I don't see nearly enough pics of Nick Wheeler knives....

RogerP

RogerP

Joined
Feb 28, 2002
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And you know what they say - if you're not part of the solution....

So here are a couple shots of a beautiful bowie done up by Nick in clay-hardened 1084, oosic and jelly roll damscus for the fittings (pics from bladegallery.com):

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Nick is really getting those hamons to turn out nice. That long shallow swedge really contributes to the overall flowing, elegant lines. And I'm REALLY liking that bold blued damascus for the fittings. I'll have to keep it in mind for an upcoming project I have going with Nick. Here's a good look at the pommel:

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Cheers,

Roger

PS - No, it's not mine. :grumpy:
 
Wow that is one gorgeous Bowie!

Those damascus fittings really add a great finishing touch to the overall look of the knife. Blade shape is very nice as is the hamon.

Sean
 
Thanks for the nice comments guys. And thanks for posting this for me Roger! Must be worth a discount coupon on the project :)

Keith, Mike Vagnino taught me how to relieve both the front and rear of handles (ferrule to front of handle and rear of handle to pommel). This is something you see on some high end knives, and one of those touches that shows the maker took that extra time to do it very carefully.

The handle material is left a few thou over from the fittings, and then the sharp edge that's created from this is very lightly rounded over. This allows for slight movement in natural handle materials without ruining the feel of tha handle. If you have everything flush and the handle material moves, it will be glaring and ugly.

In the end though, I just think it looks really nice and adds to the level of the knife :)

Nick
 
I really love these two. Nick, bladegallery says that the bottom knife I posted is a one-of-a-kind piece. Any chance you would make another one like it?

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Hey, thanks Dylan!

Daniel lists all of my knives as one of a kind because I've never made any two that were exactly alike. I do, however, make similar pieces...especially when they have proven to sell really well for me.

Two examples would be the Newaukum hunter and the Claro fighter. I have made a few very similar to both of those. Actually that hunter in W1 you posted was very similar to the Newaukum hunter but with a hamon, deeper ground clip, three layer guard, and Ironwood handle.

I will definitely be making more similar knives in the future.

Thanks again guys!
Nick
 
I love your Hunters Nick.Pure Form Function and Elegance I just wished you had room for little ole me on your list!
 
Hi Nick
Now some comments from Switzerland :)
Those knives have a great overall look! Everything just fits together....
Any chance you will have a homepage up soon?
 
Thanks Nick, I kind of figured that the possibilty of movement had something to do with doing it that way. By the way, I think it looks great that way. That long false edge really adds to the overall look of the knife. All told, one of the nicest fighter style bowies I have seen.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
Very nice, but I wonder why the pommel is smaller in diameter than the oosic?
Click to expand...
I saw this right away. It's "fit" doesn't look right to me. It's too obvious on this knife.

Please, this is just my opinion. I think you make an extremely nice looking Bowie knife, Nick.
I just don't like this fit and finish for the allowance of possible handle material shrinkage/expansion.

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If you've ever owned a nice custom knife and had the wood shrink up enough to feel the sharp edge of the buttcap(which is probably most of us), you would appreciate this technique. My Tim Hancock ironwood bowie was done like that, as well as a few of my Kevin Cashen knives. I like it that way. Done right, like on Nick's knife here, it looks great.
 
Most of the customs I get are fit and finished pretty much perfectly at the shop and out of the box which, to me, means the parts of the knife all flow into one another with smoothness and without gaps in the materials and parts used. I require this.
Now, maybe there exists some sophisticated algorithm for handle material measurement to anticipate and calculate the future expansion or shrinkage of certain handle materials so that the knife doesn't need to fit as it leaves the shop.

I think I prefer the method of having a multi- thousand dollar knife leave the shop fit and finished until the calculus of this material shrinkage formula gets more testing.

Edited to add:
I'm not trying to be a smart a$$ here. Danbo, I realize that handle materials change in dimension as they get use to their environment, but how can a knifemaker possibly anticipate the amounts of this change?
 
Looks like a lot of long-time makers have learned the same thing. It's also something Don Fogg told me once - that whatever you do, different materials will move over time, at different rate. So if you have say metal and wood totally flush, they will develop a small edge. There are different ways to deal with that. Nick's is one, another one is to flush the parts but then break the flow on purpose, for example by filing a small groove where the 2 parts meet, or by adding a rounded liner, etc.
 
Obviously I over-emphasized the factor of handle-movement for reason to construct a knife this way.

The biggest reason I do it is I feel it is aesthetically pleasing and shows a higher level of difficulty the maker is willing to go to.

Any maker can round off the ends of handles flush. That's easy to do.

Some of you act like I simply left these parts at different sizes in some random, sloppy effort to account for handle movement.

I took the ferrule and pommel to exact dimensions and then hand-sanded them to 2000X paper. Then the Oosic was taken to EXACTLY ten thousandths of an inch over the ferrule and pommel dimensions. And hand-sanded to 2000x before being polished with polishing paper.

Exactly 10 thousandths of an inch all the way around...is what I REQUIRED for fit and finish. Maybe this picture doesn't show it well, but that's how it's been done.

Fit and finish is one of the things that set good makers and GREAT makers apart...something that is helping to make my reputation grow. To say that I left gaps, and that this knife is "not fit and finished" is an insult and I AM offended.

Nick
 
Nick,

I am a folder guy just starting to appreciate fixed blades, especially forged. The pictures of your knives posted on this thread and others show me that you clearly understand and can implement fit and finish at a very high level.

I really like the look on that bowie's pommel and had just assumed it was a neat style element when I saw the bowie on the website. Thanks for explaining the function. Good job!
 
I REALLY don't like it when even a very small amount of shrinkage in handle material turns a flush finish into an uncomfortably sharp edge. This is one of the reasons why I pretty much universally avoid full tang knives. I'm definitely in favor of makers seeking to adress this eventuality proactively. I've seen a number of first-rate makers employ the same method as Nick, including Bailey Bradshaw.

I guess if you don't like the look that much you could always ask the guy or gal making your knife not to do it that way. That's the great part about working with the makers directly - having some input as to how your knife is made.

Cheers,

Roger

PS - Anybody got more Wheeler pics? If so, don't be shy - post 'em!
 
NickWheeler said:
Obviously I over-emphasized the factor of handle-movement for reason to construct a knife this way.

The biggest reason I do it is I feel it is aesthetically pleasing and shows a higher level of difficulty the maker is willing to go to.

Any maker can round off the ends of handles flush. That's easy to do.

Some of you act like I simply left these parts at different sizes in some random, sloppy effort to account for handle movement.

Fit and finish is one of the things that set good makers and GREAT makers apart...something that is helping to make my reputation grow. To say that I left gaps, and that this knife is "not fit and finished" is an insult and I AM offended.

Nick
Click to expand...
Nick, my reference to gaps in knives was part of my personal definition of what "fit and finish" are.
This had nothing to do with your knife.
The "fit" part of my definition where the handle diameter is different than the buttcap diameter had everyting to do with your knife because my personal tastes do not like the way this buttcap fits into this handle.

My ignorant definition of fit is to try to get a seamless transition from one part of the knife to the next adjacent part of the knife.

If you find my criticism offensive, based on what I like to see in a knife, then I aplologize.



You said, "The handle material is left a few thou over from the fittings, and then the sharp edge that's created from this is very lightly rounded over. This allows for slight movement in natural handle materials without ruining the feel of tha handle."

Danbo pointed out that this method is a standard for some higher end knives to anticipate the movement of unstable handle material.

I gave my personal opinion to this approach, based on what I like to see in a knife.

This following statement I made is where I screwed up and probably insulted you!
I said, "I think I prefer the method of having a multi- thousand dollar knife leave the shop fit and finished until the calculus of this material shrinkage formula gets more testing."
This statement by me implies that your knife is not fit and finished leaving the shop.

This is very wrong on my part to leave my statement open to this interpretation and I do apologize to you and everyone for this poorly worded statement.


What I should have said is, "I prefer a knife to leave the shop based on my definition of fit and finish." ...which means that I want all of the parts to match up perfectly, based on my definition of perfection, and to not allow for possible expansion/shrinkage.
 
RWS - I think you don't understand the point of this slight gap. It is not to allow for movement in the sense that the maker would know that this material will shrink by X thousandths, and this one will expand by Y. There's no way to know that, if only because for a given material it will change with humidity, etc.

So this is a technique to move away, purposefuly, from a flush look and develop something else. Personally, I like that. Apparently, you don't.
 
Joss, I go for looks not use. I'm kind of one of those sissy collectors that doesn't use their "pretty" knives.
I guess for use, where your going to beat up the knife anyway, this is probably the better and more comfortable approach for the end user.
 
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