terraced frame handle and BB damascus.

[john april]

I made a ball bearing damascus billet a few years ago at david lavoie's shop under his instruction. this is the last piece of it. its a small bowie, 6 1/2" blade. the furniture is stainless. the frame is snakewood and the scales interior mammoth ivory. my idea for the grip was to be a frame handle but toward the pommel each layer swept away from the lower layer in a gentle curve, revealing the layers. it makes a set of steps or terraces when viewed from the side. the guard is soldered. leather sheath with a caiman face. (a small type of alligator). it was a fun challenge piece that required a lot of time and fiddling around and so please forgive my overindulgence as i post post both the wonderful sharp by coop photos and my own pics. thanks for looking ! john

thumbnail by john april, on Flickr
thumbnail-1 by john april, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_5f by john april, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_60 by john april, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_63 by john april, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_62 by john april, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_61 by john april, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_64 by john april, on Flickr

 

[J. Doyle]

Pretty unique John. I like it.

 

[Scott Hanson]

Wow! Gorgeous knife John, everything about this knife is perfect.

 

[Dawkind]

VERY impressive buddy!!!!!!!!! I can only imagine the time you have in that badboy.....WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're stepping your game up so high it's going to be tough to keep up to yourself....

 

[Richard338]

Very interesting handle design. Nicely done.
Also very daring (to put your photos beside Coop's)!

 

[Josh Rider]

Wow John! That’s my favorite piece I’ve seen from you yet. Absolutely love the snakewood frame. Really beautiful!

 

[lmbhami]

Beautiful work John

 

[bwlacey]

Wonderful work, as always, John!

 

[john april]

thank you all !

 

[PaulDiStefano]

That’s dope John. That’s a Beautiful high end piece for sure!

 

[black mamba]

Simply superb! Very artistic.

 

[AVigil]

That is drop dead awesome.

I love coffin handles on Bowies and you hit all the right notes.

 

[i4Marc]

Great work, John. Always nice to see new approaches.

 

[TK Steingass]

wonderful work John - great artistic direction

 

[Dusty One]

A Real Beauty !!!!

 

[SharpByCoop]

I loved capturing this. I have seen a LOT of Bowies, and I really enjoy when someone bring something NEW to the project.

This was a fresh idea and the quality was exemplary. (As you would imagine, and you can see.)

Thank you John!

 

[Hengelo_77]

cool handle construction

 

[Matthew Gregory]

Very crafty, buddy. Lots of tricky tricks going on here.