Beautiful work to say the least. In the event of a nuclear war I am heading for your house. I'm quite sure cock roaches and your household will survive.
I love to try new things. From time to time I will get a wild hair and immerse myself in a new discipline. Mrs. Crabtree thinks I'm nuts. He has always been very practical. When I was introduced to her by a friend, he mentioned that she was (as he put it) a bit anal. I was like YES! I'll try anything once . Then I learned there are two kinds of anal and she was the wrong kind. Oh well, I can always make knives and carve pumpkins.
Every year, the Horicon Marsh Bowmen make a very generous donation to the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association. As a WBH Director, I get invited to their annual banquet. Since I can't sing for my supper worth a lick, I made them a knife set that they can raffle off. Both are Forged Damascus Steel made from 1095 and 15N20 steels. The larger is 6 3/8 long overall and the smaller is a neck knife with a broadhead shaped blade. It's overall length is 3 7/8. The handle is shaped like a bear claw. Both handle have Hard rock Maple bow laminations as spacers. This is left over from the bow I built for my son. The handle scales are Cocobolo with brass pins. The handles are protected with 5 coats of super glue and buffed to a satin finish. The base is walnut and shed deer antler with a WBH medallion. I still need to make the sheaths. For the sheaths for these knives. I used 8 Oz. Tooling leather. It always starts with a cardboard (Crap-alloy) template that I fit to the knife until I am happy with the shape. Leather is not cheap but cardboard is free. Then I transfer the pattern to the leather. After folding the belt loop and attaching it with two brass rivets, I used a swivel knive to cut in an outline for a pattern I would be tooling into the leather. Then I wet the leather so the tooling will remain after the leather dries. I used a pear shaped shader to dimple the leather. Here's what it looks like after it dried. Next, I wetted the fold line, added a welt and used rubber cement to join the welt to both halves of the fold. The welt protects the stitches from the knife blade. Then I punched the stitching holes. After stitching, I trim the excess leather for an even outline. Then the sheath is soaked in water and fitted to the knife. Its like working with clay. The leather takes the shape and stays put while I use a hair dryer to dry the leather. While it might be hard to see, I stained the inner pattern with a little darker red/brown stain than the rest of the sheath. After staining, I apply neatsfoot oil and after two days wrapped in a paper towel, I give it a good rub down with warned mink oil. Now it's nicely waterproofed and has a good sheen. The same is true for the neck knife sheath.
This knife was donated to the Horicon Marsh Bowmen in 2009 I went back to the good folks at Two Finger Knife LLC and bought another forged Damascus Steel blank made from 1095 and 15N20 steels. I also bought a set of Amboyna burl knife scales because of their beauty and the numerous, captivating swirls. Amboyna Burl wood is extracted from the jungles of Southeast Asia and often transported (at least initially) via elephant. It is a favored wood used by folks that make knife handles and pens or bowls. It starts out reddish in color and over time and exposure to light, it turns a warm brown/red. The photo below gives a false impression of the color and exaggerates the red. I won't use just Amboyna for the handle. I want to dress up this handle with a few different woods. The woods I'm using are 1. South African, Bloodwood 2. South American, Cocobolo 3. Good old Wisconsin, Hard rock Maple 4. Sotheast Asian, Amboyna This knife handle will have an impressive global pedigree After laying out the pattern I wanted, I cut the pieces to size and rinsed 1, 2 and 4 in Acetone to remove the oils so the epoxy would give a better hold. Here they are waiting for the slow cure epoxy to do it's thing. I am also making the pins from a variety of materials such as aluminum, brass, copper and maple. They will also be held together with epoxy. Once all the components have time to cure, I will assemble the parts and shape the wood into what is hopefully a comfortable and attractive grip. After the epoxy cured, I use the blade as the pattern to outline the shape of the handle and then cut it to size leaving a little extra material all the way around for cleanup. I also decided to add 1/16 thick Cocobolo spacers. The spacers go against the metal of the handle and give another layer of color. Here it is assembled for a dry fit-up test. Fast forward past sanding and applying 8 coats of super glue as the finish and this is what you have. I think the cocobolo spacers give a great look to the handle. Since the center of the pins is maple, prior to applying the finish, I held a red Sharpie marker against the wood and let it soak up the red ink. Fast forward a little more and I have a sheath. Flash forward again and you see the display base I made from bubinga. I used the same red/brown stain that I used to die the leather for the sheath to make the wood a little more red. I added a small antler and a WBH lapel pin and a gloss lacquer finish. I hope this knife helps in their fund raising effort.
I made this knife for a fund raiser for a Cancer Hospice Center that my Mother-in-Law is affiliated with. Blade: 1/8" thick Damascus made from 1095 and 15N20 (2% nickel) steel. 3 3/4 blade length, 7 1/2 inch overall Handle: Amboynia Burl, Maple Burl with Hard rock maple spacers and brass pins Sheath: Hand cut, stitched and dyed, 8 Oz. Tooling leather Display stand: Antler and walnut.
After reading these knife making posts, you have seen that I like to use super glue as the finish for wood. To answer any questions on how to do a super glue finish on a knife handle I decided to show the steps. This is not to say that this is the only and proper way to use super glue as a finish. It's just the way I do it. Super glue is used on tropical woods that have oils that prevent most finishes from drying, curing or hardening. It can be used on any wood. When dry, Super glue becomes clear acrylic. First of all, This is for small projects since it is not really cost effective for large projects. At the same time, there are those that use a super glue finish on pool cues, pens, bowls, chess pieces and a host of other projects. I went out and bought a 4 pack of .07 Oz. tubes for $1.99. I bought the regular and not the gel but have heard of people using the gel with good results. Always read the warnings and understand the risks. I have chosen to ignore rule number four. This glue is stinky but larger containers that are more expensive can be bought in a low odor version. I used a scrap piece of Bubinga right off the saw. I did not sand it at all. I did this to show that super glue is gap filling and fills in the pores of the wood. I poured a small drop on the wood. Spread it around with this brush. Make sure to use the right sized brush for the job. I have a 10 pack of these brushes in various sizes that were given to me on my birthday some 46 odd years ago. I still have all of them. I find the two biggest ones to be pretty useless. The two smallest ones really only work to clean ones ears. I just spread it out until the piece is covered and never stop moving lest you become joined to your work. It stays liquid for a short while. And then hardens with a little less gloss. You can see the rough saw lines on the wood. but after I build up of a few coats, it will smooth over the bumps. *** DO NOT*** blow on it to dry it faster. After two coats, I use 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out the brush marks and then wipe it with a clean cloth to remove the white dust. On the back side of the piece I applied the same number of coats except on the last one, I blew on it to dry it faster and you can see the results. The water vapor in your breath makes the glue cloudy or foggy and you cant un-do the damage. You will have to sand it all off and start over. The same goes for touching the wet glue with your finger. The moisture in your skin will also turn the glue white. After a few coats, you also get a build up on the tip of your brush. Nail polish remover (Acetone) will remove the hardened glue. I wet a paper towel and set my brush in it. I will also use some of that same 400 grit to clean of any glue left behind. Now the brush is clean. Once hardened, I use 400 grit and 0000 steel wool to smooth the finish. Super glue leaves a hard, crystal clear and water proof protective coating of acrylic plastic on the wood. It can be buffed to a high sheen. Give it a try the next time you are working on a small wood project or if making fishing jig heads or turkey calls. Work outside or in an area with good ventilation.
Sometimes there is as much satisfaction in bringing a knife back from the dead as there is in making a new one. I was asked by a friend in Texas, to repair a knife that belonged to his father and grandfather. It is not an expensive knife. It's worth is more in sentiment. He said the leather washers on the handle were dry rotted so he wanted me to make a new grip and since the knife was missing it's sheath, he asked that I make a new one. This is what I got in the mail. To make the knife usable, he had dipped the handle in Plasti-kote. There was a lot of rust as well. The tip had been snapped off a few years ago so he asked that I re-shape it. I was able to get the red plastic off but that only revealed the remnants of the duct tape that must have been used before the plastic coating. Once I got the leather off the handle, I found the tang was badly rusted. It can still be saved. The aluminum pommel has some deep dings and scratches but I can remove them as well. The thing I found odd was that the brass finger guard has a visible notch but that is how it came from the manufacturer. I re-shaped the blade and got rid of as much pitting as I could without wrecking the blade. My friend asked that I use oasge for the handle. He sent along a few pieces of 50 year old Osage fence post to replace the leather of the grip. Once I cut out the scales for the handle and saw the yellow, I just had to add some red. Since it is a hunting knife with a deep history, I cut two, thin bloodwood spacers that will lay closest to the metal of the handle. I masked off the metal parts (easier to get the extra epoxy off) and assembled the parts. After 24 hours passes, I will be able to shape the handle and finish the polishing of the metal parts. After a bit of shaping, the knife is starting to look like a knife again. I got rid of all the scratches as well.
For the sheath. I will use 8 Oz. Tooling leather because I want to stamp a little fancy schmancy stuff onto the leather Then stitched it and trimmed it. Then I made a snap strap to hold it in place. Lastly, I got the whole thing wet and fit the sheath to the knife. I will let it dry over night before I stain it. Well, A little red brown stain and Neatsfoot oil and a rub down with mink oil and the sheath and the project are complete. I used some diamonds and ceramic and now the blade is like a razor. There is some great steel in that blade. I looks a little diff then when I got it. I hope he likes it.
This is a recovery I did for a friend. It was found in the rafters of an old barn in WI. 8 inch blade. 3/16 thick 13 inches overall. The sheath is stamped Germany. Carbon steel blade with lots of rust. This says G.C. CO ITALY It came apart pretty easy. I had to do alittle metal repair to the aluminum pummel. Here is the finshed result.
This knife repesents one of the biggest challenges I taken on so far. I thought I would try my hand at carving a bit of detail into the blade of one of my own. I have done filing on the back edge of knives but this goes way beyond that for difficulty. The blade is O1 flat ground annealed. Here are a few images along the way. I am trying to make vines. Files and chisels help remove the material from the opening. It's pretty slow going. I use a Dremmel tool were ever I can. I have it pre-beveled but not completly and will finish the bevel after I heat treat the blade. I used a chisel to add texture to the vines and then applied gun bluing to color just the vines. I made a set of Cocobolo Scales and then gave them 3 coats of super glue as a finish before epoxying them to the blade. Once I trim down the pins, I will give them one more coat of super glue. I apply the super glue with my finger tip. You have to move fast and keep moving or you and the wood become one. I took some pictures but struggled with the lighting. The gun bluing in the vines does not photograph well. This was a real challenge but it's good to have it in the bag of tricks.
man u need ur own weekly TV show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! get you some sponsors and call it a life. knives, Tee Pee's, Cammo, custom arrow and broadhead construction for Bison hunt and Field Dressing??? what next??
REALLY enjoying these posts on knives. How interesting. You have a great talent and build beautiful knives. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks for the kind thoughts but that sounds like a completely awful way to live. Turning my lifestyle into a job with deadlines and sponsors with high expectations for a return on their investment is more pressure that I care to assume. I don't watch TV but I have seen a few deer harvesting videos and can only imagine how the quest for the almighty dollar and fame has sucked the fun out of their lives and their hunting. I'm happy just putzing around the shop and sharing info with others. Another thing that has me puzzled about these hunting folks is the travel. They must enjoy it. I hate to travel. A few years ago I moved to Oconomowoc, WI from Central WI. When I told my friends I was moving to Oconomowoc, they all seemed to know about the town so well that they even knew the local customs and what to wear because every time I told somebody I was moving to Oconomowoc, they all said Where the fox hat! I found that odd and I didn't even own a fox hat. I had to find a trapper that would make me one. I told him why I needed one and sure enough, when I told him where I was moving, he too said "Where the fox hat" So I did. When I got there, I saw that nobody else was wearing a fox hat (especially in summer) so now it just hangs on a hook in my closet. I think theye were all just playing a joke on me.
yeah you're totally right, it may suck the fun out, but i'd sure like to try it for a few yrs!!!!!!!!! keep up the great work and thanks for sharing
rancid, your last post garners more respect and admiration than possibly all your others combined. Good for you, and God bless. Thanks for taking the time to post up these wonderful threads...
Thanks. I meant it but the stuff about Oconomowoc (actually lived there) was really just a joke and a play on words that I think was missed. OR you got it and had the good taste not to carry it further. Just having some fun.
