The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
On the iron wood handle ya have that one blackish void on the one flat. Ironwood responds very well to wet sanding with CA glue. Ya could strengthen that area and fill most if not all of that void but of course ya would have to resand the handle but it would probably be worth it. When hand sanding ironwood I always keep a bottle of CA glue handy. Ironwood is prone to small cracks and voids and wet sanding with CA really does get rid of them. Course a guy tries to avoid those things as much as he can but sometimes they don't show up till you are entered up.Sure, suggestions are always good.
I've used the CA glue on wood before, I use dogwood pretty regularly and it often has knot like grain that looks really good but needs filling in, I'll post a picture of that when I get around my computer. I've got CA glue sitting in that ironwood spot as we speak too, I got excited to take pictures I guess lol. I've also noticed those inclusions in pretty much all that Damascus I've gotten, none of them seemed too deep, so I was hoping that they wouldn't be too much of an issue if it was kept oiled, I haven't worked with too much of their Damascus, and I don't want to continue with it though if it's your experience that they often continue splitting. Do you know of another place to get some Damascus?On the iron wood handle ya have that one blackish void on the one flat. Ironwood responds very well to wet sanding with CA glue. Ya could strengthen that area and fill most if not all of that void but of course ya would have to resand the handle but it would probably be worth it. When hand sanding ironwood I always keep a bottle of CA glue handy. Ironwood is prone to small cracks and voids and wet sanding with CA really does get rid of them. Course a guy tries to avoid those things as much as he can but sometimes they don't show up till you are entered up.
This one kinds of pains me some. I've made several thousand knives out of that same damascus. I was a pretty big advocate. I quit using that steel a couple of years ago and both your ironwood knife and the blade you are currently working on exhibit the problems/bad welds/defects in the steel that was the reason I quit using it. The ironwood blade more so but the current blade too. Years ago ya just didn't see that in this steel, then some and then more and more.
This is one of the last knives I made from that steel. I'd tried grinding those bad spots out so much I actually changed the shape of the blade. I couldn't get them out. Couldn't sell this knife so gave it to the wife:
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She loved it but then retired it. Why? All those bad spots rust. Moisture gets in there and ya can't get it out no matter how well ya dry off the blade and those spots just seem to widen and break the welds further apart. This knife is now in the feedr oom of our barn, relegated to cutting open hay bales.
Did I get my pajamas in some of those pictures? Lol.Some good looking blades!!! Nice work!!! Nice pants too!!!!! Keep em coming, look forward to seeing some more of your stuff...

I've used the CA glue on wood before, I use dogwood pretty regularly and it often has knot like grain that looks really good but needs filling in, I'll post a picture of that when I get around my computer. I've got CA glue sitting in that ironwood spot as we speak too, I got excited to take pictures I guess lol. I've also noticed those inclusions in pretty much all that Damascus I've gotten, none of them seemed too deep, so I was hoping that they wouldn't be too much of an issue if it was kept oiled, I haven't worked with too much of their Damascus, and I don't want to continue with it though if it's your experience that they often continue splitting. Do you know of another place to get some Damascus?
Are you wet sanding with the CA glue?Here's a picture of some of the dogwood I was talking about, you'll see there at the bottom of the handle the area that needed filling in. I thought it looked really good. I was a little hesitant to use that piece of wood at first, but I really liked the way it looked, and it's been in use for well over a year with no signs of stopping.
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CA glue finishes are pretty but not very durable.Horsewright I generally just force the glue into the crevice let it dry then sand it smooth, and repeat that process until it is completely filled in. When you say wet sanding with the glue what do you mean exactly? Wet sanding while the glue is still liquid? Like you might do with lacquer to fill wood pores. Or, covering the handle letting it dry and then wet sanding it?
Thats pretty much what I've been doing too, except I'm using blo instead of danish. I may try out danish oil, I find that even sanding to a very high grit the blo doesn't add much luster to the wood.CA glue finishes are pretty but not very durable.
Yeah ya got a small void or crack to fill put a drop or two of CA on it and sand while the glue is wet. Sawdust from the sanding will get mixed into the glue and man that darn crack or void darn near goes away. may have to do it a couple of times. I’ll usually do this at the 220/320 grit stage of hand sanding the handle.
I wet sand my oil finishes too. Depends on the wood on how many coats. I started with Danish Oil a long time ago. Have used everything else but have been back to Danish oil the last 5-10 years.