Working with stone, bone, and other exotic materials.

Redrummd

Redrummd

Joined
May 21, 2007
Messages
1,432
If anyone living close by, or is visiting in the area, ever wants to work with stone, bone or other exotic materials I am retired and in my shop almost every day..... Guests are welcome and I am willing to drop what I am doing for a day to spend working with anyone who has a desire to learn........

In most cases a set of scales can be done in one LONG day (probably 10 to 12 hours)....
 
Wow, what an offer. Wish I could take you up on it, but, alas, the commute's just a bit too much for me. Anyone who does make it over there, please take lots of good pix!
 
Which Island??? I lived in Oak Harbor for a couple of years. Nice offer, this is what I love about knifemakers. Such a free exchange of knowledge.
 
I live on Fox Island which is 9 miles from Gig Harbor and about 18 from Downtown Tacoma. I have enough camel and giraffe bone and stone to provide solid material to work with so you would not need to bring any material other than an acceptable pocket knife to take apart.....
 
I'm afraid that it's a bit of a drive from eastern Ohio, but I am looking for someone to shape a set of bolsters out of dino bone for me. Interested? If so please shoot me an email.
Matt Doyle
 
Bump from the depths as the offer remains open... Yesterday just got over 25 pounds of dino slabs so I have a very wide selection of possibly materials to use....
 
Thanks for the offer, was talk to the wife about it the other day and was thinking of asking about if Feb. was any good for you.

I was also wondering if the knives from Greatlakes water jet would work, if I had all the grinding and heat treat done before showing up?

Thanks again for the offer
 
Maybe you can make a video that you can share with everyone and maybe you can have it as a rental video to recover your costs.
 
Hi Michael,

I'm going to take a shot at making a coke bottle slip joint folder. (See the recent slip joint questions thread.) I'm hoping to make the scales out of malachite. Is that something you might have or do you know where I should try and source it?

Thanks, Phil
 
Scout 77 - I am not familiar with the Greatlakes water jet work so how about sending a link or email a few pics to me.... You need at least a top bolster too and I prefer top and bottom bolsters to protect the stone... It is a lot easier to do a knife with just a top bolster but that pretty much makes it a show knife or one that must be used VERY carefully. I pretty much have an open calendar being retired.

Farmer Phil - Malachite is a fragile stone and needs protection with bolsters at both ends. Stay away from any fern type pattern as there will be holes and druzy sections to deal with. I have seen a lot of good malachite slabs on Ebay but do you have access to wet cutting and polishing equipment? You can always send me links of pieces you like for my opinion and I have a decent relationship with a lot of the main dealers on Ebay.


Edro20 - Working with stone takes a huge amount of specialized equipment especially for working with knives so the market for a video would be pretty small I think. :eek:
 
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Hey Michael,

As a once upon a time silver and goldsmith, I worked with a fair amount of malachite, but never at this scale. Normally I would not think of malachite as being an appropriate stone for a folder as it is so soft. But, this would be for my 15 year old daughter to carry in her hand bag. (She has green eyes.) She certainly won't be a hard user.

Yes, bolsters on both ends for sure. I'd probably also make some sort of case or sheath for the finished knife. Nope, ain't got no wet cutting saws. If I can source slabs, I believe I could rough cut them to size/profile using a flexible shaft rotary tool and miniature cutoff wheels with lots of dipping into a tray of water. Messy, but might work. I used to work malachite with files and wet sand/emery papers then buff it out with my jewelry polishing wheels. I hope that can work at this scale.

I'll check out ebay. Thanks, I will probably ask your opinion on whatever I find.

Mahalo, Phil
 
Lucky man! You live in one of the worlds most beautiful places. I live up in Vancouver and love sailing around the gulf islands. I spend lots of time on Saltspring and Galiano. Those tiny sheltered coves and all the wildlife, fishing, whales seals.....

I may consider your offer if I plan on crossing the border for a holiday. I have to get a decent blade first to warrant such skilled craftsmanship sooon...
 
Hi Michael,

Here's some stuff I found on eBay. None of it's quite what I was hoping for, but maybe something could work? The scale slabs will need to be at least 2.75" x .875" to be able to be shaped down to fit. I'm not sure how thick the slab material should be as I'm not sure how thick the bolsters should be.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360089431880
Although this is a beautiful stone, I'm not sure if it'd look all that great sliced in half long ways. Nor, if it'd yield two slabs large enough to work.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190252170939
Again, not sure if there's enough material in this one either.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320308578585
Don't think this will work, unless maybe it can be sliced into two slabs. If so, would they be good enough quality?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200261019364
This one is too small, but I wandered what kind of malachite it is?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220246664753
This piece sounds too riddled with holes, but they say half of it is good. What say you?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220202118856
I believe this one is ok size wise. Do you think it would yield two nice scales?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140271799134
I'm confused as to what is actually being sold here, but believe it's material that could be sliced into slabs. Is that so, and if so, is that something you could do? They call it bull's eye, but don't show bull's eye, but I don't know if that matters too much.

Well that's all I found right now. Let me know what you think.

Thanks sooooo much, Phil
 
Phil,

I will answer in an email to you as the mods might get upset about hooking to Ebay links here. They can be fussy about that at times!
 
Thanks Mike!

I committed to buying the one you recommended (last one in the list in my post above). Shoot me your address and I'll have them send it directly to you for slabbing.

This is GREAT, thanks so much! -Phil

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Hey Mike,

Have PayPal'd the eBay seller. Malachite should be on it's way to you soon.

Thanks so much, and, All the best, Phil
 
Hey, this is cool. I really like seeing Michael get some traction here. Hopefully I'll be ready to jump in on a project in the next year or so too (I'm a slow worker ;)).

Phil, please let us see your knife when you're done; I've had a hankering for building a slipjoint for a long time and just never had the huevos. Maybe you can push me over the edge. I'd like to know all your processes too of course!
 
Hi Mike,

Well my first slipjoint project has been a while, but I'm getting there. I had to come to CA and meet up with Pat Randall, patrickknives.com, to get some hands-on training and assistance. The little folder is looking pretty good. I'm excited! We'll try and get a few progress pix posted in the Slipjoint question thread where I started this. It still may be a while before I get it all ready to send to you for setting the malachite scales. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks so much, Phil
 
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