Light weight forged hunter with some awesome redwood burl...

J. Doyle

J. Doyle

Dealer - Purveyor
Here's a recently commissioned piece I just finished today. It's a nice compact hunter. This is really light weight. Redwood burl is usually pretty light anyway, the g-10 guard keeps the weight down without sacrificing strength. It puts the balance right behind the guard, right on the first finger. This knife just melts and disappears in the hand.

Specs:
Hand forged from 1075 steel, clay quenched and etched lightly
8 1/8" overall, 3 7/8" blade (about 3 1/2" sharp), .185" thick at the ricasso with full distal taper
Rounded spine and ricasso edge for comfort
Black g-10 guard and spacer
Coined 416 SS spacer
Stabilized Redwood Burl from our friend Mark at Burl Source

All comments and discussion welcome. Feel free to say what you like or dislike, please. :)













 
If you hadn't said the guard was g10 I'd have thought it was blackened steel....good way to keep the weight down and looks great too. In fact the whole thing looks awesome, you do some fine work man...:)
 
I cant say that I am fond of the G10 guard, but that handle is very nice! I love the embellishments at the butt. Very nice.
 
Kayakersteve said:
The detail on this knife is phenomenal
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When I think my fit and finish is good John posts and I realize it's not humanly possible to reach this level. The only thing I can think is he must have an alien in the shop.

John, could you give some details about your stamp or etch, it is so clear.
 
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Thanks for the feedback guys.

Mark Behnke said:
When I think my fit and finish is good John posts and I realize it's not humanly possible to reach this level. The only thing I can think is he must have an alien in the shop.

John, could you give some details about your stamp or etch, it is so clear.
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Mark, you're too kind. :)

My mark is a stamp, I press it in cold, after all my forging and rough grinding but before final thermal cycling and heat treating. I choose to do it cold rather than hot because I can position it exactly where I want it. It's too hard to get it centered and parallel to the guard face when you stamp hot.
 
Awesome work as usual JD. If you don't mind me asking, how do you cut the groove on the butt of the handle? A file or dremil maybe?
 
Thank you again guys. I appreciate it.

backtines said:
Awesome work as usual JD. If you don't mind me asking, how do you cut the groove on the butt of the handle? A file or dremil maybe?
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Hey Mikey. No problem. First I get the handle all shaped and sanded to about 800 grit. Then I take a small fine flat file and knock a 45 degree angle all the way around the 'corner' on the butt end. I file until the flat is about 3/32" wide. Then I take a round file, usually a 5/32", and start to groove out the center of my newly established flat area, using the borders of the flat to keep my file centered. Keep going around until everything is even and at desired depth. On a knife where the top rear part of the handle rounds off into the butt end, like this one, there is a small area on top that I have to blend in with a ball end burr and carve an arced channel that meets the filed groove on both ends. Most of the butt end has an 'outside' corner and that's easy to file, where they start to meet on top makes sort of an 'inside' corner and you can't get it with a file so you have to carve it out instead. I made a small 1/8" bent file to clean that area up and blend it all together. Man, I hope that makes some sort of sense. :)

If the file doesn't slip out of the groove and gouge your 800 grit polished handle at least twice during the process, you're doing it wrong. :D
 
J. Doyle said:
If the file doesn't slip out of the groove and gouge your 800 grit polished handle at least twice during the process, you're doing it wrong. :D
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Is this step before or after you cut yourself and bleed on everything.
Just teasing you John. Beautiful knife.
 
Burl Source said:
Is this step before or after you cut yourself and bleed on everything.
Just teasing you John. Beautiful knife.
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True statement here Mark. :)

I've cut myself on the last 3 blades I've finished, two of them have been pretty bad. Thought I'd need stitches for sure but somehow, they went back together okay. It had been a while before these last three since I've cut myself.

I usually cut myself during the etching and polishing process, this particular knife though got me during the handle fitting, I had the blade all taped up and padded with shop towel like normal. The first time I tried to seat the tang in the block, it jammed and stuck a little in the wood. I grabbed the blade and pulled a little and the knife cut right through the padded and taped 'sheath' and I slid my finger right across the edge. Cut me very deep and all the way across the width of my finger. Thought for sure that would be stitches but it miraculously went back together.

The one I'm currently working on is a small personal carry bowie and it's got sharpened clip! :what!: So far I've been lucky enough to dodge two sharp edges on one blade. :)
 
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