Time (Zone) Travelling Micro Bowie

Hes a fine checkererer! Stare at this for a while.
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Holy wow that's purty, nice work. Careful Bawanna, don't wanna set the bar too high :b are those inlays in the handle? And what type of wood is that?? Also, showing off is what this thread is for, right??

Bookie, I'll make you a deal: If I can have yours when you die, you can have mine when I die! I know I'm only 22, but that seems fair, right?? Maybe we should both give em to Bawanna instead?

Cul, my brain is telling me that those diamonds go in, not pop out. I can't fix it. Brain must be broke. Great pic though.

Why don't we start a "customized HI knives" thread when this is done? Or sooner? It'd be cool to see everyone's personalized blades in one place, whether they did the work themselves or had someone far more skilled do it for them, like in this case.
 
I vote for this one.
"Maybe we should both give em to Bawanna instead?"

Yup, lots of inlays in those handles. Lots of fun.
I really wanted mirror images with the Razorback and the helicopter going the other way so both sides matched but wasnt possible. Bookie had experienced the same thing in some of his past projects so thankfully he was quite understanding of my shortcomings.
 
I certainly don't see any shortcomings.. All I see in those pictures is beautiful blade and an amazing handle. The inscription is great too, was that a call-sign?
 
Best unkept secret in Viet Nam history. I could tell ya but then I'd have to kill ya. :)
Bookie might be able to tell ya, he's got a much higher security clearance than me.
I found I surely ain't no engraver, that's for sure but I want to be ya know?
 
Star Date 15/Aug/2015. 0804.

Heading for the Time (Zone) Travelling knife bench.

Note to self, bring the gosh durn camera!

Cloudy probably gonna be wet day in the NW. Perfect! We need the rain and no guilt trip being inside.

Pics soon.
 
Well for anyone interested here's a photo chronicle of my Saturday at the bench. Nothing good to eat like at Bookies. Wifes working, maybe a Happy Meal later on?

So we begin.

The Box. I'm sure Picasso paintings aren't packaged as well as this piece of art was. It was good.

In it's very well done kydex sheath.


Handle looks really good, very well attached, no gaps, all perfectly good.

Noticed the tang had a patina on it. Wasn't sure it if was self induced or what. Apparently it happened enroute as SingleGrind said he had sanded it prior to sending it. No problem.


As mentioned before the thing is bloody sharp. I had to do the paper cut thingy since I don't have many knives that will actually do that.

Then of course it's out with the painters tape for safety sake.
In this picture you can see some of the stuff used to get layout. A simple plastic 6" ruler, the handy little triangle help determine the size and shape of the diamonds. It has 3 to 1 on one end and 3 1/2 to 1 on the other. I like 3 1/2 usually, a little more diamond look. Back in earlier times even 1 to 1 was quite common along with everything in between. Basically the diamond is 3 1/2 times longer than it is wide. Not rocket science, especially with the handy little triangle.
An opti visor, I remember when I first started I could checker with the nekkid eye, not it's optivisor and glasse's and still a struggle.
A pencil and a V tool completes the package. The V tool is used to cut the first lines, the pro's call them master lines, get them straight and keep things straight as you go and you'll be happy at the end of the day.


Here we've laid out a center line, the pins while usually close aren't generally perfect but close enough and better than usual on this one. We've also marked the first line.


Now I move to my little miniature Stanley work mate. It raises the work up some, allows me to change the angle for comfort, I added the little shaving brush to wipe off the cutter heads quickly. Also a little lazy susan (always wondered why it was always susan that was lazy and not Gertrude or Jennifer?) that holds all the various cutter tools. Fine, coarse, doubles, left to right, right to left, pull models, on and on.

Not sure what the photo limit is per post so I'll move on.
 
Here's a shot of the cutters we start with. Basically a 20 LPI cutter and I found a 18 Skip line which is actually 9 LPI. I wanted a wider gap on the skip, to avoid the plaid 70's and 80's 1911 look which I loved by the way but some don't.
We talked about this and I'm hoping I accomplished what was asked for.


Here I've cut the master lines and then a first skip line to start the pattern bearing in mind that whatever I do on the left side has to be matched on the right side. So I try to match up starting points to stay as close as possible to a mirror image. In this case we start with a skip, then cut 5 lines and then another skip. Everytime. It's heartbreak city if you goof and miss cutting a line or cut too many especially when using a different skip cutter. Normally on 20 LPI you'd have a 10 LPI skip tool and could cut another line to fix sometimes, but not always.


Here's the first pass completed on the left side.

A little closer.

This one shows where I've cut the one direction first pass and I'm beginning the other direction. Sometimes I'll do all of one direction, most of the time I'll work both simultaneously. Start's looking like something sooner that way and patience ain't my strong suit.

Here's where we are now. I've made 3 passes and applied linseed oil and brushed in vigorously with a tooth brush. I recommend using the wifes tooth brush, linseed oil doesn't please the taste buds one bit.


Although it didn't need it I sanded the handle slabs along with the metal tang. Wanted to clean the tang up again, I oiled it prior to finishing the wood. I did this mostly because the kami's don't really apply any finish, what you see that looks like finish is actually polishing compound, took me awhile to figure that out and only for sure after Karda confirmed it.
So I want the wood to accept linseed oil so I removed the compound, it comes off quite easily.

The tang is no longer tarnished and hopefully it will stay that way. Mine discolors a bit from time to time as expected in a daily carry knife, it's easily cleaned up, I oil it from time to time and we're good to go.


I'll take a little break now, we're 7 hours in and I want to look at it with fresh eyes and a straightened neck to see if it should get another pass or it's good to go.

SingleGrind, hope we're close to your expectations. The timing was perfect, a cloudy day, wife worked today and I felt like whittling. Should be headed home much sooner than we anticipated.

Any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask Bookie anytime during normal business hours. If I get past his high quality discerning eye inspection I call it a complete success.
 
If anybody happens to have one of these little Stanley benchtop work mates laying around in the garage or attic unused I'd sure like to work a deal. This one is close to 30 years old mostly plastic even back then and I've rebuilt it a few times.

Lots of nice vises out these days but nothing compares to these for this type of work, just plumb handy.
 
Wow that looks amazing. I'm sure it's even better in person. I love where it is now, but one more pass might make it even better. I'll let you decide on that. Either way, she's a keeper for sure. I can't thank you enough. I may not be a pro, but if you ever need any sharpening or kydex work done, I'd be happy to help.

I'm curious to see what Bookie thinks, but I'd say it's a complete success regardless.
 
Out of the park once again Mr. B:thumbup:
I dumpster dove one of them dremel router thingys that clamp to the table but I dont think thats what your talking about eh? Bench mate is a vise right?
 
Yup. The vise, I have one of those dremel router thingy's. Don't climb in after it, not really worth the effort.

Mr. Tall came through as usual, found one on an auction site I've checked a bunch of times, but he found it. I put a bid on it this morning so we'll see how it goes.
Truly one of those one man's junk is another man's treasure situations for sure.

It's especially handy for holding rifle stocks as you can clamp down on an irregular shape and hold it firmly but gently.
Often wished someone would make one out of metal, super high quality, even more secure clamping but these will do for me just fine.

Another thing on my wish list would be a dremel drill stand that has accurate and repeatable depth settings. They have a knob you loosen and then slide it up and down a smooth pole dealy hymer. It works but like trying to set depth for grip screws and such it's kind of tough. Oh well, everyone needs something to hope for.
Right now I'm hoping for a Sunday DOD.
 
Grip screws:eek: Tell me about it sir! I know what you mean now. I didnt have a counterbore bit with the proper pilot size. errggghh. I was sweating bullets.
Dang! That Mr. Tall can find anything anywhere;) I musta missed it because i did a search as well just to see what one was? Good luck with the vise Mr.B. Dont forget to put another bid in sometime later. Remember.... I wont say it...
 
Yeah, I remember too. I'll never forget!!!

Course this isn't a Bura vise neither, and since I'm slowing down some, if I don't get it I can probably make the one I got last till the river crossing.

I think they should come up with a law to make dumpster diving fall under the American Disabilities Act. You have any idea how tough it is to climb into a dumpster for me, and even trickier sometimes is crawling back out, specially under a rush like the truck coming down the road for pickup.

Color me panicked.
 
Well I went over both sides two, count em two more times and she's looking fine as I can get it. Lots of oil, off with the blue tape and into the box she went, we were beginning to get attached.

She should be headed east tomorrow if my wife gets to the post office. I'll miss her. I spent some time playing with my own, a little stropping, got her a bit sharper than she's ever been, still a ways to go.

Got a proper strop a coming and some compound. I just might get this thing hair popping yet.
Probably have to carry it around with blue tape on it so I don't cut myself.
 
I'm excited to handle this beauty. Came out better than I could have hoped. Thanks a million! I'll put up a few pictures when she gets home.
 
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