What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

Finishing up a couple of mammoth ivory handles for two Yasha Yukawa blades.

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Well the chart says that it's around an 80 grit. I would say to me it looks like something in between a 400 grit and a 320. Going up to higher grits is easy once you get the "horizontal geometry" set. I went up to a 1000 grit cork with compound on others and everything in between. The tricky part is not rounding the corners of your ricasso.
 
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Here's a couple of new ones, a "very" light chopper or camper in Granadillo and a skinner in Purpleheart..that's going to be raffled off at a land surveyor conference in a couple of weeks. Trying to find the time to finish the sheaths while my house and yard fall into disrepair:D.IMG_1672.JPG
 
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Here's my latest. I'm going to call this one a 'prototype' because it was kind of a miss for me in a few ways. Everybody I've shown it to in person thought it was awesome but y'know how it goes. They just don't look at things the same way we do. I've already got an 'improved' version in the works

It's 3/16" 80CRV2 with etsy stabilized quilted maple scales. Around 7-7.5" OAL - blade is about 1 3/8" wide. First knife I did with my Jet 2"x42" and you can see I'm still not used to going from <1/4HP on my old 'sander' to 3/4HP haha. I had to walk the plunge back a few times and it got a little thin by the finger choil. The scales leave something to be desired as well but that's my fault. I'm just not a fan of quilted maple it turns out, haha. The more I worked it trying to reveal grain the more grain disappeared! Hand rubbed blade up to 1500 grit. Feels really nice in the hand and I'm now in love with finger choils even though I never thought I would be.

Overall I'm pretty proud of it but I already know what I'm aiming to improve on , on the next 'prototype'. Handle aesthetics/shape and better grinding is what I'm focusing on for the next one. I might get really crazy and try a false edge as well. My Dad is probably going to end up with this one because he thought it was awesome.
 
Looks like a great knife. You work so hard and grinding the blade but the further along I've gotten I would say it's a tough choice which really sets the knife off better the blade or the handle? I wouldn't hesitate to say that I think people are more impressed with the handle many times compared to the blade. I suppose it's because as custom makers we offer handles and materials that they don't see at Gander Mountain or Kohl's or something.
 
Here's one I've been working on slow but sure, it's not epoxied up yet. 416 SS, Bubinga and Corian handle with fiber liners. The elements are pinned together lengthwise for reinforcement. I'm really happy with the tang slot, there's almost no play. Got a ways to go with shaping though, I like to do contoured handles by iterations so I'll contour some, round the corners some... repeat as needed, and the corian hasn't chipped yet either! This ones going to be a subtle coke bottle shape.

Novice tip using fiber liners like this in hidden tangs: I pre-punch oversize tang slots in each piece with a 1/4" chisel before epoxying the handle elements together. Drilling fiber (and soft metal spacers!) in the past has resulted in the backside expanding as the drill goes thru and has resulted in separation of the elements, kind of a blowout at least for me.:( Lesson quickly learned!

Thanks for looking,
John Cahoon
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