McCormick's Reaper to Scottish Dirk W.I.P.

Fred.Rowe

Fred.Rowe

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
May 2, 2004
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A local man came by my shop, he carried with him a spring steel seat bracket, from a late 1800's McCormick's reaper and an elk shed his grandfather had bought back from a trip out west.
He wanted to know if I had any interest in making him a Scottish dirk from the materials he had in hand. "My granddad harvested grain with that old reaper; I hope you can make me a knife out of this steel and horn"
"My family came from Scots Highland stock and the knife would be a nice reminder of that.

I told him I would see what I could do.

The shape of the handle is stylized and only has characteristics of the original , the elk antler is very pithy and could not be cut down much. I spark tested the steel from the reaper and it looked good.

The length is 20 inches tip to tip. The bade is 14.5 inches.

The rough grinds are complete; I'll finish the blade this week if the heat doesn't drive me out of the shop.

Fred
 
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very cool use of recycled materials , I wonder if the reaper was old enough that the steel may may be shear steel or some other higher carbon wrought iron?
Chris
 
winterbear said:
very cool use of recycled materials , I wonder if the reaper was old enough that the steel may may be shear steel or some other higher carbon wrought iron?
Chris
Click to expand...

Good thought! The spark test indicated a good quantity of carbon; how much is of course uncertain. Seeing as how it was being used to support the seat on this reaping machine it should, by application, be of the proper make up. Sounds reasonable.
Fortunately I have a large section of the steel left over and will be able to harden and temper some sections at different heats and see what results I get.

Thanks for the post and the query, Fred
 
That's a really cool project and looking good so far.

I find it interesting the way to fit the handle before grinding the blade.
 
Fred, quick before Stacy reads it! Edit your post .....Ach mon!.... its Scots Highland or better yet Scottish Highlander. Scotch is a drink imbued with magical properties, not an ethnic group! I know that is what your customer said but we must demand political correctness and tolerance at all levels, LOL. Wow what a great dirk. I'd be proud to wear that with my kilt. What a great memento for your customer. Beautiful work. Any tips on torching the antler? I've tried that without much success. Seems like I either get charcoal or not much color. When I was 17 (yep some 36 odd years ago, dang that hurts) I made a dirk (well maybe somewhat dirk shaped object) out of an old kitchen knife I ground down for the blade and using a red deer shed for the handle. I picked up the shed on a climb up Benn Cruchan near Loch Awe, aye, that's in the hielands. I soaked the shed in coffee for a couple of weeks and got some color to it. Nowadays that seems like a waste of coffee. Didn't work all that great either.
 
Dan Pierson said:
That's a really cool project and looking good so far.

I find it interesting the way to fit the handle before grinding the blade.
Click to expand...

The blade has always come first on other knives; but for some reason it made more seance, or gave me better perspective, to complete the handle before starting to grind the blade.

Possible because I've not made such a large knife as this or a Scottish dirk specifically. I think knife makers have a sixth seance that we follow or gut feeling, whatever its called.

Horsewright said:
Fred, quick before Stacy reads it! Edit your post .....Ach mon!.... its Scots Highland or better yet Scottish Highlander. Scotch is a drink imbued with magical properties, not an ethnic group! I know that is what your customer said but we must demand political correctness and tolerance at all levels, LOL. Wow what a great dirk. I'd be proud to wear that with my kilt. What a great memento for your customer. Beautiful work. Any tips on torching the antler? I've tried that without much success. Seems like I either get charcoal or not much color. When I was 17 (yep some 36 odd years ago, dang that hurts) I made a dirk (well maybe somewhat dirk shaped object) out of an old kitchen knife I ground down for the blade and using a red deer shed for the handle. I picked up the shed on a climb up Benn Cruchan near Loch Awe, aye, that's in the hielands. I soaked the shed in coffee for a couple of weeks and got some color to it. Nowadays that seems like a waste of coffee. Didn't work all that great either.
Click to expand...

LMAO!

Stacy must be kept mollified at all cost. Do not turn the dogs loose, please. Consider it edited.

The color was imparted to the antler by first coating it with leather highlighter [Tandys product], after the rough shaping but before the finish sanding and buffing. When the handle was completely finished I applied several coats of Feibling's med brown leather dye. After drying the handle was buffed using old denim material.

Do you still have your first dirk?

Thanks for posting folks; made my day, Fred
 
Now that's an interesting trick. Thanks for the info Fred. I've got Fiebings Highlighter and the the oil dye. Have to give er a try. That handle looks really good to me. Nope, have no idea what happened to that old dirk. I wore it for some years when I wore my kilt. See I'm so bad I had to have someone translate LMAO for me, I didn't know what that meant. Now thats funny.
 
Good stuff, Fred. I have a soft spot in my heart for Celtic style knives (not that the avatar would have lead ya to the conclusion). I like what you did with the handle I.e. cutting it in 2 sections. I have a hard time finding just the right stag that would look good and at the same time be comfortable wearing... The way you did it gives you the ability to thin out the material and have it still look good without chewing up parts near the crown- nice work.
 
Bob Katilus said:
Good stuff, Fred. I have a soft spot in my heart for Celtic style knives (not that the avatar would have lead ya to the conclusion). I like what you did with the handle I.e. cutting it in 2 sections. I have a hard time finding just the right stag that would look good and at the same time be comfortable wearing... The way you did it gives you the ability to thin out the material and have it still look good without chewing up parts near the crown- nice work.
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Bob,

That part of the world has a rich history of arms, armaments and men that used them, daily. I'm reading Scotland-The story of a Nation by Magnus Magnusson; a 650 page volume. The dirk project came along after I'd started the book, must be some connection there.

You're right, finding a stag or horn section that would fit the bill in this situation; nae on impossible. My friend Moon uses a lot of bone in his craft but does not use the crown ends; he give them to me. It seems like the really nice crowns, crowns with lots of candy, are attached to big curved sections of bone and not that useful for handles especially straight ones.
Thanks for posting and keep your kilt dry, Fred
 
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