Maynard's Delkalope

No, it's a piece of .250" NS. I shaped it down, not sure if I like it or not.
 
I like the guard. The shape looks great to my eyes. Enough to keep his fingers off the blade but not enough to get in the way.
 
Guard is fitted, I've got the front spacers made. Blackwood and bronze up front, to be followed with about an inch and a half of leather, one more thin blackwood spacer bordered with bronze, around three inches of antler and a nickel plate.

I'll scoop out a bit of the backside of the guard to give the first finger a nice home. I need to clean up the blade and solder the guard. (wish me luck there, I'll need it)


I've got some potassium permanganate on the way to dye the antler, and broke down and got a small shop press to make compressing leather easier and free up a vice.
 
Looks like your off to a good start, nice blade shape also.
 
Thanks Scott, I stalk....errr I mean try to learn from and watch some of the best;)
 
That's going to look real sharp, John! :thumbup: No doubt the best delkalope knife ever! ;)
 
Hard to get a picture of the Swedge. The spine is slightly rounded as is below the ricasso.
 
How are you going to terminate the tang at the butt, peen it over the nickel plate, or threaded?
 
The plan is to fit the tang through a .125" plate and peen it. I annealed the end of the tang and it should spread fine.

One thing I've been trying to decide on is if I want to leave the plate smooth, texture it, or maybe file a design around the edge. I've seen the latter, and it looks great when done right. This blade might call for a smooth plate though, round off the corners and leave it clean.

I'm trying to punch out of my weight class with this one and might just get whooped:eek:. So far things are going well though, but disaster is always right around the corner!
 
Got the guard soldered. I think it came out well considering it's my first time. It ain't the prettiest, but it's functional.

Need to cut up some leather for spacers. Not sure if I'll wait to compress them until the press gets here next week, or just use the vice.
 
Got the guard soldered. I think it came out well considering it's my first time. It ain't the prettiest, but it's functional.

Need to cut up some leather for spacers. Not sure if I'll wait to compress them until the press gets here next week, or just use the vice.

Ahh I beg to differ, I think it looks pretty damn good. :thumbup:
 
Solder job looks real good, thats were a good tight fit to start with pays off down the road.
 
So behind the guard there'lll be two bronze bordered blackwood sections, then about an inch and a half of leather, another piece of blackwood, and then antler.

The leather section will have an 1/8" piece of bronze bordered maroon micarta in the center and two thicknesses of leather in a pattern. The crappy picture below kind of gives an idea, I might change it up a bit. Thought I'd try to put some detail in that section instead of just even stacks.

After I shaped the guard down, it reminded me of the Chrysler building and the 1930's, the spacers kind of go along with that. I know that sounds goofy, but strange things happens in my head:eek:
 
Trying to picture it in my feeble mind, think it's going to be nice!

Also sounds like you need more sleep! ;)
 
You're probably right Dennis, the solder monster had me up late last night, but I got six or so hours of good sleep.

Now back to the exciting world of boring processes! :D

I use a mason jar attachment for a vacuum sealer to soak the leather, it helps draw the air out and rwally saturate the spacers pretty quick. They're tied together in order.


I line them up using the tang to line up the slots and then they go in the vise. They seem to compress about 60% and slightly expand after they dry.

The idea of the compression is so they can't shrink over time and loosen up. I may be wrong, but all the old loose pommels you see on old leather stacks I think are because of the discs becoming dry and shrinking. It also makes it easier to seal and maintain them, but it still gives you the warm feel of leather. Heres a pic of the mess so far.
 
John,
A couple of questions if I may. Is that just straight water?
What kind of vice are you using? Is that just plastic to keep the wet leather separate from the vise? Thanks! I love this process!
 
It's hot water with a bit of dawn dish soap to prevent mold, not sure if it really works, but I havent had a problem. The vacuum sealer really pulls the bubbles and the leather feels like clay when it's done, compresses really well.

I've got a small bottle jack shop press coming next week but for now it's an old wilton vise with some oak blocks. I cover the blocks with plastic sheeting now because the first time I used them, the wet oak stained the outer pieces of leather.

I'm looking forward to the press, I'm gonna fool around with different ideas. I made a compressed block of twisted leather strips once, when I cut it up it looked like burl, almost like a brain, there's no way you would have thought it was leather. I think if I can get the pressure I need out of this 6 ton press that's on its way, I may be able to make some interesting spacers. We'll see.
 
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