Need some help looking at a design

B

Brian.Evans

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I'm working on my church knife right now. I'm taking my time and really focusing on fit and finish. The below is my rough pattern. I still need to clean up the lines a bit, but it's pretty close.

IMAGE_1000001316.JPG



Here's what I'm going for. I love stories, especially stories behind knives. The bolsters are to be wrought iron from the Globe Elevator built 1885-87. The scales are elephant ivory shot by a lumber baron in Kenya in 1927. I plan to trim the sheath with mammoth ivory beads, fossil walrus beads, and some 1000-2000 year old excavated glass beads from the Timbuktu region of Africa.

I need to figure out pins. I was planning on using wrought nails from the elevator, but I'd really rather them have their own story. That the first part.

The second part is the bolsters. Does the line look ok where I've drawn it? What about the dimension of the ricasso? Just asking for help from those more experienced before I start filing.

Is a fileworked spine overkill on a dress knife? How about thin red G-10 liners under the ivory for a little color?

Thanks everyone.
 
I really like the overall design, and with all the materials and their stories, I think it will be a great conversation piece!

My 2c. I would make the plunge more upright (it looks like its leaning to the right a bit), and put a notch in where the cutting edge meets the pluge. Overall handle design - I would make the bolster a little bit shorter, but only a little bit (1/8th of an inch max). Are you planning on dovetailing them? I think the red spacer underneath the ivory would definitely add something to the knife. I'm not a fan of fileworked spines, but that's just me.

I really really like where you're going with this! Cool story as well! Keep us posted on progress.
 
Thanks! I redrew the bolster shorter (lengthwise, right) and it does look better. Also, the plunge line isn't even close to square. I should have mentioned that. I actually had the entire thing covered in the paper pattern, but most of it had gotten torn up from water dunking during profiling. I just scraped it away and marked approximately where the plunge will go. Lol. I didn't realize how crooked it was until now.

I have to find that little piece of g-10 I've been saving for something like this. I don't know what happened to it.

I had thought about dovetailing. I've never done it before, but that's never stopped me from doing something.

I'm very undecided on filework. I can't find a pattern I like and everything I'm drawing just looks dumb and contrived.

No opinions on pin material?
 
On the pins I am not sure a nail will go wells with the ivory, maybe something a little more elegant. I am not a fan of a red liner but that is just me, the ivory will speak for itself. Maybe someone can discuss the history of the red liners, it may be too modern for the story the knife is telling.
 
I think the red liners might go well with the piece, but it might not. I'm having a hard time imagining how it would impact the design of the knife. On one hand it might give nice contrast to the Ivory and stand out, on the other hand it could look terrible and misplaced. Might just have to try it and fine out. :D
 
I think Mr. Loveless made red liners popular, but I could be wrong. If so, red liners could look too modern for this 1875-1930 era material piece.

Here's a better outlined drawing of the knife with a better plunge, bolster, and pins drawn in.

IMAGE_1000001317.JPG


Maybe I could do a hidden pin with a single exposed mosaic pin. I still want something with a story, though. If I could find something cool from around the turn of the century, with a cool story, that would be awesome. Barring that, a single, small mosaic might be understated enough to let the ivory speak for itself.
 
Could I use wood for the pins? There is wood left from George Washington's horse chestnut that he planted. That would be pretty cool.
 
I would not put wooden pins in Ivory,you're just asking for the wood to expand and crack the ivory.Use some thing stable.
sterling siver or nickel siver would be good.JUst my .02,nice looking drop point.
Stan
 
That's a good point, Stan. I never thought of that. I'm already freaking out a bit on this build, because there's so many things I have no idea what I'm doing.

Sterling sounds neat, but expensive. Maybe just nickel silver then. I have some of that already. I'll have to look at the pin stock next to the ivory and make a decision. Nickel silver would fit in with the ivory though, I think, and wouldn't look too out of place.
 
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