The knife from the Spences Bridge pics...a bunch of pics.

misanthropist

misanthropist

Joined
Jan 28, 2007
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Whoops? I don't know why I gave this a thumbs down. Well, this is the knife I had in the Easter pics. Eventually.

They say you can judge a craftsman by the condition of his workshop. This is why no-one would ever pay me to do anything.



In the upper right, you can see the blade. There is also some wood lying around. On the left is a big chunk of Chechen, the orange stuff is Padauk, I think, and in the vise is a Tagua nut. There is also a slice of Tagua nut glued to the Padauk.

Here is a better shot of the parts. You can also see the knife I was using to shape the wood. It's a homemade knife that used to be a file. I call it "the shaver" because it has a really long, straight edge that shaves well. Good for feather sticks as well.




Here you can see how I've got the slice of Tagua nut (sometimes called vegetable ivory) glued to the top chunk of Chechen. I wish I took a pic of making the Tagua slices but I guess I forgot. I clamped them down in a miter block and cut them by hand because I don't have a bandsaw.




Building blocks are glued together, except the very top and bottom:



Then I started drilling. I carefully drilled out an area just larger than the blade itself. For the top bit, I was particularly careful! I also don't own a drill press, so everything was done by hand here too.



Here I'm gluing it all together. Note the clever arrangement of el cheapo equipment:



And the shaping begins! I like this picture because you can see my hand drill instead of a drill press and my fine toothed hand saw instead of a bandsaw. Those of you with especially sharp eyes and a detailed knowledge of incredibly obscure rock bands will recognize a ten year old bootleg of the Hiroshima 8:16 radio sessions. Why is it there? I don't really know.

 
Here you can see my rasoing taking effect:



Then I sanded it a bit. The handle is big and blocky because this is really a working blade, and I have big hands. Most handles are a little small for me.



Finally, I oiled it with tung oil and got some greasy fingerprints on it for good measure.

 
Now what to carry it in? How about a bit of 8-9 oz leather?



This seemed like a decent shape. I cut it out and with a scrap made a little piece to go against the blade so I would slice all my stitching out.



Then I marked out the holes with a fork and a hammer, drilled a few of them out with a 1/16 bit and my famous drill, and nailed through those holes into my workbench. Then I drilled the rest of the holes.



Stitching was a straightforward affair with the Speedee Stitcher. I didn't take pics of that part.

The two big concerns I have with leather stuff, of course, is a) weather resistance and b) retention. I don't like snaps and things, I prefer a more kydexy effect. So to fix both those problems, I waxed the leather.



I heated a candle (see the wick?) in a metal bowl in a pot of water. Then I wrapped the knife handle in tin foil to prevent Major League Baseball from getting to it, and put it in the sheath, in the oven, at around 175 degrees Farenheit. I would take it out periodically and rub melted paraffin into the leather.



The wax turned the leather a deeper, chocolate brown. I like it a lot.

Back:



Front:



Separate, complete with fingerprints:



So there you have it. My second knife, and second sheath. (the first was the shaver, and the sheath was a similar but totally unrefined thing. I just slammed it together because I needed a knife like that for something and I had an afternoon to spare.)

Total cost: about $35.
 
Did you buy that Frost's blank or tear apart a finished knife to rebuild it? If they sell unfinished blanks, I'd love to make one two.

Nice work, great use of cool materials. Next time try to fit it better so the tang radii don't show. :thumbup:
 
I bought the blank at Lee Valley one day. The radii are a bit of a trick of the light - the flash is not reflecting where the blade begins to taper towards them. The actual radii are not visible.
 
Very neato tutorial. Careful with paduk. Its dust is toxic.

I gotta get me some tagua nut.
 
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