Project #4 - Dark Lady

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
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A couple months ago I bought a blade from Andre Andersson (Sweden) called Dark Lady. Some day I may be able to make blades this lovely, but until then I don't mind working with custom made blades from the masters.



After thinking about it a lot in the intervening weeks, I've decided to attempt something different on the handle. This project seemed to call for something other than a normal bolster and guard... so I've decided to try to integrate the design of the handle with the design etched in the blade.

I've already begun cutting the stabilized ebony block. And as you can see from the image, I already have an inner sheath to protect the blade during the work.

- Greg
 
I'd say let the blade be beautifull as it is. Don't distract with an over the top handle.
I'd prefer a simple, elegant black (or white) handle.

Beautifull blade!
(are both sides worked on?)
 
Yes, the same image is etched on both sides. If you look at the larger version of the image (by clicking on the image above) you can see he even etched his signature (Andre 2009) into the design on the side shown.

- Greg
 
I've given some additional thought to this project while working on the ebony handle. I decided to look at some of the completed knives by this maker to see how he finishes his knives. If you want to have a look, here's a link to Andre's stuff from bladegallery.com.

Anyway, the upshot is that his stuff seems to be more "over the top" than what I had in mind for this project. Of course, his skills are far advanced beyond mine too. That said, I'm going to continue moving forward with my original idea, and possibly even embellish it some, if I think I can make it work.

- Greg
 
I think some nice simple Ebony will look super. Are you going to have a pommel or will it be just the stick tang? Perhaps stainless or NS pin(s)? How about the bolster/guard?
 
It's going to be a relatively simple design that seeks to carry the concept of flowing hair from the engraved portion of the blade through the handle. The initial effort has been to see what it would look like done by simply carving everything into the stabilized ebony block. I'm slowly coming to the realization that may not work as well as I'd hoped, but I haven't abandoned it yet. I've cut the rough outline and am carving the slot into which the blade will rest. Once I get it to nestle properly I'll finish shaping it.

If I put anything on the tail end (pommel or otherwise) it would be stricly decorative because the tang isn't long enough to attach directly, and I have no means of welding an extension on.

I have considered integrating one of the two types of ivory I have now but I'm not yet sure that will work aesthetically. I also have a nice piece of tear drop shaped gold quartz and a small but pretty oval opal that I could integrate into the design... but again, haven't gotten far enough along to be able to determine if any of those elements will make sense visually.

As for securing the handle, I've been strongly advised to use corby bolts.

- Greg
 
I'd say make it a very simple black handle, and to enhance it, yes carve in the hairs.
I wouldn't use corbies, they are to large, just a ss pin will do
 
That is a stick tang ( hidden tang) and does not use bolts. You use Corby bolts on scales.

Either use epoxy alone to glue the tang in the socket hole, or at most, use one pin that goes through a hole drilled in the tang. The tang hole should be no more than 40-50% the tang width. The pin should be a tad smaller than the tang hole.

I would consider a Nordic style handle for that blade. Ivory/horn bolster and butt cap, with the ebony between. You could then scrimshaw the hair details on the bolster, and scrim a woven hair or similar design on the cap sides. You can scrim your makers mark at the same time.
 
bladsmth said:
That is a stick tang ( hidden tang) and does not use bolts. You use Corby bolts on scales.

Either use epoxy alone to glue the tang in the socket hole, or at most, use one pin that goes through a hole drilled in the tang. The tang hole should be no more than 40-50% the tang width. The pin should be a tad smaller than the tang hole.

I would consider a Nordic style handle for that blade. Ivory/horn bolster and butt cap, with the ebony between. You could then scrimshaw the hair details on the bolster, and scrim a woven hair or similar design on the cap sides. You can scrim your makers mark at the same time.
Click to expand...

Now that is a good idea!
 
Thanks, Stacy. I really like your ideas. I've never done any scrimshaw work, so I'll read up on it before getting in too deep.

Before your suggestion I thought I might look for a piece of wood with lines that flowed like the hair and use that for the bolster. I was thinking of slicing some fossil ivory for spacers and putting the ebony at the center. I hadn't come up with a solid idea for the butt cap, but I really like the idea of scrimshaw. I even have a second piece of non-fossil ivory that would be good for that purpose.

In any case, I am at the point of abandoning the notion of the solid ebony handle.

- Greg
 
What I understand of chimsaw it is like many arts.
It is not hard to do, but it is very hard to do it well
 
There are several ways to do scrimshaw. The easiest is to scratch in the design and ink it. Rubbing off the excess ink to show the design ( very oversimplified). The good thing is that it is easy and inexpensive to practice, and mistakes can be lightly sanded away and started over many times. There are several good books on it, and probably some DVDs.
 
Today I cut up the fossil ivory to make some space type pieces that might be useful in this or other projects. The small chunk made three pairs of spacers of varying size with a small remainder piece. I'm thinking the larger spacers are the ones I may use on the Dark Lady project. The others may no be wide enough for the handle.

- Greg

DSCN5113.JPG
 
It's been a while since I checked in on this project. To the casual observer it might seem I've abandoned the project, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I spent a lot of time thinking through the design and the materials I wanted for the stack. I also made mock-ups of the bolster using a scrap piece of cedar wood. At one point I was almost swayed into actually using one of the mock-ups because of the pattern of the lines looking a lot like flowing hair... but when I tried to get to the point where the wood looked decent I realized it was not going to work.

I then expanded my thought net and realized I had some antlers in my materials drawers. I looked them over and found a piece that seemed just about perfect. It was the place where the antler splits into the two end points. It was perfectly sized and a good shape. So having done the mockups previously, I stabilized it with CA and worked with a practiced hand carving out the slot for the ricasso and the hole for the tang.

But still I hadn't settled on the order of materials for the handle. I knew basically what shapes I wanted to use, but not what colors and what order. I kept looking at different combinations, but nothing seemed to really work. So much beautiful wood... so many possibilities.

Then I got a box of wood back from WSSI. One of the pieces I sent arrived broken. I think it was a piece of western red cedar burl cut from one of the logs I got at the estate sale. I almost tossed it out, but for some reason I decided to hang onto it. Anyway, something about the shape at the end of the break told me that piece might fit my needs. At the very least, I could work on a mock-up of the handle center.

As I started sanding it down I noticed it had a beautiful pattern and some interesting small burl eyes. I began thinking this might actually be the piece I needed for the center. It solved a lot of problems and it looked good with the other pieces of the stack I was planning. When I finally put the pieces together on a threaded rod, I made up my mind. Here's the order of the stack:

Antler bolster
Stabilized ebony
Fossilized walrus ivory spacer lined on both sides with black vulcanized liner
Cedar burl (I think) center
Another fossilized walrus ivory spacer
Stabilized ebony butt cap

On Saturday I received the Acraglas epoxy and yesterday I began the assembly. Given the stated drying time for the epoxy (and the coolness of the weather here), I expect it may be a couple of weeks before I've finished assmbly and finishing of the handle, and another week or so before the knife is complete.

I know I mentioned before WIP photos, but I haven't taken any yet. Frankly it's just a well. Any that I'd taken up to now would probably be misleading. I had a major misstep yesterday while trying to drill guide holes into one of the ebony pieces. The bit, which was very thin, went astray and pierced the outside of the piece, ruining it. I have to make another one... and now I'm glad I did. This one is MUCH better anyway, as I didn't carve out such a large hole in the center for the tang.

I'm getting excited now, and am looking forward to the final shaping and finishing steps. At the moment the stack is in two parts that will be joined in a few days. I have to wait for the glue to dry enough for me to do some final fit adjustments to the tang hole.

This project has taught me a great deal about patience.

- Greg
 
Really looking forward to seeing the finished product! All of your patience and effort is really going to shine.
 
Last night I did final assembly of the unfinished bits except for the butt cap. At the moment it looks kind of wonky and misshapen, but you can definitely get a sense for how it will look after its done.

As I began the night I had two main handle pieces... one with the first three segments (antler, ebony, ivory) and one with the next two (cedar, ivory).

I began the night by drilling the hole for the pin, then marking the tang and drilling that hole too. I wanted a snug but finger-tight fit on the pin, so I used my micrometer to measure all the pins and find the one that had the closest match to the drill bit I wanted to use.

Once I had the holes drilled it flashed on me that the best way to assure everything came together right was to apply the glue and assemble the knife, using the pin to hold it all together while the glue dried. Until I had that idea I was struggling with ideas about jigs to hold it together, mostly revolving around small bungees I don't own or repurposed coat hangers. Assembling the knife was much easier and more effective.

Then came the problem of how to suspend the knife as it dried. I like using gravity to allow any excess glue to flow in the right directions. So I got a small super-strong magnet and suspended the assembly over a hot desk lamp to accellerate hardening.

Tonight I'll fill the remainder of the center hole with reinforcing pieces of rod and more Acraglas epoxy. This will put me in a position to attempt final finishing over the weekend.

I'm still toying with the idea of embellishing the butt cap with a tear drop shaped piece of gold quartz. I'll attempt it on a scrap piece of ebony before committing to an attempt on the cap piece.

- Greg
 
I cant wait to see photos of it. How was the ebony to work with? I am getting a box of off cuts this week and will take any help I can get.
 
I used a stabilized ebony block, and it was about the most unusual wood I've worked with. Everyone describes it a very hard, but sanding it is a bit like sanding a block of very dark chocolate. I used an HF scroll saw to cut curves, and they came out beautiful and mostly smooth. It was slow going, but smooth.

Overall, I found it relatively easy to work with. As an aside, if I had decided to do scrimshaw, you almost couldn't get a better "ink" for the carvings than ebony sawdust.

- Greg
 
An update. I finished the assembly last night and took a WIP photo. Today I am hand-sanding to shape the pieces. I will use a belt sander for a small part of the job (shaping the butt capp), but everything else will be shaped and finished by hand. I'm doing it by hand largely to avoid removing too much material or creating gouges that cause me to pull off more material than I want to remove. Even in its rough form the handle feels pretty good in the hand, so I'm trying to stay as close to that feel as I can while still giving it a polished look.

I'll post the WIP photo later (probably after I've finished the project), just so you can see at least some of the steps in the process.

-Greg
 
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