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Beautiful
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Kind of a Persian fighter build, final pictures, for now
- Thread starter Mark Knapp
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Beautiful
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I confess I'm a little jaded when it comes to WIP's, but this is one I can honestly say I'm waiting to see with bated breath. It's going to be absolutely exceptional!
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- Dec 20, 2009
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Yeah, the colors come from different fungus species competing for real estate in the wood. I'm glad I didn't have to buy a piece of black and white ebony that big. I shutter to think what the price would be. This bowl is 19 inches in diameter.
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- Oct 8, 2001
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I've said this before: Since work comes my way with such regularity, the intricacies and complexity of builds are lost on me.
One in, one out.... Next?!
WIP's are always interesting, and MARK'S work is always especially different in the handle applications.
So cool. Good thread.
Coop
One in, one out.... Next?!
WIP's are always interesting, and MARK'S work is always especially different in the handle applications.
So cool. Good thread.
Coop
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- Dec 23, 2006
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That's why I was asking
Really has a great look
Please show us the finished poece when you are done
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- Sep 10, 2000
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Not even finished, and it's easy to see it's going to be a marvelous piece !!!
Frank
Frank
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- Dec 20, 2009
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Thanks for all the very nice comments. Tomorrow, stabilizing the mammoth tooth.
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- Dec 20, 2009
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OK, I got to thinking about it and I came to the realization that blue amber spacers are much more fitting for a knife like this, much more "gemmy" in nature than an old hairy elephants molar. They polish up very well, they are semi-translucent and reflect light in a cracked-ice way. They will be perfect for this knife.
I called Terry and he agreed. I don't like to lock myself down to any rules or material choices while building a knife, I like it to evolve, as long as it fits my customers criteria.
This is blue Dominican republic amber, it has gotten extremely expensive since I bought this piece.
I have several other knives that need some mammoth tooth in them so I will go ahead and show you how I stabilize it even though it's not for this knife.
I mixed up some deep penetrating epoxy and tinted it dark blue-black to match the blue-black colors in the darkest parts of the tooth near the cracks. The blue-black color on the tooth is from vivianite crystals that grow on ancient ivory, tooth and bone. This epoxy is a product called "Rot-Fix" it's for repairing rotten wood. The tinted epoxy won't change the color of the mammoth tooth it just fills the hundreds of microscopic cracks in the tooth so I can work it without it falling apart.
With the molar pieces cut roughly the size I need for the handles I am making, I place them in small baggies like I did when I laminated the abalone. I put enough epoxy in the bag to fill all the cracks and completely cover the piece of tooth. Then rubber band them to keep the pachages together.
They go onto the vacuum table and under the bell jar.
Some friends and I built this table with some surplus science stuff we bought at a University of Alaska auction. It works well. Next we pull a vacuum.
I cycle it three times from 25 to 27 inches of mercury to atmosphere to help make sure all the air bubbles migrate to the surface. After the last cycle we return it to atmospheric pressure and leave it overnight.
Tomorrow the epoxy will be ready to work on. We'll clean it all off to the surface of the tooth.
Thanks for watching, more to come.
I called Terry and he agreed. I don't like to lock myself down to any rules or material choices while building a knife, I like it to evolve, as long as it fits my customers criteria.
This is blue Dominican republic amber, it has gotten extremely expensive since I bought this piece.
I have several other knives that need some mammoth tooth in them so I will go ahead and show you how I stabilize it even though it's not for this knife.
I mixed up some deep penetrating epoxy and tinted it dark blue-black to match the blue-black colors in the darkest parts of the tooth near the cracks. The blue-black color on the tooth is from vivianite crystals that grow on ancient ivory, tooth and bone. This epoxy is a product called "Rot-Fix" it's for repairing rotten wood. The tinted epoxy won't change the color of the mammoth tooth it just fills the hundreds of microscopic cracks in the tooth so I can work it without it falling apart.
With the molar pieces cut roughly the size I need for the handles I am making, I place them in small baggies like I did when I laminated the abalone. I put enough epoxy in the bag to fill all the cracks and completely cover the piece of tooth. Then rubber band them to keep the pachages together.
They go onto the vacuum table and under the bell jar.
Some friends and I built this table with some surplus science stuff we bought at a University of Alaska auction. It works well. Next we pull a vacuum.
I cycle it three times from 25 to 27 inches of mercury to atmosphere to help make sure all the air bubbles migrate to the surface. After the last cycle we return it to atmospheric pressure and leave it overnight.
Tomorrow the epoxy will be ready to work on. We'll clean it all off to the surface of the tooth.
Thanks for watching, more to come.
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- Jul 1, 2013
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Mark,
Great WIP still happening here! I have an I don't get it question? Thanks for sharing the name of that epoxy. I have some projects that it may work well for.
I know how a Vacuum table works but how does it suck the air out of the plastic baggies if they are wrapped up and rubber banded?
Great WIP still happening here! I have an I don't get it question? Thanks for sharing the name of that epoxy. I have some projects that it may work well for.
I know how a Vacuum table works but how does it suck the air out of the plastic baggies if they are wrapped up and rubber banded?
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- Dec 20, 2009
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The plastic bags are not sealed, they are just there to hold the epoxy in close proximity to the mammoth tooth. They would even work if they were sealed because the air bubbles do not have to be taken away from the mammoth tooth, they only have to rise to the top of the epoxy in the bag. I have enough epoxy in the bag to float the bubbles out of the tooth.
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- Dec 20, 2009
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Alright, it's time to start fitting the handle pieces together.
First I make a pattern of each piece of the handle and number them so I know the orientation of them.
The pieces are marked for cutting on the band saw and numbered.
Using a diamond or carbide grit band saw blade, the saw cuts are made outside the lines to give us room to hand fit the pieces.
These are thin off-cuts of "blue amber" from the band saw. You can see all the colors and textures in the stuff. It's gorgeous. These pieces will be saved for inlay.
Here the pieces are all lined up, now it's time for hand fitting using diamond files and sand paper. Some machines will be used to get the pieces to fit a little closer but it will be mostly hand work. At this point, the stack is 5 1/2 inches long. That gives us some material to use up while we fit the pieces.
More later.
First I make a pattern of each piece of the handle and number them so I know the orientation of them.
The pieces are marked for cutting on the band saw and numbered.
Using a diamond or carbide grit band saw blade, the saw cuts are made outside the lines to give us room to hand fit the pieces.
These are thin off-cuts of "blue amber" from the band saw. You can see all the colors and textures in the stuff. It's gorgeous. These pieces will be saved for inlay.
Here the pieces are all lined up, now it's time for hand fitting using diamond files and sand paper. Some machines will be used to get the pieces to fit a little closer but it will be mostly hand work. At this point, the stack is 5 1/2 inches long. That gives us some material to use up while we fit the pieces.
More later.
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- Dec 20, 2009
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Here are all the pieces fit together pretty closely. I look between the pieces to see if I can see any light between them. Another good trick is to blacken one piece with black marker and rub them together, then you sand away the rub marks where the two rubbed. Pretty soon, you get a really tight fitting joint.
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It's really been interesting seeing this handle come together. Thanks for sharing the experience with us.
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- Mar 4, 2011
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i've never been so sad to come to the end of a thread, this has been outstanding. I can't wait to see more.
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- Jan 27, 2008
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Good golly, there is some seriously fine craftsmanship and ingenuity on display in this thread!:thumbup::thumbup:
-Peter
-Peter
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