Magnus Axelson WiP

Lorien

Lorien

Nose to the Grindstone
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Some time ago, Magnus and I became friends, thanks in huge part to this forum.

We share a point of view on the world, and an unrelenting passion for mountain biking. These unbreakable bonds of friendship have been a great source of joy and pride for me personally, and although Magnus and I have never met in person, I know that when we do it will be as old and dear friends.

***

Magnus made a knife for me, the manufacture of which was documented in this thread.

I had originally intended for the knife to be useful for clearing trails and the like, but truth be told, it simply turned out to be far too nice to bring into the field, and it remains one of the few knives in my possession whose sole purpose is to provide inspiration, imagination, joy and pride.

This brought us forward into the development of a new knife; one which incorporated similar design elements, but many refinements particularly weight distribution, handle shaping and material.

***

This thread will document Magnus' process from initial conceptual sketch, to completed knife. I hope to also add some in-field photos and video as well. So, without further ado, let's get started!

Here is my initial sketch;



As you can see, my daughter has a promising future in knife design, which I hope to encourage and advance as her fleeting interest allows ;)

Please stay tuned for more
 
That looks pretty sweet.

I really want to see that "tweety bird" knife on top come to life though. :D













Seriously....................have him make the tweety bird knife. ;)
 
after I sent Magnus the sketch, he waved his magic art wand over it and came up with this;



and then, this;



I wasn't convinced I needed a guard, although for clearing brush it's sometimes handy if I'm using the knife to lift away the stuff I cut. Especially if it's prickly.

What do you think? Guard, or not guard?
 
Lorien--With a maker like Magnus, I'd let him make a guard. It adds drama to the profile, and another point of interest to the knife while sheathed. All practical considerations aside of course. I've no experience clearing trails.

Seth
 
The guard adds a lot to the overall "ill intentions" of this knife, IMO. That thing looks pretty wicked. Heck, even his art work is amazing. :)
 
While the guard certainly adds drama, in my opinion it takes away from the tension and surgical cleanliness of the grinds. With a maker of Mr. Axelson's skill, I say keep it simple. His work is too good to be cluttered, and the visual flow of a guardless design speaks of a refined, intelligent malevolence rather than a blindly violent one.

Whatever you choose, the final piece will be not only breathtaking but a pleasure to use. I look forward to seeing how this project unfolds.

-Evan
 
I personally like the guard. To my eyes it looks just a tad to long. But it could go either way. I prefer the guard though.
 
Are you seriously going to take a knife that looks that fancy out in the woods and cut brush? Come on!!
Tim
 
P. McKinley said:
the more Magnus, the better.
Click to expand...

haha Peter! Well said, my friend :)

***

Magnus and I discussed the guard a fair bit. As you can see, the original design did not include much of a guard- there is one but it's tiny. After seeing Magnus' interpretation of my design, I was sorely tempted to let him have his way with it, for the reason Peter mentioned.

However, the design overview includes portability. This knife was designed to pack a punch, hence the 8mm stock and full tang design. Yet it has to be short enough and narrow enough to fit in a backpack. A guard would have been a problem in this regard, due in part to the method of sheathing the blade that I wanted.

I could have chosen to let Magnus have his way with the design, but there are several aspects to the pattern that are functional in nature that I didn't want to change. In the end, Magnus would have made a much more attractive knife if he had 100% control of the design, but I think you'll find that the end result is pleasing to the eye simply because Magnus made it, and also true to the overview of the design concepts.

You might question the need for a pointy point at this stage. Well the point isn't pointy because a pointy point is needed. I'll try to describe why it is what it is if anyone is interested, however, I have to get to work and I'm lacking time atm.

Here is the pattern we eventually settled on, after a few phone calls and emails. As you can see, we avoided the middle ground and there is no guard of any kind whatsoever :)

 
it's very difficult to imagine how a knife will handle before it's built, and for obvious reasons. Imagining things which don't exist requires, well...imagination :) Sometimes not so easy to get ahold of!

Knowing that this knife would be hefty for its size, I gave a lot of thought to balancing out the weight. There are a number of ways to go about removing weight from the handle, and the one that we chose was fairly standard- machining holes into the tang. You can balance out the weight of a knife by tapering the tang and hollow grinding it, but for this knife, that wouldn't really work out, and you'll see why as we move forward.

I took Magnus' drawing and superimposed circles onto it showing where the weight would be removed from. It looks pretty basic, but I'll tell you I agonized over where the holes would be and their dimensions. We could have done this arbitrarily and in all honesty, it might not have made much of a difference if we'd gone that way. But this is Magnus Axelson we're talking about, and it would have been wrong to sacrifice precision in any part of the design, even the part you'll never see once the knife is assembled.



Ultimately, things changed a little from this drawing, as you'll see. However, I just wanted to give you all an idea of how carefully we both thought about this knife. Magnus is an extremely thoughtful and introspective knife maker. He agonizes over the minutest of details, and this is one significant reason why I consider him to be one of the most gifted makers in the business.
 
to the point; in order to get the end of the edge where I want it to be- a place where control, shearing motion and power all meet in balance- while not adding too much weight, material must be removed, not added.

Having a wide square end would greatly diminish the portability aspect that weighed heavy on the design concept. If you can imagine squaring the point you'll see the spine humped up beyond the line drawn from the top of the handle to where the end of the blade is. This greatly affects how much space the knife takes up. Using a thicker stock coupled with the hollow ground section achieves the purpose of moving the weight forward for a powerful cut, while the swedge removes enough weight from the front of the knife so that the tip doesn't become too heavy to control.

Somewhat minimal removal of steel in the handle achieved a neutral feel, with a balance point about 2cm in front of the handle.

The point doesn't get used as a point on this knife, it is simply there as a means to an end. That it looks cool also contributes to its being there, as you so rightly pointed out, Travis :)

My target weight for this design was 16-17oz.
 
Lorien,
I much prefer your original drawing with a more smooth rather than "angular" approach to all the lines of the knife, including a smaller, more tasteful and less "Star Trek" looking guard,. I would think a full convex grind would be nicer than the 1/2 hollow ground as it has changed to. It is possible to have that complex grind without a "ridge" unless you just want to exaggerate it. The only thing i would have opted out of the original drawing was the point where the belly of the blade meets the recurve, i think having a point there is unnecessary and detracts from the flow.
David
 
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