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

Happy to say that I passed my bar exam and finally went to the shop to get some work done. First coat of CA on, a lot of sanding left.

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Ron Raducanu said:
Thanks! I read your comment too late though, LOL. I went back and wow! What a huge difference doing it properly. I'm much happier with it now.
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How I do a satin is to take it one grit higher than I want for my finish, ie if I want a 600 satin I take it to 800 (sanded longways) at 800 then drop down to 600 for the finishing pulls. I find it faster to get a really clean satin this way, particularly with longer thinner knives which I've had issues getting the j hooks out.
 
Finished up this skinning blade for a customer today. It’s forged from a bar of 80crv2, fully tapered tang construction. Blade length is 4 1/4” with an OAL of 9”. It’s got rams horn scales, purple g10 liners, brass bolsters, and mosaic pins. The handle was left a little daintier than I would prefer, but it’s for a lady with smaller hands, so it was built to fit her.

CnOBSD4.jpg
 
Blackdirt cowboy said:
Finished up this skinning blade for a customer today. It’s forged from a bar of 80crv2, fully tapered tang construction. Blade length is 4 1/4” with an OAL of 9”. It’s got rams horn scales, purple g10 liners, brass bolsters, and mosaic pins. The handle was left a little daintier than I would prefer, but it’s for a lady with smaller hands, so it was built to fit her.

CnOBSD4.jpg
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That is so cool! I love you maker's mark!
 
PEU said:
Been There, done that... But in this case what you see is about 1/2" less width after many trials, at this point I decided it wasn't worth extra time. I used it this weekend, its razor sharp, will be used, but not by a customer...

Pablo
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Bummer :-(
 
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Blackdirt cowboy said:
Finished up this skinning blade for a customer today. It’s forged from a bar of 80crv2, fully tapered tang construction. Blade length is 4 1/4” with an OAL of 9”. It’s got rams horn scales, purple g10 liners, brass bolsters, and mosaic pins. The handle was left a little daintier than I would prefer, but it’s for a lady with smaller hands, so it was built to fit her.

CnOBSD4.jpg
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Nice look. I wish you clocked those pins.
 
I actually do use a slow epoxy and I'm getting better at it, but making sure everything goes in the right places, and wiping everything repeatedly, changing gloves, clamps, it's still a bit of excitement.
 
Another trick is to cut a slot in each mosaic pin exactly at the 12:00-6:00 line. Use these slots to rotate the rivets with a screwdriver when aligning. Use 24-hour epoxy and you have lots of time to align, wipe, etc.
 
Richard338 said:
I actually do use a slow epoxy and I'm getting better at it, but making sure everything goes in the right places, and wiping everything repeatedly, changing gloves, clamps, it's still a bit of excitement.
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Same here. I think next time all cut a groove in the ends of the pins and use a screwdriver to turn them.

Ha. Stacy and I posted at the same time.
 
What has helped me the most might be making the holes in the tang slightly oversized. Having trouble getting the pins in while everything was dripping epoxy was not fun.
 
Blackdirt cowboy said:
Thanks. I tried. But I didn’t fit everything up before gluing and once I drove the pins in, they were to tight to turn, even with a pair of pliers.
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At the risk of derailing the thread a little ... I learned the following from horsewright. With a knife with a bolster like that ... after the bolster is on, glue on ONE side of the handle, WITHOUT holes drilled into it. Allow to cure, then drill the holes through using the holes already in the tang . Glue on the second side of the handle (no holes in it). After curing, drill holes in the second side using the holes in the first side as a guide. If all holes, including the ones in the tang, are drilled one size over size , you should have little trouble with the pins . Personally, I leave the holes empty, rough shape the handle, take the handle finish to something like 200 grit, then glue in the pins (reaming the holes and peening if brass), then sand flush and continue finishing the handle.

no fuss, no drama, no hurry.
 
Blackdirt cowboy said:
That’s a great idea! I’ll try that next time.
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Not mine - Dave ferry’s. :-)

similar for just scales, no bolster. Temp fix a scale to one side (I use blue tape on tang and scale with CA glue on the tape facing sides of the tape). Drill the holes, put the second side on, then drill through the second side. Remove, then you can put pins through the holes to align while you shape the front of the handle. Then glue up (I use temporary pins while gluing, then remove). Shape the handle, insert final pins &peen (if brass). And away you go.

with the bolsters, this also allows you to get a nice tight fit between the scale and the back of the bolster, because at that point that alignment/fit is the only thing you are worrying about....
 
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