- Joined
- Aug 23, 2002
- Messages
- 1,398
Last July Gabe Newell posted that he was looking for someone to be involved in a project he had started - Non-traditional Presentation of Custom Knives - (see the original post here - http://www.ckdforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=108782#post108782).
It took awhile to get things going and even longer to get this first one done. Up to the point that I got the knife and stump to work with I had only seen drawings and one dark photo of the knife - little did I know that the knife I was getting to work with was a Buster Warenski folder finely engraved by his partner and wife Julie. All I can say is WOW!! Up until this time I had only ever seen knives by this "Incomparable Team" in pictures let alone actual getting to handle one up close.
Anyway here is the completed display (please excuse the fairly poor photo - Gabe has seen it and forwarded it to Buster and Julie so I guess it's not that bad after all.....).
A bit of info about the display - the log is madrona, a Pacific Northwest specie who's bark hangs off in stringers. Therefore in keeping with the original design idea I did not sand the wood surface glass smooth - I hand rubbed it with 4/0 steel wool to smooth it, but left the saw marks. I then finished the whole thing including the sides on which the bark was left on, by first spraying several thinned coats of a watco danish oil/linseed oil mix. This gave the sides a "wet" look typical of a tree stump in the P/NW (considering the normal weather there which I know well from having lived there on and off for 24 years). To maintain the "wet" look on the top I then hand rubbed in 30+ coats of the same oil mix into the top, letting each coat dry and then rubbing down with 4/0 steel wool - this put the finish in the wood not on it. After the final coat I hand rubbed in 4 coats of carnuba wax.
The blade of the knife is inset into a hand cut/filed notch in the surface - it holds the knife in position yet can be easily drawn for handling and the notch is fully sealed against moisture.
Anyway this was a REAL challenge considering the knife that was going on display and I hope Gabe likes it as much in person!
PS - I plan on finding the time to take a better/closeup photo of the knife alone and as soon as I do I'll post it.
It took awhile to get things going and even longer to get this first one done. Up to the point that I got the knife and stump to work with I had only seen drawings and one dark photo of the knife - little did I know that the knife I was getting to work with was a Buster Warenski folder finely engraved by his partner and wife Julie. All I can say is WOW!! Up until this time I had only ever seen knives by this "Incomparable Team" in pictures let alone actual getting to handle one up close.
Anyway here is the completed display (please excuse the fairly poor photo - Gabe has seen it and forwarded it to Buster and Julie so I guess it's not that bad after all.....).
A bit of info about the display - the log is madrona, a Pacific Northwest specie who's bark hangs off in stringers. Therefore in keeping with the original design idea I did not sand the wood surface glass smooth - I hand rubbed it with 4/0 steel wool to smooth it, but left the saw marks. I then finished the whole thing including the sides on which the bark was left on, by first spraying several thinned coats of a watco danish oil/linseed oil mix. This gave the sides a "wet" look typical of a tree stump in the P/NW (considering the normal weather there which I know well from having lived there on and off for 24 years). To maintain the "wet" look on the top I then hand rubbed in 30+ coats of the same oil mix into the top, letting each coat dry and then rubbing down with 4/0 steel wool - this put the finish in the wood not on it. After the final coat I hand rubbed in 4 coats of carnuba wax.
The blade of the knife is inset into a hand cut/filed notch in the surface - it holds the knife in position yet can be easily drawn for handling and the notch is fully sealed against moisture.
Anyway this was a REAL challenge considering the knife that was going on display and I hope Gabe likes it as much in person!
PS - I plan on finding the time to take a better/closeup photo of the knife alone and as soon as I do I'll post it.
Seriously, that's an awesome presentation.