Work in Progress, Hanger Bowie

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I am humbled every time I see One of Kyles latest knives. When he puts together a W.I.P., I stop and scrutinize every process. He truly is one of those gifted few!
 
Well I don't know how I missed this, but I'm glad I found it. Congrats on your new home and shop Kyle. Thank you for your wip. I have gleened a few tips from it. Really looking forward to the end result.
Cheers Keith
 
Hello everyone!

Here are thirty more pictures showing some of the final things I did on this knife.

Here I'm starting to shape the hanger guard.
001 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The curves on the sides are so tight that I had to shape them with a file.
002 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


003 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The inside curve here also had to be cleaned up with files because it's smaller then my small wheel on the grinder.
004 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Time to clean up the sides and get them hand sanded. Here I'm at 220 grit so far.
005 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now I've gotten my layout for the scallops and I've started cutting them in with a three sided file.
006 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

All cut in nice and deep. I want the scallops to stand out.
007 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


008 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

To make the scallops nice and round looking I furtheer shape them with a 1/4" X 6" 3M scothbrite wheel.
009 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Also I added a little scalloping on the pommel nut.
010 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


More in a few minutes........
 
There wasn't a lot of room to work on the end of the pommel nut (bolt rather). Just enough though.
011 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here I've made the grooves in the two damascus front spacers and I also sanded them to 2000 grit. Now they are ready to etch.
012 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now it's time for the engraving afer a couple weeks of practice on scrap steel. Here on the top of the pic you can see the ink that I've put onto the steel and on the bottom of the pic at the pommel end of the frame you can see how I started cutting out the main lines.
017 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

My little engraving set up. :-)
018 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I've cut in all the main lines now. Also you can see the two chunks of wood I super glued onto the sides of the frame. I did this to make it easy to clamp the frame on any position I want. Note that the wood you use must be nice Koa or this won't work! (just kidding...)
029 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here is a close up shot of the main lines cut in.
030 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

In this pic you can see the layout on the front spacer, it's ready to engrave.
031 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now I've cut the main lines and started taking out the background.
069 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Half of the background removed and the engraving has been shaded.
070 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I did all the background on the frame before moving on to the shading.
071 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


More a a few.....
 
A super close up shot of the frame before shading.
072 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

The finished front spacer.
075 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

I heated the stainless steel up to about 900 degrees to heat darken the engraving.
081 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

All that needs done to the engraving now it to lightly sand the surface with 2500 grit paper and then buff lightly.
082 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now I start hand sanding the blade to the final grits. it's at 320 right now and I'll take it to 1000 before etching.
083 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

1000 grit and ready to etch.
084 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Here is the finished frame.
129 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


130 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


131 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr

Now after some more buffing and etching the knife is ready to put together. I'm prepping the handle right now for the four gold pins. I put tape on everything I can to keep from scratching it up at this point. I didn't get pictures of it but I also had to re harden and etch the blade because there was a spot the size of my thumb on the blade that looked really bad. I guess it was a soft spot or something and it etched different from the rest. After re-hardening the blade and etching it again the spot was removed. :-)
133 by Kyle Royer, on Flickr


I'll post up the finished picture next....
 
Here is the finished knife. :-) Caleb did a great job on the pic. Here is a link to Kevin's thread where you can find more pictures of it all finished up and the sheath too. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1245476-Kyle-Royer-Damascus-amp-Stag-Shell-Hanger-Bowie-More-Photos-Added
141210_Kyle_Royer_165 by Caleb Royer Studio, on Flickr

Thank you all so much for the kind words and support. Also, thank you Kevin for giving me the opportunity to make this knife for you. It was great working with you on it. Thanks for giving me the chance to do new things I've never done before.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone! :-)
 
Bumping this back up, having gone to read it again in light of the Bowie Contest.
Good grief Kyle, I personally think your engraving on this looks great, and congratulations to you on achieving such a professional result on your first extensively engraved piece.
I think mastery of engraving is destined to be in your bag of tricks, soon.
 
I voted for this one in the best bowie 2014. Incredible work and attention yo every little detail.
 
Kyle: I'm sorry if this sounds trite or repetitive at this point in your career, but it is amazing how you just keep getting better. I can hardly believe how fast you have progressed in your engraving skills. It's tempting to say you're blessed, only it's clear one only reaches your level of success through single-minded dedication and hard work. Doesn't hurt to have a brother with similar attitude and aptitude for photography. What a team! - - Thanks also for the WIP. It's particularly educational for guys like me from the outside looking in. Happy New Year to you and all your family.
 
I do have one question. Did you guys ever consider using ivory? It would have looked just as good I think.
 
Kyle, all I can say is, SPECTACULAR!
Thanks for taking the time to put this wip together :)
Cheers Keith
 
David Stifle said:
I do have one question. Did you guys ever consider using ivory? It would have looked just as good I think.
Click to expand...

Hello David.
No, ivory was never really considered as I thought the dark color and rough texture of a nice bark amber stag would be a nice contrast to the more elegant look of the mirror polished stainless. But, I agree with you as a dark-high bark mammoth would have served the same purpose.

In addition, I have the Royer Bowie below with ivory scales so thought it would be nice to have one with stag.
Kyle did a WIP for that Bowie as well. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...e-Progression?highlight=Kyle+Royer+Ring+Guard

 
I well remember the blue bowie Kyle made, Kevin, yet another marvelous work of art. I agree the amber stag looks superb, I was just curious about the ivory. I do believe you and Kyle made some superb material and design decisions, and the execution is about as flawless as I've seen.
 
This knife came out great. I am having a knife built by Kyle now, I was aware of this one being built the same time mine was being built. It sure did come out nice. Congrats to Kevin and nice work Kyle, looking forward to getting mine too, we started it in July so I am hoping to get it soon, it will be my EDC that I take great care of and keep forever.
 
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