5160 & Black Walnut Camp/utility w/SS bolsters

P

P J 234

Well-Known Member
Hi guys,

I haven't been around all that much and have been a little slow making knife progress lately, but I finally have one finished (except for sharpening and sheath top-coating) that I plan to offer for sale sometime in the near future. This is a stout knife, being of 1/4" stock, but has a nice feel and balance with the tapered tang.

This is my first attempt at dovetailed stainless bolsters. This is also my first time doing a tapered tang, and I'd like to thank my friend and mentor Mike Mooney (www.moonblades.com) for showing me how to do so!


Here's some info about the knife:

-1/4" 5160 blade steel, stock removal
-blade length ~5"
-OAL ~9.5"
-Blade hand sanded to 600x, spine to 2000x
-Natural (not stabilized) figured Black Walnut with Birchwood Casey Tru-oil gunstock finish, rubbed to a satin finish
-1/8" Mosaic Pins
-stainless steel bolsters, buffed
-tapered tang


And the sheath:

-Tooled Wickett and Craig 7/8 oz. shoulder
-Hand saddle stitched
-Fiebings dark brown Pro Oil dye


I'd appreciate any feedback, critique, etc. on design, construction, material choices, etc. that anyone is willing to offer on the knife or sheath, either here or in PM if you prefer to make them privately. Thanks in advance for looking and for any comments!

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Great knife overall. One thing that stands out for me is the quality of finish on the tang. Many very good knives seem to skimp on that.

I bet it took awhile to grind those bevels on such a thick/wide piece! They look good.

I'm a big fan of oiled walnut in general, and that piece has great figure. That's hard to find. I got lucky and stocked up on some last year from a fellow named Hanson. I hear he makes a knife now and again, too ;)

Keep it up, and by all means do more tapered tangs and dove-tailed bolsters, looks like you have it down!
 
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That an outstanding job!!! I caught the taper on the tang, nice touch!!! Definitely off topic, but you have a cool last name!

"Indelicato Custom Knives" It's got a nice ring to it...huh!!!

Jeff
 
Thanks Jeff, I appreciate the feedback!

It has certainly been an interesting journey with that name (spelling it, spelling it again, and again, and again...pronouncing it, pronouncing it again, and again, and again...!) :)
 
Hey PJ! Cool looking knife. We need to get together soon. I am in Gilbert AZ now! Drop me a PM and let me know how to get ahold of you.
 
There's not much more that could be said that already haven't been said, tapered tang, dovetailed polished bolsters, contoured handle, the walnut looks great.

That's great all around.

yea!
 
i really like that knife. i love full flat grinds, they have such a clean look. very nice.

liontribe
 
Man,that is
One
Sweet
Knife...
I don't know if it's the pic,
but the ONLY thing I think I see is maybe some tiny gap
between bolster and tang?
The whole flow is slick;you can almost feel the sweet-spot...
(great,now my hand is jonesing to hold that knife...:D)
 
thanks liontribe!

Ironwolf, thanks for your feedback as well! Is it the first pic at the front of the bolster where you are looking? If so, I believe that is some buffing compound that got missed when I was cleaning it off after buffing the bolsters. That stuff is a real pain to get out of all the nooks and crannies without making marks and scratches all over the hand-sanded blade finish you so carefully applied.

Thanks again guys!
 
lol,that was my 2nd guess;I was just admiring the pics again,and that seems about right.
Try a rigid piece of rubber,or plastic,trimmed to a 90,and see if that gets in there.Shouldn't mark the steel.
 
Ironwolf said:
Man,that is
One
Sweet
Knife...
I don't know if it's the pic,
but the ONLY thing I think I see is maybe some tiny gap
between bolster and tang?
The whole flow is slick;you can almost feel the sweet-spot...
(great,now my hand is jonesing to hold that knife...:D)
Click to expand...

I saw that spec and I thought it was a speck . . A speck of dust on my screen, that is! lol

:haha:
 
Ironwolf said:
lol,that was my 2nd guess;I was just admiring the pics again,and that seems about right.
Try a rigid piece of rubber,or plastic,trimmed to a 90,and see if that gets in there.Shouldn't mark the steel.
Click to expand...

Removing that stuff seems to give me 2 problems:

1) Finding the right tool to get into all the areas that won't do more harm than good

2) Preventing the buffing compound itself from causing marks. It doesn't want to come off easily, gets everywhere, and since it contains a mild abrasive tends to leave marks when it's wiped off if not EXTREMELY careful. The first knife on which I had buffed the bolsters, I wasn't really aware of this and it left a faint polished line a Qtip's width out from the bolster face (across the direction of the sanding lines, of course...)

Problem '2' tends to cause me more trouble than problem '1'!

Thanks again guys!
 
P J 234 said:
Removing that stuff seems to give me 2 problems:

1) Finding the right tool to get into all the areas that won't do more harm than good

2) Preventing the buffing compound itself from causing marks. It doesn't want to come off easily, gets everywhere, and since it contains a mild abrasive tends to leave marks when it's wiped off if not EXTREMELY careful. The first knife on which I had buffed the bolsters, I wasn't really aware of this and it left a faint polished line a Qtip's width out from the bolster face (across the direction of the sanding lines, of course...)

Problem '2' tends to cause me more trouble than problem '1'!

Thanks again guys!
Click to expand...

First time I ever buffed a blade I'd put bolsters on,I had the same prob;
what I did was to take a scrap chunk of mild steel bar,shape it to the exact profile of the bolsters,temp pin the bolsters to it,and buff the bolsters on that.Then I buffed the blade.Then I carefully installed the bolsters,re-masked the blade with tape,epoxied and pinned the bolsters.The little bit of squeeze-out epoxy was easily cleaned up with a very hard plastic 'knife'.
lol,there's probably better ways to do it,but I ain't that versed in buffing yet,so...
 
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