- Joined
- Jan 21, 2001
- Messages
- 1,634
I could be the poster boy for the title of this thread. I have never been very mechanical by nature, as I have said before it seems I can look at a tool from across the room and it will immediately launch itself and assault me. However watching the endeavers of my fellow contributors to these less than hallowed halls of verbage I decided to attempt an endeaver that I had put off for some time.
In 1998 one of my best friends ( Big Bruce the Scotsman ) past away. It was a true nightmare which by proxy of being his best friend put me in charge of settling his affairs and giving the eulogy at his funeral. A task that practice has made me quite adept at, over the years.
One of the items left over was a semi custon bowie knife that a mutual friend had given him. It was no big deal a typical Koval type bowie blank mated to a set of white faux pearl handles. The mutual friend had it made by a knifemaker who was just starting out and he paid 75 dollars for it as a gift to the Scotsman. After the funeral I did not see the mutual friend until just recently. However I am getting ahead of myself.
After the funeral since I had the knife, I started looking for someone to make a sheath for it. One day I was in the shoemakers shop ( Yes a little old italian man who still repaired shoes, at least the ones still made of leather ). He is gone now. I think he was the last in the world. Anyway in the shop was a young man who ( now get this ) was working for the old shoemaker for free so that he could learn about leather work. I found this pretty amazing and since he was just starting out and had a couple of kids I wanted to help him out so I commissioned a sheath for the bowie. I told him to let his imagination go wild and since I wanted it personalized I had a brass name plate made for it and told him to work it in some where. By the way he is now a fairly well known artisan and does custom work for people like Diniro and some other well known celebritys many who have homes in this area. In fact the last time I saw him he said he was just to busy and did not have enough time to do some work I needed done. ( Ah no good deed goes unpunished ) .
OK so now I had the Sheath and Bruces knife I stuck it in a display and forgot about it. Then a few weeks ago Terry ( the mutual friend shows up he was in town to go stripper fishing on the hudson. ) Needless to say I gave him the knife I had been holding for him. The sheath was no good to him since it had my name plate on it. So I kept it.
I wanted to put a knife in it that was special, I am sure I have several that would have fit but for some reason I wanted something different ( more personal. ) Then of course after watching and seeing everyone on this forum, with talent ranging from bayonets to knitting I decided to take a stab ( bad word ) at making something suitable. Or at least having a hand in making part of it. As it were I not only had a hand in it but several fingers and almost an eye. I am still afraid that even though this project is over I cannot see the purported masculine joy expounced by those who are facile in these endeavers. I did not receive the hoped for gratification as pieces of my dna were sliced and ground from my extremitys. Still I perservered.
I began with a horrible Pakistan bowie knife. Took off the cheap wood handles reground, reshaped and polished the blade. I cannot imagine where they get that steel it is the hardest metal I have ever seen. I then took an old Winchester Mod 94 stock and made two handles for it. Now that was funny my hands looked like a pound of round ground. I used a brass belt buckle for a hilt. One friend used his planer to even the handles and then I went to the old Guru on the mountain ( the 80 year old knifemaker I know ). He took pity on me and rivited the handles on and then worked his magic to make it look like I might know what I was doing he even did some file work.
In the end I kind of like it, the shaping of the blade was mine and so were the handles. If you look on ebay for the cheapest bowies they sell you can get an idea of what this originally looked like. and I must say in the end I did feel a sense of pride, or relief, or pain, or something. It was an honest if somewhat amateurish attempt. I am sure that the Scotsman enjoyed seeing my effort where ever he is and tonight I will have 2 cold beers one for him and one for me. LT. PS No laughing at these pictures. At least I got it to fit the sheath.
In 1998 one of my best friends ( Big Bruce the Scotsman ) past away. It was a true nightmare which by proxy of being his best friend put me in charge of settling his affairs and giving the eulogy at his funeral. A task that practice has made me quite adept at, over the years.
One of the items left over was a semi custon bowie knife that a mutual friend had given him. It was no big deal a typical Koval type bowie blank mated to a set of white faux pearl handles. The mutual friend had it made by a knifemaker who was just starting out and he paid 75 dollars for it as a gift to the Scotsman. After the funeral I did not see the mutual friend until just recently. However I am getting ahead of myself.
After the funeral since I had the knife, I started looking for someone to make a sheath for it. One day I was in the shoemakers shop ( Yes a little old italian man who still repaired shoes, at least the ones still made of leather ). He is gone now. I think he was the last in the world. Anyway in the shop was a young man who ( now get this ) was working for the old shoemaker for free so that he could learn about leather work. I found this pretty amazing and since he was just starting out and had a couple of kids I wanted to help him out so I commissioned a sheath for the bowie. I told him to let his imagination go wild and since I wanted it personalized I had a brass name plate made for it and told him to work it in some where. By the way he is now a fairly well known artisan and does custom work for people like Diniro and some other well known celebritys many who have homes in this area. In fact the last time I saw him he said he was just to busy and did not have enough time to do some work I needed done. ( Ah no good deed goes unpunished ) .
OK so now I had the Sheath and Bruces knife I stuck it in a display and forgot about it. Then a few weeks ago Terry ( the mutual friend shows up he was in town to go stripper fishing on the hudson. ) Needless to say I gave him the knife I had been holding for him. The sheath was no good to him since it had my name plate on it. So I kept it.
I wanted to put a knife in it that was special, I am sure I have several that would have fit but for some reason I wanted something different ( more personal. ) Then of course after watching and seeing everyone on this forum, with talent ranging from bayonets to knitting I decided to take a stab ( bad word ) at making something suitable. Or at least having a hand in making part of it. As it were I not only had a hand in it but several fingers and almost an eye. I am still afraid that even though this project is over I cannot see the purported masculine joy expounced by those who are facile in these endeavers. I did not receive the hoped for gratification as pieces of my dna were sliced and ground from my extremitys. Still I perservered.
I began with a horrible Pakistan bowie knife. Took off the cheap wood handles reground, reshaped and polished the blade. I cannot imagine where they get that steel it is the hardest metal I have ever seen. I then took an old Winchester Mod 94 stock and made two handles for it. Now that was funny my hands looked like a pound of round ground. I used a brass belt buckle for a hilt. One friend used his planer to even the handles and then I went to the old Guru on the mountain ( the 80 year old knifemaker I know ). He took pity on me and rivited the handles on and then worked his magic to make it look like I might know what I was doing he even did some file work.
In the end I kind of like it, the shaping of the blade was mine and so were the handles. If you look on ebay for the cheapest bowies they sell you can get an idea of what this originally looked like. and I must say in the end I did feel a sense of pride, or relief, or pain, or something. It was an honest if somewhat amateurish attempt. I am sure that the Scotsman enjoyed seeing my effort where ever he is and tonight I will have 2 cold beers one for him and one for me. LT. PS No laughing at these pictures. At least I got it to fit the sheath.
