My second knife project

The blade is now out for heat treatment. It got "dinged" in shipment, despite my efforts to avoid it. I'm told the ding is tiny but I'll work it out upon return anyway.

Today I am putting the finishing touches on the sheath.

- Greg
 
A preliminary look at the sheath I made for the second project. The ugly stitching in the belt loop will be removed before the project is finished. I'll also even out the edges. Apart from that, you can get a sense for what I was shooting for.

The inner part of the sheath is made from undyed hide with a slot just wide enough to hold the blade snugly. Triangular cutouts were done to enable the tip of the handle to slip into place, keeping the whole thing very stable while sheathed. I'm thinking this one won't require a strap to hold it in place. The leather was hand-dyed and finished, apart from the two small triangles on the front, which came from some recycled clothing grade leather I've been carrying around for years. The triagles were stitched to the inside of the sheath and flipped over the lip to cover the raw edge on top.

Sheath2-1.JPG


- Greg
 
While I have only been making knives for a little while(under a year) I have been working with leather for quiet some time.

The leather you used as the triangular pieces are chromium tanned leather, it will corrode the bejesus out of any steel it is in contact with, it has been tanned with chromium sulfates and is very hard on steel, that being said its not a bad looking sheath. Just work on straightening up your stitching(as you said).

EDIT: Also if you are worried about raw edges, just get yourself some gum tragacanth and some edge kote, it will greatly improve the look of the edges of anything.
 
No worries about it coming into contact with the blade. There's a thick piece of undyed hide that will surround the blade while in the sheath. But thanks for the warning, just the same. I'll toss out the rest of that leather.

- Greg
 
zaph1 said:
Well, I'd like to chime in on the titanium. Having nearly completed mine, I'd like to say that a normal 60 grit belt will cut through it almost as quickly as steel. However, roughing out the shape is the hard part and he stated he already has that done. I know the picture is bad, but there is actually a point on it. This is a mushroom knife used to dig up morels in the spring. It's very light, only 202 grams, which is pretty light for a 7 1/2" blade. Don't expect it to hold an edge though, but you can do some neat heat coloring on it.


knife 4a.jpg
Click to expand...

i'm always glad to see people making mushroom knives.
 
Today the blade came back from Peters HT, black all over (except for one spot on the handle). As Brad informed me there was a tiny nick at the tip of the blade, so I spend a little time grinding that off, then sanded the whole thing down, starting with 220, then 600, and 1200 grit to finish. I'll run it through etching again this weekend and see if I can get it ready to finish up next week.

- Greg
 
Here are images of the completed knife. I finally decided to use hidden guide pins and epoxy to attach the handle.

DSCN5065.JPG


DSCN5066.JPG
 
The handle came out wonderful and the knife looks good. My eye still wants to see a grind line down the middle of the blade, but it does show the Damascus off and I bet it will take a wicked edge.
 
The inspiration for the blade came from a web image off the back cover of a book I don't own about fixed blade knives. Here's the image:

Dagger.jpg


As someone noted early in this thread, I obviously attempted a project that was beyond my current skill level. That said, I do like the results for the very reason you mentioned... I like the way it displays the damascus pattern, especially near the edges. Perhaps some day I will revisit the project and make a second one with a defined center line/plateau, such as the one displayed in the book.

- Greg
 
Well, look at it this way, if you always do what you always did, you'll never know what you can do. I like the knife although it does look a little asymetric to me (might be my eyes). What type of wood did you use for the handle? Have you sharpened the edges since you finished it?
 
The handle is stabilized buckeye burl. I did stone the blade to the point where it cuts, but not to the point where you can shave with it or slice paper in mid-air.

As to it being a little asymmetrical, the point is a little off. I think I mentioned before that it suffered a little damage in transit to HT. When I got it back I had to grind away the damage, but I was being cautious about not grinding too much. Guess I was a little over cautious. I just didn't want to ruin the hardness by overheating it.

Live and learn.

- Greg
 
Nothing wrong with jumping right in with both feet! I think the point of the handle down the blade really helps make it work. The blade shape sort of reminds me of the EK stiletto, though they do have a little bit more of a grind line around the edges of the blade.
 
Very nice looking product. I really like the handle, tryppyr. It reminds me more of a throwing knife than a dagger, though. Shall we take it outside and play some mumbly pegs with it?
 
After doing the timed etching tests for the leaf knife, I decided I needed to revisit this project. Today I broke off the handle (which was attached with Gorilla glue anyway), cleaned it up and put it back in the FC for about an hour. In part this was to see how an hour long etch would look on the leaf knife, but it was also an excuse to improve what I'd done on this one.

I'm very pleased with the result. The etch is no longer superficial, and has become textural. Instead of having to lighly touch it up with 1000 grit sandpaper, I can rub with gusto and polish it to my heart's content.

Of course, now I have to make another handle for it. But that suits me fine. I was never totally happy with the first handle anyway. I felt that the color of buckeye burl was a little to pale and green for that blade. Also, not being able to sand the handle once mounted to the blade was a problem for fit and finish. I'll ponder the rehandling problems once I'm finished with the leaf knife.

DSCN5447.JPG
 
Very nice work. I like that you went with what you wanted, rather than stick with "conventional" ideas of what you're supposed to do.

I think it came out great!
 
After re-etching the blade I obviously had to make another handle. Based on my general lack of satisfaction with the first handle, and my preference for hidden tang handles, I decided to revamp the profile and make this one a hidden tang. Here is the result:

DaggerRedux.JPG


The piece on the butt is a bakelite drawer pull recessed into the handle. It has a deep burgundy color with swirls of creamy orangey/yellow in it. The wood is stabilized maple burl, held in place by the two pins (no epoxy at this time, but I probably will add some just to lock the pins and the screw into place).

I am, for the time being at least, now satisfied with the results and will stop changing this one.

- Greg
 
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