Knife #15 - The Fighter that Fought Me All The Way

Erin Burke

KnifeMaker...ish
Joined
May 19, 2003
Messages
1,330
Good afternoon Folks,

Knife #15 is in the books... and I'm happy to be done with her. She fought me at every corner... and eventually left me a beaten and dispirited shadow of a man. Here she is.

Some Stats:
Length: 10-1/8"
Blade: 5-7/16" (tip to choil?)
Steel: Through-hardened 1095 (from Kelly Cupples) Flat-Ground
Handle: WSSI Stabilized Katalox Scales with frame handle and hidden pins
Guard and Butt Bolsters: 416ss

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While I am content wit the overall feel and design of this knife, the are a few things that really didn't turn out how I had hoped.

This is the first frame handle that I've attempted. It added a whole new level of complexity to the project, and while I did get it to work, you can see from the third photo that the handle frame does not line-up perfectly with the spine of the blade. There are alignment pins between the frame and the guard, but they must have been slightly offset... either that, or I screwed up one side when tapering the frame. Either way, I'm rather disappointed by this flaw. On top of that, the misalignment makes one scale look a little thinner along the spine. :pinch:

This is the second knife where I tried to make a faceted handle that includes complex curves. I wish I could figure out a good way to do this cleanly. I shape the facets on my 8" wheel, but it is very difficult to keep clean sharp lines, especially at the transition points between the guard/scales and the scales/butt-bolsters. If somebody has any good tricks for this, I'd love to hear them.

Now that I've pointed out the bad stuff, I will say that, as far as fighters go, this is one ranks right up there with the best handling knives I have produced.

Erin
 
Awsome knife, love the handle treatment. I've done a couple frame handles, and they can be a pain, at least for me!
 
Yep, elegant and clean - looks like your endurance paid off. Great knife!!!!
 
Beautiful.

I love the title of the accompanying book, "How to win friends and influence people". I found it just a little ironic.
 
It looks outstanding Erin. Nice frame work and bolsters. Making the flats couldnt be easy either. Anybody can make one side look good but to match the flats on both sides is another matter for sure. Beautiful sheath too man.
 
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