Inspired by Stacy... my first miniature

Patrice, your asides are always welcome.

Couldn't help but post a couple more pics tonight.

The big boy and its little cousin...

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A closer view of the little cousin. If you're curious, I'm using a half-round file to do the closest thing to a hollow grind I have ever attempted. A small round was used to make the choil. Still some metal needs to come off the top

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Cool, I'm going to have to try a miniature soon. Finally I can afford natural turquoise scales!

I have a mini titanium katana I'm working on but it won't 100% to scale, I'm going to put in a choil to make it functional as a full size knife.
 
Use your Dremel ( or flex-shaft) and a 1" Cratex wheel to get the 12:1 scale hollow grind of an 8" wheel. It is much easier than it sounds. I do the whole grind in a XF wheel, and it is ready for polishing....which can be done with a 1" hard felt wheel and matchless white.

It may be the photo angle, but do some measurements on the mini to see what the scale size says about the blade height. It looks like it is much wider by scale than the full size blade. Using my scale ruler on the screen, I get a 5:1 length to width ratio on the mini and a 7:1 on the full size blade. Just drop the spine and raise the edge a bit and it should be fine.

The tang is often larger than scale on a mini, so don't make it smaller until all blade work is completed. Often I don't even grind the tang until the blade is finished, thus using the parent stock to hold on to while filing and shaping. This works very well in the extreme end of scale at 50:1.

Drilling holes I leave for last,too, as the tang tends to break easily at extreme thinness where the holes are.

Another trick is to "turn" the tang round on the parent stock. Chuck the metal in a lathe or drill and, while it is turning , file the tang to a round stub. Then you clamp this in the pin vise and make the blade. Once the blade is done, you file the round tang flat and drill any needed holes.
 
Cool, thanks. I don't have a Cratex wheel right now, but I'll see about getting one. I will definitely follow the advice to drop the spine and raise the edge.

I should probably say the when I started this i didn't even remember that I had the big knife. It was a cheap store bought piece of garbage I got to give someone as a gift... then forgot to give it to them. Only yesterday did I remember I had it, so I dug it out to allow me to do the measurements... that's when I noticed it was too high, just as you said. That's also why the point at the tip of the knife isn't angled the same... the big knife wasn't really the model at first. I did like the way the choil and the guard came together, which is why I cut that in.

I gotta say I really hate, hate, hate the handles on the big knife. Very uncomfortable. I think Ken will be much happier with a rounded ivory handle. ;)
 
Buy the Cratex by the dozen. They are expendables, and wear down as you use them. Most hobby shops have them.
My mini hollow grinds are on a 1X11/4" XF Cratex....which is equivalent to an 8X2" wheel at 8:1.
 
Looks like I need to find a better hobby shop. The one I visited yesterday was almost completely devoid of tools and supplies... but had all the model trains you could possibly want, and tiny school buses to put on the railroad tracks.
 
It’s FUN to make miniatures! Costs are negligible and comparatively quick to complete, especially if you are using files to make your knives.

This is my “Barbie” knife, full tang, made of 1095 steel, 2” OAL, heat treated and sporting a walnut handle.

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No young lady of fashion is complete without her power purse and knife. Men begin to pay attention to your ideas at work and the glass ceiling disappears. This is Barbie as Joan Holloway. Through the magic of Photoshop she is shown carrying the Barbie knife.

You know winter is long when you start playing with dolls.

- LonePine
Alias Paul Meske, Wisconsin
 
Paul, that's a cute knife, but where are the mosaic pins and lanyard loops? :)

Yesterday I re-profiled the blade, as discussed... removing material from the spine and the edge. Then I did a little reshaping of the blade to approximate the curves along the back end of the edge (which I find sexy). It's still not a scale model of the big knife, but I think the profile looks much better. I lost enough of the blade area that I think I'll have to deepen the choil. I'll post pictures when I can.

Last night I spent time thinking about the rest of the knife. I selected the piece of scrap ivory I'll use and made a first attempt at creating a block with a hole for the tang. The hole I made was slightly too large on one end, which would prevent me from making the handle skinny enough... so I'll start over again tonight.

I also started working on the brass guard. I managed to get the holes in that well centered and almost perfectly sized (just a wee bit too small, which is fine). I'll keep gently working on that until I get a snug flat fit.


- Greg
 
tryppyr said:
Paul, that's a cute knife, but where are the mosaic pins and lanyard loops? :)

- Greg
Click to expand...

Wellllllll... Ummmmmmm... Barbie told me she didn't like them, yea, she thinks only sissy-boys like Ken use them. She prefers the sleek, smooth style. It doesn't clash with her evening gowns when she dresses up to go to some Hollywood red carpet event, which she does quite a bit, almost every night.

Oh well, regardless of what Barbie wants I may get some of those same Harbor Freight teeny weenie drill bits like you have and try pinning handles on the next time. I suspect that you are in the process of making mosaic pins with ultra fine wire and maybe fiber optic strands. I will expect you to use your new etcher and put your makers mark on it. ;-)

- LonePine
Alias Paul (not a sissy-boy) Meske, Wisconsin
 
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Actually, I did use my etcher last night and discovered that etched makers marks are hard to see against a well etched damascus surface. Alas... a waste of time. But by golly it IS marked.

Here's the latest image of the blade. These little guys are HARD to shoot in ambient light. Don't even think about trying with a black backdrop. Every shot is either overexposed or out of focus.

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Today I did some more grinding on the blade to even out the plunge lines on both sides, and deepened the choil just a bit. After that I turned my attention to the ivory handle. It's still too large, but getting closer. By measuring the large knife and applying the scale, I think I still need to remove about 20% of the material on all sides. I'm already down to 400 grit so I don't accidentally remove too much at once.

The brass guard piece is now fitted well, and needs to be shaped and finished before being put in place.

I expect I'll be ready to heat treat the blade tomorrow, but I still have some scars to remove. I'll take it to 2000 grit before and after HT.

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More progress... the handle has been skinnied down a bit... the guard has been outlined... the pieces fit together...

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Yesterday I polished the blade to 2000 grit, heat treated it, sanded the edge, sharpened it (a bit) with stone, and polished it again to 2000 grit. I also did some more shaping on the guard.

Today I gave the blade a light etch in ferric and polished with 2000 grit again. Turns out it was the Sharks Tooth damascus (1075/15N20).

Tonight I'll start focusing on the butt piece. I've already started... but nothing to show yet.

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tryppyr said:
Patrice, your asides are always welcome.

Couldn't help but post a couple more pics tonight.

The big boy and its little cousin...

DSCN5657.JPG


A closer view of the little cousin. If you're curious, I'm using a half-round file to do the closest thing to a hollow grind I have ever attempted. A small round was used to make the choil. Still some metal needs to come off the top

DSCN5658.JPG
Click to expand...

That's cool! Until seeing it next to the full size knife, I was having trouble picturing the scale. Now I'm *really* impressed.
 
So Greg, what are you going to scrimshaw on the handle? ;-) I suggest a herd of elephants on one side and a pride of lions eating a gazelle on the other side.

Oooo, spacer material! Some colored spacers!

As long as YOU are doing the work I'll keep thinking of ways to make it more difficult, uh,... I mean better, yea, that's it.

- Paul Meske
 
Thanks for the comments and wonderful ideas. I actually AM considering spacers, but all I have is black vulcanized paper. Not very colorful, but it may have to do. If I was going to do scrimshaw, though, it would be my makers mark. :)

Frankly, I'm more concerned about getting the fundamentals right... like having the pieces fit together properly.
 
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I just made a better spacer. I went digging around looking for something with some color and found a piece of turquoise that was part of a bracelet/watch band (but fell out long ago). It was about the prefect width. I drilled a hole, and used needle files on it until the tang fit through it, so the next step will be sanding it to size and shape. If it survives that, its going between the guard and the ivory.

- Greg
 
The turguoise seems to be holding up so I'm going to leave it in the handle. It's proportionally about the same as the "spacers" and the white spotty section of the big knife, and sits in the same place, serving much the same purpose.

I had to shorten the ivory part some... but I wanted to do that anyway, so I'm pleased.

Pictures later (when hopefully I will be finished with the shaping)
 
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