WIP Ghost Jade Hidden Tang...

Overmountain

Overmountain

Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
1,711
I don't do these often, so bear with me... My only other one was the tactical knife in my avatar. I had a request from a very special customer to do a hidden tang ghost jade knife. Hence why I had asked about the level of transparency of ghost jade a while back. I was concerned about the tang showing through and looking, well, weird. I assumed this was why I don't see a lot of natural G10 hidden tang knives...

Bear with me on the etching stencil WIP to come soon as I get photos of the latest emulsion I've tried. I have just finally had time freed up to work on this stuff.

So I located some good big chunks of natural G10. My customer had stated he couldn't find it in chunks and I was having trouble as well. Turns out the industry calls it G-10/FR4 (which is really just a specific grade of fiberglass.) The 'FR4 sheet' search turned it up in spades. So I locked that down...

Then came the design. Requested is a clip point 'funter' (fighter/hunter...) So a fighter profile with a semi-hunter size and feel. I decided on 416 stainless for the guard and spacer and black paper micarta as the bolster. For the blade I will most likely forge out 1095, but just stocked up on 15n20, so maybe damascus? And I'm building a McDonald mill as I was able to get a good laminate billet using a friend's rolling mill lately. If that's the case I may try for a 416/1095 or other carbon laminate. I just picked up a few good sized 416 drops and am excited and eager to use it on some projects. I'm curious to know if and see if anyone has done much simple san mai with just 15n20 over 1095... I can get reliable welds and folds with 15n20 and 1095 and have considered this in the past as a nice light on dark san mai.

The sheath will be a drop-leg/scout/multi-carry similar to what I've done before but with a micro-suede lined kydex core. Also requested was a ferro-rod, fallkniven diamond hone, and a streamlight micro-stream mounted... Still in the wind about exactly where all that will go. All the hardware will be black and leather will be more of my mahogany stuff that is seeming to last forever... Drop leg with a D-ring dangler strap and a loop to use paracord to lash to the leg...

So, here is the sketch. I have it started just a bit, with the stainless guard chunk cut and the g-10 and horn all squared up. The guard appears to be two separate pieces but will actually just be one piece. Comments appreciated, but it's pretty stuck in stone... Doing this as a WIP as there will be a few techniques I will probably ask for help on as I know there are some better mousetraps out there....

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Thanks and cheers.

-Eric
 
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Here are the starting materials. They appear to me to all go together very well...

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-Eric
 
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I hope you don't find the jade ghost block to be as difficult to work as I found mine. You have an excellent design there and I'l love to see it fully realized.
 
I think the ghost jade will be opaque enough that you wont normally see the tang but if you hold it up to a light you will see the shadow of the tang quite clearly.
I love that design, cant wait to see it come together.
 
Looking forward to seeing this one. I love old style (sort of) meets new technology knives. Meaning knives that you'd expect to see wood on, but features g10 or other phenolics. The sheath sounds interesting too.
 
Eric, if your knifemaking skills are half as good as your drawing skills, this is going to be one awesome knife! Cool looking blade! I'll make sure to watch your WIP, thanks for taking the time!
 
Thank you guys. And yes Ian, I think the color and the kind of forward swooping lines give it a bit of a movie/fantasy vibe too. I tend to draw a little more aggressive with the lines than actually comes out on the knife. I do the same with car designs. They look very swoopy and such on paper but mellow out a bit once actually started.

Torque, I started a thread here a while back asking about opaqueness of the G10 and got some excellent replies. As well as a great backlit pic. I think you are right in that it should look fine and not show the tangas long as not held up to the light. I will piddle a bit with shiny tang vs darker tang and see if it effects the G10 final color once I get it bored out for the blade...

And Greg, yeah, I have found G10 to cut best with the bi-metal lenox blades and machine ok with a good bit of speed on a 4 flute end mill. Otherwise G10 is a love/hate for me. I'm one of the itchy ones when it comes to any fiberglass.

Striggy buddy, old school meets new school is my favorite thing to do. I love modern tomahawks and big bowies done in that style, as well as twists on traditional hunters and fighters. Modern takes on the classic kabar and such... heaven.

-Eric
 
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Looks like a great concept Eric. I'm with Strig on the old-meets-new stuff. It really gives the opportunity to create something which hasn't been possible until now and I think it's a great way to pay homage to older design elements.
Even if the shadow of the tang is slightly visible when back lit I don't think that will detract from the finished product. If the g10 is used tastefully (which let's face it, it will be) you will just be giving another level of aesthetic complexity to the knife.
I can't wait to see how this one progresses.
 
So, I have both 303 and 416 for guard material. Need input on what will give me a better final appearance before I start slicing into drops... Any thoughts on the final finish of either. Too similar to matter and only the machinability should come into play? Will do a uniform 1000 grit hand rub for final finish.

And have decided not to do anything outside my skillset so will be a simple 1095/15n20 damascus blade... Reason being is I have to push it out a bit quicker. I will have to explain soon, but the customer has a new purpose for it so I can't dilly dally...

Thanks for the input.
 
Sorry I've been MIA. Busy work week. New issue car which is cool... Ecoboost Pursuit rated Explorer. And I have been searching the farm for a good stump to use as an anvil stand. This came by way of dropping an old dead 50' tall locust tree... My great-uncle was the beneficiary of the wood for his stove.
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For the knife, I needed a bigger block of jade g-10. The problem is finding it. It is just natural g-10 which is a rating of fiberglass... So I looked there. In the industry they have a thick and very nice jade-ish green they call FR-4. Or just search for epoxy laminates. While I know this isn't the clearish and bright green of the regular 'ghost jade' it does fit my project knife perfectly. Here it is.
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The damascus billet is forge welded and waiting for a fold or 3... Hopefully I can get at least a half-way decent blade out of this. This is only the forth or fifth high-contrast billet I have done. I just lined my older forge with matricote 90 and it seems ti be doing really well.
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Cheers.
-Eric
 
That's it? Days of waiting for an update and we get a teaser? You're killin' me here Eric ;)
Seriously though - I'm really hanging out to see how this goes. It looks like a great project and I'm really glad you're sharing it with us!
 
Chris Larrikin said:
That's it? Days of waiting for an update and we get a teaser? You're killin' me here Eric ;)
Seriously though - I'm really hanging out to see how this goes. It looks like a great project and I'm really glad you're sharing it with us!
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Same here!

I'm probably more excited to see this knife than any other right now.

Eric, I can't remember, do you ever work with the "super steels"? I'd probably sell an organ for one of those done in cpm m4, with the same exact handle material. I'd make a sweet Paul Long style sheath for it too with a button hole keeper strap. :)
 
Strigamort said:
Same here!

I'm probably more excited to see this knife than any other right now.

Eric, I can't remember, do you ever work with the "super steels"? I'd probably sell an organ for one of those done in cpm m4, with the same exact handle material. I'd make a sweet Paul Long style sheath for it too with a button hole keeper strap. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry its just a teaser, but my anvil is a modified hunk of RR track and my anvil stand was killing me. Not nearly as solid as I wanted.... Working damascus with hammer and anvil really sucks if everything isn't working right to put all of the energy of each blow into the steel. So I had to go get that huge locust stump for a better base. And of course it is actually a little further along than that... but hey, if I didn't take it slow it wouldn't be my style... ;)

I do work with pretty much anything steel wise, but prefer simple carbon steels as I can HT those right here in the shop. For anything else I have to go to my buddy's shop. He has an oven and the capacity to cryo even rather large stuff... Or, in a pinch send it out. For any requests from a customer I will gladly use whatever steel they want. In addition, since most of the stuff I tinker with falls into the antique category simple steels work to keep everything looking and acting correctly. And the obvious cost issue as I fund 90% of my work up front out of pocket. Therefore I can get a lot of stock on hand for the dollar. Next order though there will probably be some modern stainless in it just to have something on hand as I have a couple of pocket toolish ideas for the SF/Tac guys that I want to be able to survive extreme conditions...

And thank you guys for the compliments. The billet is one fold deep at this point and ready for another draw and fold. I will probably go to 320 (5 folds) for the layer count this time unless the consensus is that a lazier pattern would look better. Due to my drawing style, it will ultimately have a ladder pattern to this time.

Cheers!

-Eric
 
I hope it does come out as aggressive as you've drawn it. The drawing is... Well, I'll just admit it, it's my desktop pic. :D

If I were making the sheath I'd be doing a "regular" bowie sheath in black leather with a really thin g10 inlay/window (liner material thickness) and a frog turned from the same g10 as the handle, but that's just me.

Dang it, why didn't I think of making this knife. :( not that I have the skill or equipment to do it! :D
 
I like the traditional bowie sheath as well. And I was planning on going with a dark leather and some sort of inlay. Contemplated stingray, frog skin or something similar. But, for the past little while it seems everyone is ga-ga over the scout carry sheaths. Especially those that can be worn as a dangler...

I also don't usually have 'add ons' like a ferrocium rod, sharpening device, or anything else. But it is crazy popular. My thinking is that it is great to have all your stuff at your fingertips to grab but it will tempt you to wear it like that
And if you leave all that on there and happen to lose it... Same reasoning for carrying things in separate pockets....

Maybe I'll just make both... My focus is really the knife obviously and I will add some updates later this evening. Coming along nicely. Slowly, but I seem to always have something else to take up time. Like yesterday I bought a used little KTM 50cc dirt bike for my 8 year old. It was a score and a half but needs a bit of work. So that will be eating at knife and tool time too. I seriously don't see how you full-timers do it...

Thanks Strig, that's one helluva compliment.

-Eric
 
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