Matching hunters...in a yin/yang sort of way

J. Doyle

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Feb 17, 2008
Messages
8,207
Here's a set I just completed for a local collector. He's picking them up tomorrow and I hope he likes them. I'd been mulling over the idea of a matched set of sorts for a while. I had these two blocks of wood that were so nearly identical that they had to go together. This wood has it all burl, curl, spalt and even three tone! (I know the three tone won't be everyone's favorite ;) )

So when my collector called and asked about a set, he picked the wood out and instead of doing an exact match, we settled on the matching but with a yin/yang theme idea. One is dark etched with black fittings and hamon the other a polished hamon with silver fittings. The only thing not in theme is the 'bolts' on the butt end. He requested both of those be an engravable material as he wants to get initials engraved on both pieces.

I matched sizes, shapes and everything else as close as I could, right down to even getting a decent match on the hamons.

Claude Scott did a fantastic job on the leather, right down to matching the theme with the light/dark leather.

Specs of the knives:
Hand forged from 1075 steel, clay quenched for hamon on both
8" overall, 3 5/8" blades, .190" thick at the ricasso with sharp distal taper
Rounded spines and ricasso edges for comfort
Black g-10 fittings one one, german silver fittings on the other. Both with fileworked spacers of the same materials
Stabilized box elder burl, curl, spalt...etc handles. All natural, no dye.
Handles are nicely contoured for comfort and slim and light
File fullered butt ends with german silver engraving buttons.

All comments and discussion welcome good, bad, or otherwise.













A couple quick pics showing the hamon activity better:


 
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I realy like your work.
I like the look of those file worked spacers.
One thing i always wondered, are those filed spacers not a place for bacteria to grow?
I can imagin that in the feeld blood etc gets caught there.
(and I mean this as a true question, not as critique)
 
Thank you gentlemen.

The "collector", he likes them. A lot!

Thank YOU sir! ;)

I realy like your work.
I like the look of those file worked spacers.
One thing i always wondered, are those filed spacers not a place for bacteria to grow?
I can imagin that in the feeld blood etc gets caught there.
(and I mean this as a true question, not as critique)

Good question. They can certainly get blood and other 'matter' in there during field dressing, no different than in the tight corners of the ricasso to guard area or all the parts of a folder. However, the grooves are really not all that deep and they can be easily cleaned out with a toothbrush or something similar. The fit is very tight so nothing will get in between all the spacers. A good wash and dry after use and they will be good to go.

Thank you for the question and the kind words.
 
Elegantly Functional Crafted Beauties Mr. Doyle ... Everything a well crafted hunter should be!:thumbup:
 
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