WIP - Arkansas Toothpick

J

jawilder

Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
2,331
A friend of mine has always wanted an "Arkansas Toothpick" but didn't want one that came from China. He sent me a picture of one he liked by John Nelson Cooper and told me to see if I could make something similar.
Here is the picture he sent me:
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So I got some of Aldo's 1084fg. This is 1.5" wide and 3/16 thick. I decided to do stock removal instead of forge so that I can keep the center line more even.
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I cut out the profile on my metal cuting band saw then moved to the 10" disk sander.
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All of the grinding was done on my Craftsman 2x42 while my GIB was being built. This grinder has a 1/2 HP 1725 rpm motor behind it running it. The 1/3 HP Craftsman motor is unplugged and just used as an arbor.
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Next I work on evening out the shoulders. This is with a simple jig that I made. I would rather have one made out of carbide, but this works for now.
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Here the shoulders are squared up. I even put a shoulder on the face of the blade. Thanks Nick for that tip!
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I had to order some 1"x1" brass stock for the hardware. Here I am removing metal by drilling holes then file it out for a tight fit against the tang shoulders.
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I took the brass to the bandsaw to start shaping the guard.
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At this point I am also working on the pommel, which is a 1x1" square brass piece. It is being tapped with 10-24 threads
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Before I go too far, I cut the Osage Orange out using a chainsaw. This stuff is horribly tough to work. I had nothing that would cut it except my metal cutting bandsaw, and the wood broke the blade!!!
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The spacers are 3/16" black linnen micarta.
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I also work on putting an octagon shape on the brass. I printed off a 1" octagon made in Publisher and glued it to the brass and then scribed it. Afterwars, I just ground off everything that didn't look like an octagon
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Here is a 1" 10-24 Alan bolt. I am heating the head up with a propane torch, then I flatten it and cut out a slot big enough to fit on the end of the tang.
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With it on the tang, I drill a 1/16" hole and hold it in place with a brass road that is peened on both ends.
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I didn't get a picture of the Heat Treat process, but I heated it to critical in my forge and quenched it in Parks 50, then tripple tempered it in a 400 degree oven for an hour.

Now I am ready to start hand rubbing it. It already has a 240 machine finish on it, but I want this to be antiqued, so I am going to hand rub at 220 grit using Mobil 1 as the lube. I actually started with a 600 grit finish, but liked the 220 better. Mobil 1 does a wonderful job!
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After I get the finish close to where I want, I etch my name in the ricasso.
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After the etch, I have to clean it up and sand some more, so I take the ricasso to a 2000 grit finish.
 
I stopped taking pictures during the handle finishing process, but I glued it all together using JB Weld, then took the brass and Osage to a 600 grit finish. I decided that since Osage is already very stable, I just buffed it using white buffing compound.

I made my first snake skin inlay sheath. The skin came from a timber rattlesnake that my friend kept as a pet for 8 years until it died. It was 6' long. He found another one the same day this one died. He was kind enough to skin and tan his "pet" for me.

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After I took the pictures, I decided to force a patina, so the blade is now darker, but I didn't get pictures before I sent it.

Hope he likes it.
Jason
 
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Jason, I'd love to criticize. My ability to spot flaws far exceeds my ability to correct those flaws.

I would have liked to have seen the dark streak in the wood more central in the handle.
The edge on the J side of the logo seems to be a bit wider than the other side. Even by the tip, the J side seems wider. Could be a trick of the photo/lighting.
 
zaph1 said:
Jason, I'd love to criticize. My ability to spot flaws far exceeds my ability to correct those flaws.

I would have liked to have seen the dark streak in the wood more central in the handle.
The edge on the J side of the logo seems to be a bit wider than the other side. Even by the tip, the J side seems wider. Could be a trick of the photo/lighting.
Click to expand...

Great point about the dark spot in the wood! That is something I wouldn't have thought much about.

I think the logo is centered right, but I didn't get a ruler and measure it before I sent it. I'll measure it next time before I etch to see how centered it is.

Thanks!!! Keep em coming.
Jason
 
Sorry, I think you misunderstood. Here's a picture that might explain better. Again, this may be a trick of the light and angle the picture was taken at, but it seems the same in a couple pictures. Any chance you'd show a picture of the back side of the knife?

I like the knife, very nice overall.

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Not sure if I took any pictures of the other side before I sent it out. I will have a friend photograph it, and see if I can get one of the back.
 
I haven't seen that exact method of adding a threaded piece to the tang before, thanks for sharing. Very nice work all around :thumbup:
 
Very nice, both the knife & the WIP. It's always a pleasure to see how someone else does it.

Query: I have always considered an Arkansas toothpick to be double edged (like a large dagger) but have seen many pictures of historic toothpicks that were single edged. Does anyone have any historical insight into what the name originally referred to in the way of blade shape? Is this just another generic term like "bowie knife" or was there a specific blade shape that inspired the name?

Gary
 
Gary Mulkey said:
Very nice, both the knife & the WIP. It's always a pleasure to see how someone else does it.

Query: I have always considered an Arkansas toothpick to be double edged (like a large dagger) but have seen many pictures of historic toothpicks that were single edged. Does anyone have any historical insight into what the name originally referred to in the way of blade shape? Is this just another generic term like "bowie knife" or was there a specific blade shape that inspired the name?

Gary
Click to expand...

I found this on Wikipedia:
The Arkansas toothpick is a heavy dagger with a 12–20-inch (30–51 cm) pointed, straight blade. The knife is balanced and weighted for throwing and can be used for thrusting and slashing. James Black, known as the inventor of the Bowie knife, is credited with inventing the Arkansas toothpick.

Some sources use Arkansas toothpick as a synonym for the Bowie knife, as opposed to the image of a large dagger.

Although many jurisdictions worldwide have knife legislation regulating the length of a blade or the dagger-like profile of the Arkansas toothpick that one may own or carry, certain locales in the United States have legislation mentioning the "Arkansas Toothpick" in particular. These laws were passed in the late 1830s, in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia as an attempt to prevent dueling.


I have seen it used both as dagger and bowie. I am not sure which one is right, but I would guess that a bowie is a bowie, and a toothpick is a bowie sized dagger.
Thanks for the kind words.
Jason
 
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