Oosic fighter project

SteelSlaver

SteelSlaver

Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Messages
3,375
Well, I am mostly staying at home with the wife now and I need both some money and something to keep my mind busy. So, I am going to be making some more knives. A couple of my better projects sold well recently and I figure to try a couple more. Here is what I started this weekend. The steel is a 1095/nickel damascus with a interesting pattern. I was given a complete Oosik and the handle is the natural end of it. I believe I will soak it with thin super glue. The guard and spacer are from a wrought iron chain link. I am thinking of browning the blade after it is all complete. Need to go to grinding now. Anybody have thoughts as to spacers or anything to really trick this out. I think one small mosaic pin in the Oosik. Thanks for looking Jim

Oosikfighterpieces.jpg


Oosikfighter1stassembly.jpg
 
I like that blade,Jim. Going to be a good one with the natural look of the oosic. Keep the pics comming.
 
I can't really think of anyway in particular to "trick" it out... a beautiful design, great materials and well executed, why gild a lily? maybe sand a matching groove in the guard?
 
Looks like it's going to be great as is. The only additional touch I could think of would be a metal pommel piece filed to match the oosic.
 
Hi Jim,

I've been thinking about you and Margo and wishing you guys well.

Glad to see you're at work! I'm not sure about the mosaic pin idea, wouldn't have occurred to me along with the WI. I think I would tend to look to the WI for pin(s) too. Looking forward to seeing more.

All the best, Phil
 
Hey Jim-


I really like what you have started :) Well on the way to some really really nice lines :thumbup: :cool:

You needing to visit your friends in Vancouver anytime soon? I'd be happy to show you some ideas.

I've got some things for you to think about (keep in mind it's free, so take it for what it's worth! ;) ).

It looks like maybe you turned the spacer on lathe and then fit it to the knife.

It is a thousand times easier with both guards and spacers to fit them to to the knife first... and THEN shape the outer edges. That way you can use the ricasso as a foundation for the shaping. This makes it much easier to assure symmetry.

The other thing, and this is purely my opinion. If a knife ricasso width doesn't match the width of the spacer/front end of handle, it's a real flow killer. It's distracting to the eye. I think you're a touch off now, but it's easily within clean-up range. Look at Ray Richard's knives for a good example of the handle flowing into the blade like I mean :)

I would really recommend you put a nice little sweep on the top side of the guard like you did on the bottom part. More on that flow thing :)

I am being particular! :)

I think what you've got going is GREAT! I LOVE leaving a natural end on the material like you have there. It adds a tremendous amount of character and beauty.

Keep us posted Jim :)
 
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Thanks Jim and Nick! My education just creeped another little notch up. Funny, I didn't even notice the spacers behind the guard and the handle being off just a smidge from the blade. The top edge of the blade seems to be a little above their top edge. Same seems to go for the bottom of the ricasso. I need to sloooow down and really LOOK at things! Now I get to see what Jim has to say and what he does next. Yippee! Way to go Jim. THANKS for sharing!
 
Jim I'm glad you have the opportunity to hang out with your wife. I recently worked from home for almost a month while my wife went through some terrible times, and it was one of those experiences in life that cemented our relationship more than ever. You will probably find that some of the times are very difficult; just show her your strong face and process your worries in your work. At least, that's what I tried to do. ;) I sure got a lot of knife work done! Don't tell my boss.

I really like your knife. I dig oosic, and you have found an ideal piece for your handle. I'm really looking forward to watching your work on this knife. I hope you'll be able to post progress pics. I don't have anything to add to what's been said, so I'm just along for the ride! Have fun where you can, and hang in there.
 
Thanks for the help and yes I turned the spacer on my lathe. I need to file it a bit to raise it up some and maybe take the top of the blade down a bit to get a match. I turned it to just over the size of the oosic. I will try to get it to match up with the ricasso. I need to take the spacer down a bit where it meets the oosic also. I figure to use the grooves in the spacer as guides for a round file when I get it fit up right and JB Welded in place. I like the idea of a bit of sweep in the top of the guard and will try to work that in.

I figure to grind the blade close to final next, then harden and temper it. Get it all sanded down. Get the blade side of the guard sanded down well. Mean time soak some thin super glue into the oosic. Then install the guard and work the spacer till it is right to the ricasso and do some work to the guard to help it transition to the spacer. Then I will JB the spacer and work it and the oosic to match up. I will then finish the guard and spacer up. Tape off the blade and the tang and give the spacer guard a ferric chloride soak. Then I am going to do a brown job on the blade. Wipe it with a salt water solution a set in a closed box and then give it a super fine steel wool scrub and repeat until I am happy. I have some D2 blanks that I can work on and somebody wants a tricked out kit folder so I have things to do while I wait. Sound like a plan? Also my old job is going to try to work out something to give me a bit of time and let me keep my insurance etc without a bunch of out of pocket money.
 
I knew you were on top of it Jim. Thanks for taking the time to spell it all out. Now I'll know what to watch for. All the best, Phil
 
Wow, that's awesome about the work situation Jim! I'm glad to hear it!

Sounds like you've got a solid plan for the knife too.

Rust browning works really nice and makes a super cool finish. I got rid of my rust box after I tried the plum brown from Brownell's. It works really fast and I can actually get a smoother finish. You might want to give it a try, it's pretty slick :)
 
The plum brown sounds faster and smoother alright. My step dad mad muzzle loaders and he browned them. Was kind of a long process.

I work for a company that provides contract workers to refineries and chemical plants. Some guys just do enough to get by, with minimum quality and miss work. They are always getting laid off and bad mouth the company. I have worked in the same plant constantly for the last 5 years. I always tell the young guys that the hardest thing for a company to find is people who are responsible. That covers being there on time, doing good work in a timely safe manner. True some companies don't care but, it is often a 2 way street and I was told I could always have my job back as long as they had any work at all. The plant maintenance management will take me back even if the company I now work for ever loses the contract. I sometimes wondered if I was the idiot for always going the extra mile, when others didn't. My work ethic paid off.
 
Spend some shop time on this. Worked a bit on the spacer and Oosic. Man that end is sucking up some super glue. I put in my bevels and have been working it on the 12" disk to get it good. I did a cold blue to show the pattern a bit and it will help show my problems when I hit it with the disk some more. I am going to take it down some more but, plan to leave it a bit thick as I don't want that long thin end to decarb or warp when I harden it.

oosic2side.jpg


Oosicblade.jpg
 
Looking good Jim!!! :thumbup:

I LOVE long and lean fighter/bowies... and it's really coming along now.

Are you using a quick set spray with the super glue? It really helps. Another thing that works well for me is the gel super glue. And another option that works VERY well for me on a project like what you have: make a "dam" around the back end of the handle with scotch tape (about 1" from the end with the natural texture). Put a wrap/collar around it with waxed paper... then tape the heck out of it. My best visual here, is that it will look like one of those cone collars that vets put on dogs after they have surgery.

Once you have all that done, you can just empty a couple of thin super glue tubes right in there. Leave it sitting up straight where the dog/cat/neighbor kids won't knock it over. It takes at least a few days to dry, but once it is, it's solid.

Thanks for keeping us posted, it's looking great Jim :)
 
Jim that really is looking nice! You're getting everything matched up, and your blade is getting that hungry look... :D

But now I'm in a state of confusion :confused: about this superglue deal. Jim says he's using thin (thinned?) superglue and Nick is talking about gel. You have me wondering what the goal is here.

I use superglue as a kind of sealer; paint it on, sand it off, paint more on, sand that off, etc until I get a nice sealed surface. Sometimes I use it to fill voids too. But that's about it.

Can you guys or anyone fill me in what's going on with Jim's oosic?

Thanks for sharing your progress Jim, I'm sure digging it - particularly since I'm in a no-shop zone lately.
 
The Oosic is very hard but the butt end of it is a bit porous, I want to leave it shaped as is but seal it up. I figured it would soak up the thin and it did. I think Nick is using the gel to fill small voids. I am going to use some regular now that I have some thin soaked deep in it. I want to be try to keep the shape and texture pretty much as it is on the end.
 
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