Joss's pack knife in progress

Hey, Nick. Can I move on up there, and have you train me to make knives? That way, I can make knives that look EXACTLY the same as yours! ;) :)
 
Would it be the Ultra-Super-Duper-High-Performance Nick Wheeler School of Knifemaking???

Hmmmmm *raised eyebrow*

-Nick-
 
Nick--nice work, I especially like the Tunisian manicure. Must be hard to keep the ladies at bay. The dirty one
 
Gosh, I was hoping someone would notice my metrosexuality in my highly taken care of hands/nails!!! :p :D ;)

-Nick-
 
NickWheeler said:
Would it be the Ultra-Super-Duper-High-Performance Nick Wheeler School of Knifemaking???
-Nick-
Click to expand...

Now Nick, do I have to put on my waders?
:D

BTW - heck of a nice knife you are making for Joss. Seeing what you do is fun.
 
NickWheeler said:
Roger, I'd charge you and Stephen that much, but it would work out to about $0.02 per hour ;) :D

Thanks again fellas! :)
-Nick-
Click to expand...

You mean that you are charging us more than that per hour !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :confused: ;) :D

Seriously - great thread, great insight into the process, and a damn fine knife - as a pack knife to be used in all sorts of conditions and carried alot the choice of a low heat(cold) conducting, light, and inert material for guard and handle has some merit in my mind.

Stephen
 
Nick, I hope you realize you WILL be taking about 3 dozen orders for knives just like Joss's, don't you? :)
 
O.K.....another .02 here....

The micarta guard, and Stephen's point about heat transfer, are excellent.

Would make a great extreem cold weather Jump/Survival knife.

Thanks for the terrific thread, Nick. A good bit of extra time

went into setting up the shots. I've really enjoyed the read,

and may have accidentally learned something...!

Thanks Again
 
HaHaHa :) Russ, that's the ONLY way I learn something--- by accident ;)

You know, I was working really hard for that title of "Mr. Clean" and you seem to have beaten me to it! :p :D

Jeff- No waders. But I would HIGHLY recommend a good pair of barn boots, a rain slicker, and some safety glasses!!! :D

Oh, and BTW for those of you that contacted me, freaked out about "metrosexual".... It's one of those new buzz-words referring to men that take care of themselves about as much as a woman does... i.e. manicures, pedicures, blah blah blah. As you can see from the perma-dirt on my hands and under my nails, I don't really fit into that category :)

-Nick-
 
Metro..what..the...Well I guess us Midwesterners are about the last to suffer
from that sort of "enlightenment"......

Boots, rain hat, slicker....Reminds me of that guy that rode
the tricycle on Laugh In.....fell over alot.
 
All,

I am reading a book about F. L. Wright. There is an anecdote whereby Wright was defending an industrial building he had designed. Someone was saying that the building was ugly. His response was something like "this building isn't beautiful, but that's not what it was designed for".

Now, I don't want to compare myself with Wright, but I do want to raise the point that the knife was designed with a very specific use in mind. That use is a camping knife. I do a fair deal of backpacking, and I want a good knife, but one I can realistically carry and use.

For anyone who backpacks in the NorthWestern wilderness, it will be obvious that a stainless guard, although pretty, is (1) heavy, (2) cold (in winter), (3) potentially noisy. Similarly, a wood handle would be one step away from practicality, and in a direction that ends with ivory and pearl,

If the knife had been though of as a display, I would have asked for Nick's fancy polish, an ivory handle, and a SS guard. As it is, this knife will be perfect for what I want.

(I even considered asking for orange G10 slabs, but finally decided it was going a bit too far. Another cool idea would be to find some glowing material as an insert, but I thin I can find smaller pieces and attach them to the tong (sp?))

JD
 
Finally after some issues with handle materials, this one was back in line :)

Sanding the front of the micarta slabs on the granite plate so the mating to the guard is very tight.

joss135ch.jpg



Drilling the holes for the handle pins and lanyard. This fixture makes sure the centerline of the blade is perpendicular to the drill press spindle.

joss154mq.jpg


Here's the micarta pins and carbon fiber tubing ready to glue up-

joss160op.jpg


Starting to shape handle-

joss10ko.jpg
 
Remember those sacrificial pins? Here's the upper one, it's almost ground away-

joss22xw.jpg


Grinding in some of the contours on the 2" wheel-

joss32zl.jpg


Drawing the finger guard radius with a sharpie (just a visual aid)

joss40xx.jpg


Filing the handle to shape with a half-round file-

joss59ta.jpg


Working the handle a bit on the slack belt-

joss68cy.jpg
 
Hand sanding the handle with a rubber block-

joss76rf.jpg


If everything in the fit up was done right, there should be no visible seam-

joss96ds.jpg


Here's a shot showing the fit of handle to guard, and the micarta pin... I hand sanded the handle and guard to 1200X, buffed it with white rouge, and then went back over it with cutting fluid and a grey scotchbrite. That way, I can make sure there are no stray scratches in the handle, and then open the surface back up a bit so it's not slippery.

joss118wf.jpg


Here's the knife all done-

jossknifecomplete1mw.jpg


Thanks for looking :)
-Nick-
 
Wow, what a great result. Thanks for the informative post, I love post-grind pics and information. Can't wait to read about Joss' review of her in the Reviews forum.
 
Damn that is nice. Thanks for the great thread (again.) :)

By the looks of your hat, you might not want to grind so close. :D

BTW -- who takes the pics of you doing stuff? Whomever it is does a good job.
 
Hey Burch, I'm stalking you on the forum! LOL

It sucks when it's 4:30 and you can't sleep.

I'm glad you noticed the hat. Everyone always asks me why my hats are so "scruffy looking" I always say, "Better my hat, than my forehead!" :D

This is my favorite Ed Schempp knives hat :)

Thanks Nordic and Burch. :)

-Nick-
http://www.wheelerknives.com
 
Lookin' good Nick - I'm guessing Joss will be a happy camper. Or a happy hiker, I guess. :) What do you guys have in mind for a sheath? You don't want Garson in here calling this thing a letter-opener, do you? :p

Roger
 
Joss was going to field expedient fabricate one out of virgin cardboard, carpet beetle dung and white duct tape, so as to present a minimal IR signature when he is camping/ "training" in the mountains. :D

Beautiful blade Nick, but why didn't you let Joss select the absolutely most beautiful Micarta color, butterscotch? :cool:

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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