Malucan Dagger in progress

Very education and enjoyable Bailey. Stuff like this is what makes this customs forum so great. Thanks for taking the time. :thumbup:
 
OK, Been busy with all kinds of stuff the last few days.

Now that I have both sides of the rear of the handle , I am moving on to the gold inlays on the side of the handle. This is a pretty simple procedure. I start with a square graver and cut my lines. They are thinner than the final inlay so I can make some minor adjustments if I need to. I follow with a round bottom graver that will establish the width of the inlays, and then use a narrow wedge shaped graver to undercut the sides. I drive the wedge in perpendicular to the line.

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Once this is done, simply lay the gold over the cut and hammer it in.

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Now that the gold is hammered into the cuts, I stone off the excess and polish the area. Border cuts help the gold stand out and give the inlays a cleaner look.

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The polished area with the inlays will be blued. as will the border around the pearl inlay.

Here are a few pics of my engraving bench. They show my square graver that I do 75% of my work with, the handpiece and my assortment of gravers.

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I will have another update tomorrow!!
 
Cold weld is kind of a play on the term weld. The gold isn't actually welded at all It's the same as peening a pin in a bolster, the metals are expanded into one another and stick together a little. If it is done properly, you can't see the seam. Softer metals like gold are easier to do this with.
 
Bailey - thanks. One reason I asked is that as much as I like wire inlay, I'm always disappointed by how obvious the transitions are. This is not a comment on your work - I've simply never seen impeccable wire inlay. It seems that the technique you describe could be used on wire inlay, though maybe only for gold wire in metal (and in fact the best wire inlays I've seen are of this type).
 
Incredible work, Sir.......I spoke with lazza yesterday and he told me you let him 'scratch' a few lines one day.......he really enjoyed it and wishes he had more time for such activities. ;)
 
Wasn't able to work on this one as much as I needed to today, but did set up some of my new lights for taking pics. Thought I would show the whole knife and the handle with the pearl inlays.

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A true work of art Bailey. :thumbup:

To Joss's question, Am I right in assuming that it's generally more difficult to inlay gold or silver into wood than into steel? Just thinking that perhaps that's why we often see less than desirable silver wire inlay in wood handles.
 
Thanks Kevin. Always appreciated.

Yes, I would say it is more difficult to inlay gold or silver into wood and not show the joints. When inlaying into metal, the gold is hammered pretty hard, and it moves and conforms to the pocket. Inlaying in wood doesn't allow this luxury. The very best wire inlay I have seen is on old rifles, and the best of these is on a rifle made for Napoleon in France. It is pictured in R.L. Wilson's book "Steel Canvas". It's a good one to have if you like engraving.


A similar piece would run $3500 or so.
 
bailey....stupid question for you....when ou do the gold inlay.....so there is just pressure holding it in.....you carve a groove....put the gold wire in and hammer it into the groove....is that right.....do you then grind off the top to smooth it or?......thanks for taking the time to explain all of these processes.....ryan
 
Ryan,

The cuts for the gold inlays are undercut, so they are wider at the bottom than the top. The gold is essentially in a dovetailed grove. You would destroy the inlay trying to get it out....the gold , not the pocket.
 
If I were the lucky duck who commisioned this piece, I'd be twitching with anticipation to get my hands on it. Heck, I'm twitching just to see the final product! Great to see it come together step-by-step. We've had some terrific in-progress threads on the forum, but this is the first that I can recall that revealed so much about fine embellishment. Most enjoyable and informative.

Roger
 
Sir...you are a true master craftsman...i've been following this thread and i am just dumbfounded of the time and detail you put in this knife. :thumbup:
 
I can't stop thinking about this. I'm not really sure what to say, except maybe thanks for sharing. Really. I'm dumbstruck by craftsmanship of this level. Someday, when I've got the cash, I swear you'll be getting a call from me.
 
This dagger is absolutely epic. Your photos are getting a lot better too! :thumbup:
 
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