'Old School' style hunter

J. Doyle

J. Doyle

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Feb 17, 2008
Messages
8,181
This is another commissioned knife. He wanted what he called a traditional style hunter, something that looked like what his dad had. When I was a kid, my dad and uncle used to have some hunters with clipped blades and stacked leather handles, made by Blackjack knives, I think. After a drawing, this is what we came up with. I guess it's my more modern version of that old Blackjack knife. Heck, even the curly maple is sort of reminiscent of that stacked leather. :)

This is a nice light and small hunter that balances perfectly on the first finger, right behind the guard. All of the materials for blade and handle and the overall design were picked out by the customer. This knife will be used whitetail hunting, probably even tomorrow. ;)

Specs:
Hand forged from 1075 steel
8" overall, 3 3/4" tip to guard, .190" thick at the ricasso with a full distal taper
Rounded spine and ricasso
False edge, not sharp but gives the knife a wicked point for piercing hide
Bronze guard with bronze and red g-10 spacers
Stabilized curly maple handle

All comments welcome.







 
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Nice one, John. I really like the blade profile...my kinda blade. Good stuff:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
Thanks again all for the kind words.

Jeremy Barnard said:
looks good! May I ask how you did the hollow around the corners of the pommel?
Click to expand...

Jeremy-

The fuller on the butt end of the handle is fairly straight forward. Get your handle all shaped and mostly polished. Then take a flat file and knock an even 45 degree angle all the way around that corner on the butt end. Make the flat spot as even as you can and about 1/8" wide. Then take an 1/8" round file and start filing a groove in the new flat spot you just created. You can use the sides of the flat spot to keep your groove centered by eye. When you have a nice even groove in the middle of your bevel, you can make it deeper and wider with a 3/16" file. Then you can wrap sandpaper around your file and polish it all up. That's about it. Hope that makes sense.

You'll know you're doing it right if the file slips out of the groove and puts a nice gouge in the side of your already polished handle. ;) :)
 
Very functional and ergonomically designed and appealing to the eye. That's what we look for in a fine hunter.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
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