Maynard's Delkalope

I don't think you, John, or any of us could think of one person actually qualified to think.
 
Heading up to Tim's for a bailout on epoxy. I managed to do something really stupid. Quick tip, if you usually warm your epoxy on the heater for ONE minute before mixing.....try not to forget about it.....umm yeah:rolleyes:

Maybe there IS something to this thinking thing after all, I'm gonna try it from now on:D
 
Thinking, or a lack thereof, has gotten man into many a sticky situation.
 
We're back in the sticky business.
I'll check every few minutes and make sure there's no epoxy oozing out at the antler joint, need to keep that spot clean or we'll have to sand some antler out and I want to keep that to a minimum.
 
I used a little piece of PVC pipe to tap every couple of spacers as I put them on, the epoxy mostly just seals everything up.
 
An ugly mess, left enough material to shape the backside of the guard after everything cures up. Everything seemed to mate up well, we'll see how it turns out.

You'll see a lot of butcher paper in the shop, whenever I need a clean surface to epoxy, or work on leather or whatever, I tear off a chunk and have an instant clean surface instead of wiping everything down all the time. If necessity is the mother of invention, laziness is it's father:p
 
Im liking the color of that antler. That will look really good with the leather.
 
Thanks guys, I'm really looking forward to how this turns out. Here's a picture that shows the different thicknesses of leather, the thin pieces come out a little darker, I like the contrast there, changes things up a little bit.

Need to attach and peen the end cap next.
 
In case anyone is wondering, the front two pieces are Blackwood, then leather, maroon micarta, leather, and one piece of Blackwood, everything bordered with .005" bronze. The guard is 1/4" Nickel Silver. The endcap is 1/8" with a piece of bronze between it and the antler.
 
lessismore said:
In case anyone is wondering, the front two pieces are Blackwood, then leather, maroon micarta, leather, and one piece of Blackwood, everything bordered with .005" bronze. The guard is 1/4" Nickel Silver. The endcap is 1/8" with a piece of bronze between it and the antler.
Click to expand...

You know how much your making me drool, right?
 
You figured out my evil plan, mass dehydration through drooling across the ghost town, Mwuuhahahaha! Then, I offer a bottle of water with each knife and you're all hooked!
 
lessismore said:
Thanks guys, I'm really looking forward to how this turns out. Here's a picture that shows the different thicknesses of leather, the thin pieces come out a little darker, I like the contrast there, changes things up a little bit.

Need to attach and peen the end cap next.
Click to expand...

Nice job on the handle spacers, I like the the leather stack arrangement, I make mine similar to that every once in a while, I alternate with horse hide, cow hide, horse hide. I like the horse hide but I'm not getting as good of a color out of it. It doesn't dye well.
 
Thanks Scott, spacer layouts drive me nuts. Horsehide is naturally more water resistant than cow right? I might have to try some of that sometime. I want to try some vinegarooned black leather spacers with some blackwood. Maybe break up the leather with some thin bronze or aluminum every few pieces.
 
Coming together nicely, John! Interesting idea about the vinegarooned leather washers...
 
Yes, horse leather is more water resistant than cow hide, but the trade offs for better water resistance are pretty severe. Most holster makers will tell you their horse hide holsters come in any color as long as it's black. Horse hide is extremely fine grained which is why it is very resistant to dying! I've bought horse hide from Sheridan when they were in business with the public and from Zach White and the hides all came looking the same, they have this weird dark pinkish-greyish skin tone to them, they feel oily to touch and have a funny earthy smell to them. I can't seem to get a good color to them except a dark brown which is OK, but I don't really like them dark all the time, I think the problem with it is they're naturally pretty dark to begin with. The positives to horse hide is they are moisture resistant and it can be burnished to a mirror finish, however after working with both cow hide with snow seal or bee's wax is just as good as horse hide. In a nut shell cow hide will have a little grainier appearance and probably better color to it, the horse hide will be finer grained with a glossier finish to it. If you like I can post up some pics? Forgot to mention I'm likely to go back to using some cow hide in my handles again.
 
That's interesting Scott, I've been happy with cowhide so far so I might just stick with that, getting interesting spacer patterns is what I need to work on.
I've got a horsehide IWB holster that's still in great shape and I've used it for over a dozen years, pretty durable stuff.
 
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