RyanW Turner SanMai Chopper WIP

[Patrice Lemée]

Time to Etch this thing! Patrice you ready?

You had me at "My etch process".

Awesome!

 

[jonnymac44]

Really good stuff, buddy! Great contrast with your etch!

 

[Mike Davis]

That looks killer....Dammit, Mike is going to get business from me now...He wins lol.

 

[scruffuk]

Wow! That looks terrific.

I could see the core peeking through in the pre-etching shots but I had no idea it would have that broad shadow/echo.

Wonderful work guys.

I shall be continuing to watch with interest.

 

[Railrider1920]

Wow. Very very nice!!

 

[amcardon]

Looks great! I am really looking forward to this OKCA show, there should be some really fantastic pieces there! I love WIPs like this, thanks Brother!

 

[RyanW]

Thanks for all the comments! I am excited to get this Blade Moving forward. The Wood Options should arrive in the mail today and I will get an update posted.

 

[Gunsnknives]

Subscribed and nice looking blade! I love the San Mai and the shape of the overall blade.

 

[RyanW]

Thanks Gunsnknives!

Weather wasn’t cooperating with us this week

Patrice and I were chatting about materials and the idea came out to find a piece of wood that would mimic the SanMai pattern through the handle. I also wanted to keep the look Dark to match the Brute De Forge Finish. I searched my supply and found nothing that would work.

In my haste I contacted Mark From Burl Source and he (As Always) said he would find some stuff that might work and throw it in a box for me. As well as some pieces I ordered for some other projects in the works. Mike Davis also stepped up with a beautiful piece of Ironwood he had, and he would send it my way for consideration as well. I am always amazed at the generosity found here in the knife community.

Yesterday This showed up in the mail from Mark:

Mikes Package hasn’t shown up yet, No fault of his I am just running short on time. So I looked through the pieces and found the absolute perfect piece. Mark Nailed this one! The bottom left piece is Black Spalted Maple Burl with a perfect EKG line running length wise down the block.

I didn’t have a lot of room to play with, I lined the tang up how I wanted the line to run. The scales are book matched so I wanted to keep them even. I clamped them together, and put them in my drill press vise, making sure the scales were flush with the top of the vice. This will keep everything square during the process.

I don’t like drilling through thick material, the bits tend to grab and heat up more. I drilled 2 alignment holes.

I then separate the scales and insert assembly pins into the alignment holes. Using white out pen outline the tang and again clamp the tang to the scale.

I take each scale to the drill press and finish drilling the remaining holes. Leaving the Assembly pins in place.

Here we have both scales drilled and the tang outlined with white

I am using ¼” and 1/8” Pins, I drill the pin holes a little bigger to allow for easier assembly and better epoxy adhesion. I drill the holes again with #F (1/4” Holes) and #30 (1/8” Holes)

I then drill shallow Epoxy holes to assure Glue will remain in contact with the tang when clamped up.

I decided to add a G10 Liner between the Steel and the Spalted Maple so I Epoxied them up… Normally I do this before any drilling.

here I carefully drill through the Existing holes with the F and 30 bit to punch through the liner material.

I reapplied the White marker to the liners

and Drill the shallow Epoxy holes again, making sure to just reach the Maple scales to increase strength.

I then use the band saw to cut just outside the lines, that way the Epoxy will pool around the tang filling any voids and cracks.

Now I need to make sure the Front of the scales are finished exactly as I want them because I will not be able to work on them when they are attached to the Blade.

Sorry for the blurry photo

I am ready to Epoxy the scales to the Tang. I sand all the surfaces that will be glued with 100 Grit sand paper. Then wipe the surfaces with Acetone to remove any dirt or oil. I use Acraglas from Brownells and love it.

Once I have the pins cut to size I always do a dry run, nothing worse than getting the glue spread everywhere only to find you can’t get it to go together.

I mix the Acraglas (8:2) for larger knives (Or 2 smaller knives) or 4:1 for a small knife. Stir it lightly for 4 minutes then I added Black Dye

I spread the epoxy evenly over both scales making sure to fill all the holes.

I then twist the pins into the appropriate holes to evenly spread glue around them.

I then Slip the tang into place over the pins, and fill the voids with Epoxy

Then I slip the other scale on to the pins, and clamp them in place. Using Acetone I remove any glue that is in the ricasso area, then apply a very light coat of Oil in that area to ensure it is clean.

Now the Acraglas needs to cure….

 

[Patrice Lemée]

As excited to see the handle as I was the etched blade!

 

[JGguns]

Looking great. I am learning a lot from this! Can't wait to see these handles. Any special pattern going on them?

 

[dsgibbs1]

That is gonna be one kick ass blade. Awesome work.

 

[RyanW]

As excited to see the handle as I was the etched blade!

So am I Patrice, I think it is going to be just like we had hoped!

Looking great. I am learning a lot from this! Can't wait to see these handles. Any special pattern going on them?

No special Pattern on my end. Mother nature is in charge of this pattern. Kept this one solid and simple.

That is gonna be one kick ass blade. Awesome work.

Thanks ds!

 

[Z Bacon]

With your method of handle construction, how do you make sure the pin holes line up? You said this was a tapered tang, so I'm having trouble figuring that out with the way you had it set up.

 

[Z Bacon]

With your method of handle construction, how do you make sure the pin holes line up? You said this was a tapered tang, so I'm having trouble figuring that out with the way you had it set up.

Haha, never mind. I thought you drilled completely through both scales in the first step of drilling. I forgot that you separate them and then finish drilling.

 

[RyanW]

Hey Z. It actually has been an issue for me in the past. I find that as long as I have each scale (Inside Edge) even with my Drill press vise. the pins will line up with each scale and pass through the tang just like the Drill bit did. If I drilled them with the tang even with the vice the pins would not go through!

 

[jwalk84]

Excited to see more pics! Thanks for the WIP on the scales, very helpful.

 

[jonnymac44]

Looking good Ryan:thumbup:

 

[RyanW]

Thanks jwalk and Jonny! This has been a fun project.

I have almost finished everything up...

Here is what the scales look like after a 24hr epoxy cure, pretty nasty but I am pretty sure more glue is better than not enough.

I then hit the flat platen and even out the scales and make sure I have nice clean pins without any blowout or missing epoxy. Here you can see that EKG line that I wanted to match or compliment the SanMai pattern.

I than carefully take the scales down flush with the spine, and butt with the flat platen (On the finger section I use the 2" wheel, to keep the curves right.)

I then take the 10" wheel and start contouring the handle making the palm swell. I actually have a photo of one of Nick Wheelers handles above my grinder as an example of the contour I am trying to achieve.

I then put the knife in the knife vise and begin hand sanding with thin strips to round the corners and blocks to make sure everything remains flat, especially around the pins and spine. Moving up through 150 the 220 Grit. I then liberally apply 100% Tung Oil, I got this stuff from the local wood working store, it was not cheap but it finished extremely well.

After 10-15 minutes the Tung oil has time to soak in, I sand with the last grit I used (220) then move to 400 and apply another coat of Tung Oil and wait. and continue up to the final grit. This actually fills any small voids and polishes nicely. I took this handle up to 1000 Grit.

Mark, the spalted burl is beautiful, but as with any natural material it changes as you work with it. The EKG line is pretty much gone, but I am not upset at all on how it turned out. Looking at the overall package it all blends together perfectly IMO.

I have to put the final edge on it and decide what to do on the sheath today, I will post the final photos with sheath a little later.

 

[Patrice Lemée]

I was gonna say for a big fellow, you have small dainty hands. lol

Looks awesome! Whatcha gonna call her?