- Joined
- Feb 5, 2010
- Messages
- 3,911
Five years ago I made a blade that, quite frankly, wasn't really suitable to finish up as a completed knife. The problem was that I had a relatively short piece of damascus and I wanted a relatively long blade. The trade off I made was to have a tiny tang that was drilled and tapped to accept a threaded rod to extend the tang.
It was, I admit, a very bad idea. But if you know anything about me, you know I have trouble abandoning a project no matter how bad the idea. This project was no exception.
Originally, I envisioned it with a handle made from Bakelite backgammon pieces. Ultimately, I abandoned that approach because the Bakelite pieces would not stay together.
Then I decided I wanted one of the old stabilized burl pieces to become a handle.
Somehow, I just never got around to finishing that, largely because I got distracted by subsequent projects. So I shelved it and essentially forgot about it... until this year.
Frustrated by my inability to spend much time in the shop this summer, I pulled out this project, which was still sitting there with the Bakelite handle held on only by a single hex nut. It had a a terrible ivory bark guard that made me cringe every time I looked at it, and no pommel at all.
After checking my supplies I found nothing suitable for use to make a pommel, so I ordered some stainless steel rods from Online Metals and set about to do something different. The shape I had in mind was a shark tail. What I ended up with is somewhere between a shark tail and an emergency window breaker.
Anyway, the only thing left now is to put a final finish on the pommel. At long last I can finally put this project to rest.
It was, I admit, a very bad idea. But if you know anything about me, you know I have trouble abandoning a project no matter how bad the idea. This project was no exception.
Originally, I envisioned it with a handle made from Bakelite backgammon pieces. Ultimately, I abandoned that approach because the Bakelite pieces would not stay together.
Then I decided I wanted one of the old stabilized burl pieces to become a handle.
Somehow, I just never got around to finishing that, largely because I got distracted by subsequent projects. So I shelved it and essentially forgot about it... until this year.
Frustrated by my inability to spend much time in the shop this summer, I pulled out this project, which was still sitting there with the Bakelite handle held on only by a single hex nut. It had a a terrible ivory bark guard that made me cringe every time I looked at it, and no pommel at all.
After checking my supplies I found nothing suitable for use to make a pommel, so I ordered some stainless steel rods from Online Metals and set about to do something different. The shape I had in mind was a shark tail. What I ended up with is somewhere between a shark tail and an emergency window breaker.
Anyway, the only thing left now is to put a final finish on the pommel. At long last I can finally put this project to rest.
