretty slippery grip. I feel that if the knife had gotten wet, it would have been very difficult to hold.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

That thing is fantastic, LVC. I didn't even know there had been CS Sar5's, as Jerry said he hated the design. Yours seems to be an improvement, though.

If I'm not mistaken, BC typically uses stabilized wood for their natural-handled knives. I did own a beautiful CS SFNO Variant with Ironwood scales, and while there were some little fisures and knots on the slabs detecable through whatever finishing compound they use, the knife as a whole had a pretty slippery grip. I feel that if the knife had gotten wet, it would have been very difficult to hold.

good to know... I actually sent this in as a standard sar5 and had it customized, I haven't seen anything come from the custom shop sar5 wise other then this.

 

[Lycosa]

LVC---That...I like! Great job! :thumbup:

 

[Dennis in MA]

That thing started out as 90% SJ. Wow. Interesting custom piece for sure.

 

[barrabas74]

I actually like the 1st pic better, if I held it I would probably change my mind but I still havent held a SAR5. I really like the look of that variant.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

I actually like the 1st pic better, if I held it I would probably change my mind but I still havent held a SAR5. I really like the look of that variant.

it looked exactly like I wanted it to when I drew it and sent it in, but when it was in hand it was something altogether different then what I expected. I didn't realize how the handle would be effected by the mod. I sketched it so the palm swell was perfect for my hand in a full forward position - but the sar5 isn't made for a full forward position which is one of it's major flaws. The scales stop before reaching the gaurd, so your index finger is left holding next to nothing, and the palm swells on the micarta are made for you to hold a full fingers breadth back from the guard. now, that would be fine... But. The sar5 is what it is because your supposed to be able to do fine work with it all the time, hence having your finger right up on the edge. forcing your hand back away from the edge defeats this design function.

I also didn't realize how much the weight would be pushed back by the modification either. The sar5's are already handle heavy, but with the thinned out blade and handle, it was even more so. it was like there was no blade if you closed your eyes, it was all handle. If I could redo it, I'd have had them put new scales on it, in the position I have them in now, and I would have had them cut the butt off as I did. There's no reason to have that long of a handle on that blade length. Most busse's manage to waste a lot of length in the choil to index finger region, but when you get rid of that you have to be a little more careful with your handle to blade ratio because even a minor change will make a noticeable difference in balance.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

I went ahead and sharpened this today, and was impressed that the edge angle was close to 24 degree's from the factory. the actual cutting edge itself was closer to 28 because it was convexed, but it only took a few pases to get it to a v grind at 24. and the tip edge thickness is the same as the straight edge, something that was not the case on the initial sar5 (and most busses in generaly).

Kinda weird though, The epoxy coating on the handle is terribly slippery when my hands are really dry, like after I've washed them with harsh soap, but they become grippy when wet. You can't really feel the 200 grit finish until you get a little water or sweat on it.

 

[762 shooter]

Where did you get the lignum vitae? That stuff is difficult to come by.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

Where did you get the lignum vitae? That stuff is difficult to come by.

it's easy to come buy, just very difficult to find cheap. I paid 37$ (free shipping) for five 2x2x12" turning blocks from a west penn hardwoods ebay auction. each of them was about 70% heartwood. 7.50$ per block (after shipping) is pretty good on these.

I stay with a set of storefronts, mostly because I know what I'm going to get and they are well established.

bell forest: kinda expensive, minimum sale to ship which is annoying, but wide variety and reliable. If you can spend 300-400$ at a time you can get some heavy discounts on select stock, but I am not such a person.
http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/lignum-vitae/

west penn hardwoods: same as bell forest, but with a little more in the way of large (2x2x6+) turning stock. The real deals from them come from their ebay pack sales, 5 turning blocks with free shipping and things like that. I love their ebay store.
stuff like this:http://cgi.ebay.com/Exotic-Turning-...14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:4|65:12|39:1|240:1318
21+ handles for less then 2$ a piece. more if you like your handles 1" thick or less.
http://www.westpennhardwoods.com/shop/cart.php?target=category&category_id=550&pageID=1
http://myworld.ebay.com/westpennwood/

exotic wood group: I haven't purchased anything from them yet, but they have good prices and make for a good pricing bracket. if I had the money, I would have ordered from them by now.
http://www.exoticwoodgroup.com/order_Argentine_lignum_vitae.htm

and turningblanks.net (no lignum vitae). The caveat emptor site. You can be guaranteed that whatever wood you get from them will have beetle holes, and will be infested with powderpost beetles. nothing from them is kiln dried. when I have money again, I will be buying from them again (the black locust looks pretty amazing), but with the understanding that I will have to microwave everything I get, strip the wax off, cover them in a very heavy varnish, and keep them quarantined to their own section away from my exotic stock. also understanding that anything I get with beetle holes will be questionable for anything requiring shock and stress loads. even with all that, they have the most beautiful large (2x2 and 3x3) domestic hardwood stock I've ever seen, and at the cheapest prices.
http://www.turningblanks.net/servlet/StoreFront


oh ya, and this guy (no lignum vitae):
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/4704roberts__W0QQ_armrsZ1
I buy my purpleheart stock from him. Haven't been able to catch a bloodwood set that was worth it to me, but I've gotten some dirt cheap purpleheart there.

 

[Matteo Escobar]

So you sent a stock SAR5 to the Busse custom shop, had them adjust it to your specs, and then when you got it back, changed it all again on your own?

AAhh, but now I remember your thin NICK. By the time you were done with it, it was an INFI toothpick!

 

[Last Visible Canary]

So you sent a stock SAR5 to the Busse custom shop, had them adjust it to your specs, and then when you got it back, changed it all again on your own?

AAhh, but now I remember your thin NICK. By the time you were done with it, it was an INFI toothpick!

It was the size of a 3rd gen satin jack, only thin. far from being a toothpick, even the edge thickness was thicker then on the standard nick. It was actually a bit to large for sheeple use. If I had the money to buy 3 or 4 of them, I'd definitely be up for making some skeleton key sized super thin knives out of them.

If I come into a set of .500" black canvas micarta scales, I'll probably remove the lignum vitae ones to try to get a grippier surface. I'm quite happy with the overall profile and geometry right now, just not he handles.

You don't know what a knife is going to be like until it's in your hand. You can protype it to be very close to what you'll consider perfect, but the only way you can get it perfect is through a lot of experience. and for me, experience comes through adjustments and modifications. how was I to know that the micarta and handle length would throw the weight back to much? I thought the slimming of the handle and blade together would keep the weight similar, or even make it more blade heavy since the scales would come off with the tang during the remake of the handle contours. I didn't buy this knife for collecting, I bought it for this express purpose, to carve it into something I really wanted, regardless of how that happened. I just didn't think I could do the blade profile myself. craftsman doesn't exactly make precision equipment.