My KITH WIP

Thanks!

I got stalled on the sheath because I broke the awl needle... so now I've turned my attention to the pommel. The primary purposes for this will be to protect the end from chipping and scarring, and to add balance (visually and in terms of weight). I'm looking at three options at the moment.

1) The first thought I had was to used a piece of the same 1/4 inch 1095 stock used for the guard and put a dome on it (center of the pic). The thought was that using the same metal would insure a consistent look on boths sides of the handle.

2) The second choice was cut from a piece of round bar stock that was actually a linch pin the fell off a car. The piece is 3/4 inch long and 5/16 inch tall. It would also be domed.

3) The bigger piece of the unknown steel bar stock is also 3/4 inch long and 7/16 inch tall. This would give me more material to play with, but might give an imbalanced appearance.

Any thoughts on which I should choose?

Here's a pic of the candidate pieces:

KITH37.JPG
 
Woo hoo!!! Got notice today that the blades I sent out for HT went to shipping status today!
 
Last night I started grinding on the 1095 piece that will be the pommel. Not much to show yet... didn't get to spend much time on it as I had to babysit our ailing dog. I did cut it down to the proper size and knocked all the edges off the top, and drilled the hole for the center post, and trial fitted a post. So far so good.
 
A quick pic showing the pommel's current state. Still some filing and sanding to do, obviously, but you can see how it will look at the end of the handle. It's still standing off the handle by 1/16th of an inch in this picture.

KITH40.JPG
 
I'm always a little surprised by what comes back from heat treatment. Here's what came back this time.

KITH41.JPG


KITH42.JPG
 
Thanks, Jonathan.

I spent time today sanding away the gunk and uncovered a few surface flaws that have since been sanded out. I also worked to refine the point, which was intentionally left blunt prior to HT. Still a lot of cleanup to do. Since my wife is out of town this weekend, I I'm looking forward to making a lot of progress on the knife.
 
Nowhere near done, of course, but I did get the pieces together for a first fitting.

KITH44.JPG
 
If anyone was wondering why I never finished the guard to a better level, then answer is right here. I knew I still needed to cut a groove into the front side for the blade to slip into, and there was really no point finishing the guard until that was done. My success or failure on this step determines whether I will actually use this guard or throw it away. If you look closely at the previous picture you'll see why the groove is needed... a small gap between the blade and the guard on both sides. Unacceptable. I want there to be no light (or shadow) between the blade and the guard.

I started the groove with diamond burrs on the Dremel, and am finishing it out using needle files under magnification. It's going well enough that I believe I won't have to throw the guard away. Keeping my fingers crossed.

KITH45.JPG
 
Greg, Not having done this kind of work on a guard before, please excuse my question. Could the insetting on the guard be performed with metal gravers. It seems to me they have the ability for very fine lines. Great WIP, Jess
 
Jess, they probably could... but I don't have any, and I have no experience using them. If I did, I'd probably be tempted to do more fancy engraving on my knives... which might not be a good thing. I'm already a bit over the top by most standards. ;)
 
I've pretty much finished carving the groove. It's a pretty good fit up... the blade fits in it nicely. I'll do a bit more clean up, just to make the edges prettier.

I decided it was time to polish the ricasso (both sides) up to 2000 grit and apply my makers mark. After that I started using the stones on the blade to remove the remainder of the HT scale and restore the center line, especially near the ricasso (where the ricasso sanding had weakened it).

What remains now is to complete the cleanup of the blade, finish sanding/polishing the guard, etch the blade, stone the edges, polish the blade, final assembly, then final cleanup of the handle to address the join between the pommel and the handle.

KITH46.JPG


KITH47.JPG
 
bladsmth said:
Greg,
How is the pommel attached to the ivory?
Click to expand...

I drilled a small hole in the pommel and the ivory and pounded a small headless nail into the pommel that fits fairly snugly into the hole in the ivory as well.
 
A final look at the slot in the guard, and a first look at the positioning pin in the pommel (to address Stacy's question).

KITH48.JPG
 
I think this is your best knive to date
I like how you gave it your touch without going over the top.
 
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