Ifilele recurve

[Bailey Knives]

Has anyone heard of Ifilele? I had a friend give me a block of it. He got it when he was in Samoa. Apparently it is an ironwood. Samoans use it to make their ceremonial drums and stuff like that.

In the midst of all the orders, I get ancy about not making any knives that I just want to make. So, I made this one while other knives were being tempered and epoxy was drying.

It is 1095 with the Ifilele (ee-fee-lay-lay). for an added touch, I ebonized the wood, than sanded it with 800 grit to make it look aged. It worked pretty well. Again, this one is waiting on a sheath. I will make it in some other spare time, if I get any. (Not that I am complaining, I feel blessed that so many people want my knives, I hope it continues)

what do you think of it?

 

[kauai Marc]

I like it,looks like a fast knife.nice file work and handle profile.never heard of that wood,even though here in HI we have a couple of non native iron wood
is it really dense and tight grain?
Marc

 

[SpearZ]

Very nice knife, well done :thumbup: That's going to look great on someone's belt

 

[Bailey Knives]

The grain isnt terribly tight. It looks like oak or something like that. It is very nice looking stuff though. It is very dense. The block he gave me was maybe 12" x 12" and it weighed a ton. I nearly dropped it when he handed it to me because it was heavier than I expected. He had the wood for 2 years, so it was thoroughly dry. When I looked it up online, there were several names for it, Ifilele is what it was called in Samoa. You probably have it in Hawaii by a different name.