What ways can a knifemaker incorporate silver

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Knifemaker
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What I want to do is start incorporating silver in my knifemaking. What ways can a knifemaker do this?
 
Framed handles, bolsters, guards, pommels, inlays, scales, sheaths, cast one piece grips...
 
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- Chris
 
For some reason, whenever I think of silver and knives, I think of the San Francisco makers like Will & Fink and Michael Price.
 
Th at all looks great!!!! How a dwhere do you buy it? Will any silver work?
 
Any jewelers supply house should have sterling silver and nickel silver in stock. Places like Rio Grande, Stuller, C.R. Hill and many more.
Nickel silver or german silver is not silver at all. It is nickel or a nickel alloy. It will be harder than sterling, but a lot less expensive.
 
As well as the above suggestions, here are a few more.

Assembled bolsters and butt caps are nice in silver....especially with file work or engraving.

On Japanese blades, silver (and its Japanese cousins like shibuichi) is commonly used to make the koshirae - seppa, tsuba, menuki, fuchi, and kashira.

Other silver ideas:
1) Dome a silver coin in a dapping block and make a stud or frog button for a sheath. The older the better for the coin. 100+ year old coins in circulated condition can be had for almost the scrap value.
2) Slightly dome a coin and make a butt cap for a take-down bowie style knife.
3) Inlay an escutcheon and engrave it with any of these - the owners name, a date, your makers mark, or an engraved scene.
4) Make sterling throat/collar and tip segments for a fancy sheath....or a full frame sheath with fancy leather inlay ( like same'/rayskin or ostrich leg). Putting a ball on the tip is a classy look.
5) Inlay shaped pieces of silver. I made a folder for a friend who uses a smiling pig face as his BBQ shop's logo. I cut out the shape and inlaid it in the folder scales. A few graver strokes and it was done.
6) Saw out an old quarter or half-dollar ( 3/0-5/0 saw blades works well) leaving only the center character and the rim. Use these as dangles from the thongs of a sheath, or on a handle thong. Many other coins are good for this. One popular coin is the Bahamian half dollar with the jumping marlin. The eagle on a quarter is good, too. Foreign coins for foreign style knives/sheaths are a nice touch.
7) Make a lattice pattern of your choice using silver square wire ( triangle shapes are best) and inlay the pattern with crushed turquoise, or fitted pieces of MOP. For the max effect in this you can inlay opal or gold quartz in a California Bowie handle. A gold framed inlay of gold quartz can add thousands to the value of a small damascus bowie.

Attached is a Sgian Dubh in mammoth ivory ( black and white) with silver fittings.
 

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Karl, Stacy, others,

I am also thing of doing silver wire inlay into handles and sheaths(wood).
What type of gouge(?) is needed for this job? Is there a preferred source for these tools?

Thanks,

Peter
 
Peter, for inlay into wood, I've read that you can make decent tools out of old hacksaw blades. You cut the blade into 2 or 3 inch sections and then shape the short/cut end into various chisel shapes. I believe there are some wip/how-to articles on this subject, if your Google-fu is powerful enough...
 
Thanks Stacey. Lots. The answer is I have lots to learn. That knife looks fantastic. Bladeforums is always a reminder of how far I have to go.

A friend posted a silversmithing video on my facebook page, and it was just cool as heck watching those folks make silverware cold forging silver. Seemed like a pretty simple thing. They were cold forging it. It looked like fun. The shop was fantastic.


Patrice Lemée;12967914 said:


Another blade inlay possibility.

Sorry, already posted. I am slow. :(
Click to expand...

Man, Patrice nice work.
 
P. McKinley said:
Karl, Stacy, others,

I am also thing of doing silver wire inlay into handles and sheaths(wood).
What type of gouge(?) is needed for this job? Is there a preferred source for these tools?

Thanks,

Peter
Click to expand...

You asked the right guys for specifics about the right tools.

From the very little I know about Brands...

I find Gil Drake palm tools to be very comfortable.

Cape Forge will make gouges and veiners to your specs I believe, and get great reviews.

http://www.capeforge.com/chisels.htm

For less expensive pieces that are well made, Flexcut makes a wide assortment of tools.
 
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How about...Chinese sword fitting making by traditional metal carving

There are several videos on silver inlay. Here are a few from Joe Keesler of the ABS...
There's a comprehensive DVD on silver wire inlay by another ABS master, Jay Henderson.

Has anyone mentioned lost wax casting yet? That really lends itself to creating intricate carvings easily (in wax) for reproduction in sterling.

Of course there's always fabricating directly in sterling, which is probably easier to do than any of the other metals (steels, bronzes, etc) bladesmiths fabricate into hardware for knives. This is how the neat sterling leather sheath tips and collars get made.

The forging of sterling is cool too. Although you forge cold, you have to frequently anneal the sterling in order to relax it.
 
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