Search and Rescue

[Lorien]

I searched for meaning, and was rescued by knife making.

This knife is the first forged piece I've made. It started as a small, rectangular piece of Don Hanson W2 and with the advice of my good friend Stuart Branson, became what you see here. It was forged and heat treated at Stuart's shop- not far from where I live. I owe that man a debt and am so grateful and appreciative of him for opening his door to me and expanding my understanding of knife making.

More background in my subforum HERE.

Thanks for checking it out, and please feel free to leave comments and questions.

 

[mitch13]

I like it, looks a handy user.
Hope you carry it for awhile & test it out

 

[Mark Knapp]

Very nice

 

[1911bphil]

That looks great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dawkind]

You did GOOD and congrats on the rescue….worked well for us all.

 

[jfk1110]

Great job for popping your HOT cherry!!!!.....looks awesome!!

 

[Lorien]

I like it, looks a handy user.
Hope you carry it for awhile & test it out

Thanks! I think I'ma trying and trade this for money instead

Very nice

Thank you, Mark, I appreciate your sayin so!

That looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Merci! Sharing is caring! Love me some Bladeforums

You did GOOD and congrats on the rescue….worked well for us all.

We all need a rescue from time to time- it's humbling, and also an open door

Great job for popping your HOT cherry!!!!.....looks awesome!!

Thanks?

 

[RLB0414]

Good looking knife and sheath.

 

[i4Marc]

Did you make the sheath? The stitching looks very good. Hand stitched or machine? Your edges look much better these days. Nice fit up on the guard and overall. Do you prefer a more round cross section for the handle? Great work.

 

[Lorien]

Did you make the sheath? The stitching looks very good. Hand stitched or machine? Your edges look much better these days. Nice fit up on the guard and overall. Do you prefer a more round cross section for the handle? Great work.

Yes, I hand stitched the sheath. Lined with deer skin. I took a note from your playbook- pre drilled all the holes then used T pins to line it all up for gluing. I've really been dialing in my process for finishing the edges, glad you noticed! Because this is more of a show piece/collectible, I opted to keep the belt loop wide so it would protect the handle. Looks a little funky, but besides that I consider this sheath to be one of my best even though it's quite simple looking.

The guard was a bit of a bear due to leaving the raw forged flats, and it's not quite perfect but turned out better than I expected. I don't have a specific preference for round handles, but this one has a round section up at the front, with a flat ovoid rear section. The middle to pinkie fingers provide leverage against the handle twisting, while the index finger has a round cross section which is comfy.

Thank you so much! Your praise carries weight

 

[TK Steingass]

Way to go Lorien

 

[Lorien]

Way to go Lorien

Thank you so much, good sir

 

[oldmanwilly]

I think the seamless transition between the ricasso and the guard is particularly impressive. Very clean. Overall it is a beautiful knife, but for some reason that transition stands out to me. Very well done.

 

[Lorien]

I think the seamless transition between the ricasso and the guard is particularly impressive. Very clean. Overall it is a beautiful knife, but for some reason that transition stands out to me. Very well done.

thanks very much!

I spent a lot of time trying to dial in that transition. It's often frowned upon by some to relieve the tang all the way around, since removing material from the sides of the tang is generally understood as creating a stress riser. And not that it's a big deal for this knife, but I did want to make sure that I was following some kind of 'best practices', so the relief on the sides of the tang only go as deep as the forge scale.

What made it tricky was mounting the file guide to the uneven surface of the forged area. There was lots of back and forth trying to get it perfect, but in the end, there is a slightly visible seam there. What makes it more visible is the high grit finish of the guard face, but I decided that this knife was riddled with flaws and imperfections anyway and tried to embrace the concept of wabi sabi.

There is always an equation where one must decide whether something is good enough. Where I'm at in the arc of my development as a maker is learning to decide when to move on, and to understand that my skill set isn't well enough developed to achieve perfection. And to be ok with that.

A major goal for me with this guard was to make it fit as tightly as I could without relieving the back side, (which is a much easier way to fit a guard). I don't know if that makes sense, maybe this picture will help

 

[Lorien]

just found this vid in my phone;

 

[cerberussasha]

I searched for meaning, and was rescued by knife making.

This knife is the first forged piece I've made. It started as a small, rectangular piece of Don Hanson W2 and with the advice of my good friend Stuart Branson, became what you see here. It was forged and heat treated at Stuart's shop- not far from where I live. I owe that man a debt and am so grateful and appreciative of him for opening his door to me and expanding my understanding of knife making.

More background in my subforum HERE.

Thanks for checking it out, and please feel free to leave comments and questions.

Gorgeous.

 

[Scott Hanson]

Just seen this now, you got her done. Excellent job!

 

[cbach8tw]

Very nice job, bet it is very comfortable to use.

 

[Lorien]

Gorgeous.

Thank you so much

Just seen this now, you got her done. Excellent job!

I really appreciate that, my friend- thank you!

Very nice job, bet it is very comfortable to use.

So nice of you to say. It does feel nice in hand, but that 2000 grit finish might not react well with real world use lol!

 

[Snody]

Nice Work Dude. The Logo Placement is Dope!