Work in Progress, Sambar Stag Utility

Dave Kelly

Dave Kelly

Joined
Dec 17, 2003
Messages
597
Finishing up this Sambar stag utility when the great confidence :barf: in my knife making abilities reared it's ugly head again, thought I better come here and ask your opinions on a couple of things first.

I ended up making 4 blades for this knife:confused: Can't remember what bothered me about each one of them to keep making new ones but I realized they weren't getting any better so I stopped with only 4 :)

I'm including a photo of a not yet finished, temporarily assembled knife with what I think is the blade I'm going to use and a photo of the other 3 blades. In your opinion....am I making the correct blade choice?

Just to confirm what was pointed out to me on my last knife that I posted here for critique, I made the quillon considerably thinner than I normally do, does it look correct? it measures .180 and the blade is .240

I'm including an exploded view because (well...just because :)) for some reason I didn't realize how many parts and pieces were on this knife until I took it apart for final clean-up and fine tuning.

Finally, anything else you see that I should do before I pin and epoxy?

Thanks again for your help,
Dave


orig.jpg






The "other" 3 blades, All these blades have just a quick etch and rub, all about 4 1/2" long
orig.jpg







The exploded view with 1 of the blades
orig.jpg
 
I believe that is looks stunning! I think you made the correct choice of blade. My second choice would be the second one down, the one you used in the exploded view I believe. Steven
 
Correct choice. 2nd would be the bottom one, I like the hamon. By the way the knife is a beauty.
 
Holy crap! I don't think you need to worry about confidence.:eek: That is a really nice knife.:thumbup:
 
You've made what looks to me like one heck of a well
designed, well made hunter/utility knife. Also, you've
done an excellent job of matching the stag...not all
that easy, especially when choices are limited.

Of the three in the second photo, I too would
pick the one at the bottom.
 
Thanks very much you guys!!

I like the bottom one also, I was just polishing a little and it has quite a bit going on so if I don't use it on this knife, I'll use it on another.

Dave
 
Holy cow. Mental note, adding Dave Kelly to mental list of kickass knifemakers here.
 
Dave I think any of the blades would have worked,there all great, superbly done as always.:thumbup:

Bill
 
The bottom blade looks the best - has the most active hamon....nice thumb grooves as well as filework...


That said - your design and execution is excellent!!!

Stag drop-points don't really do it for me....but yours sure does! :thumbup:

Very nice indeed!

Dan
 
That is one beautiful knife. I like the hammon on the bottom one the best. I love the shape and lines and the fit and finish looks fantastic. Thanks for posting this. Its an inspiration!
Ed
 
Kind of interesting note on the different hamon activity of the 3 blade photo, the bottom blade has a bit more carbon (.08 more) but almost half the manganese amount of the others.

Never thought about it before but I was writing the specs. down to give to the customer and used 8 different items for this knife:
Black G10
Titanium
Copper
O1 rod
Phosphor bronze
Silicon bronze
Sambar stag
10 series steel

I got lucky matching the stag, out of a scale set there was 1 that was flat the other was not usable for this size handle. I had a taper that matched the texture and color with only 1 good side and fortunately it was the side I needed :thumbup:

Thanks again!!
Dave
 
I don't think you could go wrong with any of those blades, but the one that is selected, with the rest of the handle materials, is my favorite. Nice work!
 
Dave,

So what did you end up with? Can we see a few pix of the finished knife...if it's still around?

What a beaut!

Phil
 
I would have been happy with any of those blades handled like the one in the main picture.
Richard
 
Isn't there a quote: "Every time a hammer rings, a sheath maker throws away his wings."

Sorry, Dave. I hope you don't mind me teasing you. Fantastic knife. I actually like all the blades. I think you made the right decision with the assembled blade. Second choice would probably be the top one in the three blade picture.
 
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