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Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
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Maethor's BK-2... Updated with beauty shots on pg 4!
- Thread starter maethor
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2011
- Messages
- 6,901
Looks great man, awesome awesome job. I just had to go back at mine with the sander because I made the forward swell to fat and it didn't fit into nix leather sheath. I really love the shape you gave it, makes it look nasty and classy all at the same time
willworship
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2009
- Messages
- 1,193
Beautiful work, man. I really dig the new pommel shape, too. Regarding patina: if you plan on using the knife for food prep, I have read somewhere around here that cold bluing isn't food safe (If that is an error, someone please correct me). I am a big fan of the results from an apple cider vinegar bath. It turned out like this after about 30 minutes (IIRC).
Thanks guys.
The scales are super comfortable, they fill my hands perfectly. After all, I shaped them to fit my hands. I think I'll leave them as they are now, the handle is a lot fuller in the hand than the stock scales, which gives my paws more grip in general. The little beak at the pommel is awesome for chopping, gives a lot of grip and is very comfortable at the same time.
I still have the piece of pommel that I cut off, I might take that to the forge some time and make some Becker jewelery
The scales are super comfortable, they fill my hands perfectly. After all, I shaped them to fit my hands. I think I'll leave them as they are now, the handle is a lot fuller in the hand than the stock scales, which gives my paws more grip in general. The little beak at the pommel is awesome for chopping, gives a lot of grip and is very comfortable at the same time.
I still have the piece of pommel that I cut off, I might take that to the forge some time and make some Becker jewelery
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2011
- Messages
- 212
WOW!! All I can say is WOW!!
Now you made me interested in modding my #2.... Do I dare??
Now you made me interested in modding my #2.... Do I dare??
- Joined
- May 25, 2010
- Messages
- 193
wow, nice job man! I have been thinking about making some wood scales of my own.
I think I will go look for a suitable piece of wood.
I think I will go look for a suitable piece of wood.
Send it to me, I'll do it
I just calculated how much time it took me all in all, with the stripping, sanding, jimping, notch cutting, convexing, sharpening, pommel-chopping, hole-annealing and drilling, gluing, shaping, oiling... I have probably 20 hours of work in this knife. Plus 120€ for the knife, 20 for the wood, 10 for the epoxy, etc... my most expensive knife.
But now it really is my own, and that's awesome. I love it.
willworship
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2009
- Messages
- 1,193
I didn't notice before (probably because the handle scales are so amazing), but the full convexing is awesome as well! How long did that take? You've got me seriously considering that one.
Sorry dude, didn't see your post.
I did it with 80 grit sandpaper, on a quickly made leather strop (piece of 2x2 wood and leather glued on top), everything clamped into a vise. Apply pressure to knife from the top, watch for the right angle, and move knife. About 2 hours of work per side. I really just took the shoulders between flat/primary and primary/secondary off. The convex edge was on there before, everytime I try to sharpen a knife with a waterstone I end up with a convex edge for some reason
I think if I had a belt sander (those things are friggin expensive here!) it would have been 30 minutes all in all.
dude the pins you said are 5mm diameter, so thats about 3/16¨ right?, did you modded the pin holes on the knife or are then the custom diameter of the bk2.
Got more work done today.
First, drilled out the hole to 6mm (about 1/4"), the annealing of the surrounding area worked like a charm and the TiN coated HSS drillbit went through like butter. Lanyard tube fits.
Shaping the scales, this is the area that can't be worked on anymore without scratching the ricasso after they are glued to the tang. A rasp and a file did most of the work, some 100grit sandpaper cleaned up the edges.
Give everything a good wipedown with acetone before applying the epoxy, it will take any oil/fat/dust residue off the tang and the wood and make their bond stronger. Very romantic.
Then I applied epoxy to one side of the tang and put it all into a little vise, because I had no clamps readily available. I should have drilled the holes and put the pins in before putting gue on it, it would have made this step a whole lot easier. Get a drink while you wait for the epoxy to dry, my choice is Club-Mate.
Then shaping of the already attached slab, I used a hacksaw to cut big chunks off and then a rasp, file and sandpaper to finish up. I also drilled the holes, 5mm for the pins and 6mm for the lanyard tube.
Then I drilled the holes into the second slab and checked the fit. It's tight, but that's a good thing. My pins are M5 threaded rod (M5 meaning a metric thread with an outer dia of 5mm) and the lanyard tube is 6x0.5mm (6mm outer dia, .5mm wall thickness) tube. Brass of course, for ease of working with and looks.
Again, applying epoxy, clamping (this time in another vise with an extra clamp) and having a drink while the epoxy cures.
Just for fun and educational purposes, we chucked it onto our milling machine which I learned to properly operate in the process. This is actually my only action pic of this, a good friend who wants to stay unpictured and unnamed is operating the machine in this picture.
Result of the milling process. Cleaned it up like before.
Some terrible pictures of the knife as of now:
You can already feel that it's gonna be a great handle, I love the contours so far. Of course the real shaping work is still ahead of me.
Wish me luck, I have an interview tomorrow, and I really want and need this job.
That's it for today. Enjoy.
daizee
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2009
- Messages
- 11,119
Nice work.
As far as process goes, I do the following:
1) polish the blade to it's planned finish level. This is easier to do before the handles are on.
2) tape up the blade with painter's tape
3) clamp slabs to knife, knife side up, and drill through the tang holes - repeat for matching slab
4) temp-pin the slabs together (easy if you're using bolts!) and shape the FRONT of the handles to their final dimensions, and a nice fine grit finish
5) maybe rough-cut the perimeter of the slabs a bit for later efficiency
6) glue that sucker up
(KEEP THE TAPE ON THE BLADE UNTIL THE TOOLS ARE PUT AWAY)
7) rough-shape the scales on the circular grinder or whatever power tool you can get close enough to do some high-volume removal I may sand all the way down to the steel on the perimeter, which will mar the the previous finish - not a big deal, and reduce thickness at the same time.
8) hand-finish with files for shaping
9) sand away file and grinding marks, mating the wood and the steel. If you want to avoid touching the steel (i.e. it's already painted :-/) this isn't the way to go
10) sand some more
11) tru-oil, wax, or whatever
12) remove tape from blade
13) post pix to BF! (or go on and complete true edge, sheath, etc. if making a complete knife)
-Daizee
As far as process goes, I do the following:
1) polish the blade to it's planned finish level. This is easier to do before the handles are on.
2) tape up the blade with painter's tape
3) clamp slabs to knife, knife side up, and drill through the tang holes - repeat for matching slab
4) temp-pin the slabs together (easy if you're using bolts!) and shape the FRONT of the handles to their final dimensions, and a nice fine grit finish
5) maybe rough-cut the perimeter of the slabs a bit for later efficiency
6) glue that sucker up
(KEEP THE TAPE ON THE BLADE UNTIL THE TOOLS ARE PUT AWAY)
7) rough-shape the scales on the circular grinder or whatever power tool you can get close enough to do some high-volume removal I may sand all the way down to the steel on the perimeter, which will mar the the previous finish - not a big deal, and reduce thickness at the same time.
8) hand-finish with files for shaping
9) sand away file and grinding marks, mating the wood and the steel. If you want to avoid touching the steel (i.e. it's already painted :-/) this isn't the way to go
10) sand some more
11) tru-oil, wax, or whatever
12) remove tape from blade
13) post pix to BF! (or go on and complete true edge, sheath, etc. if making a complete knife)
-Daizee