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I use a fair amount of snakewood on both kitchen knives and hunting knives. I sand to 800 grit and finish with Formby's Tung oil finish in glossy. It takes only about 3 coats for a decent finish. You can apply more coats if you wish. I have a Chef knife in snakewood that I left unfinished. It...

I struggled with an acceptable design for a long time and reviewed all the threads on the subject. I never liked the potential danger of introducing a spark into a dusty airstream, it's just too risky for me. I finally settled on a portable dust collector that sits on the floor near the source...

A friend recently gave me a mammoth tooth for handle material. I plan to make some full tang knives and use this material for the scales. I have contacted K&G and they have confirmed they can stabilize the tooth but mentioned that most mammoth tooth material is sawn to thickness before...

I'd like to make a couple of hidden tang knives using the leg bone of a deer. I'd like to use the bone cut to the appropriate length and not modified in any other way. I will be getting green bones so is there any special process required? Do they need to be stabilized? Also, are the bones...

Thank you for your replies.

This is my first try at etching Damascus. The knives are made from Alabama Damascus. I have tried to remove the dark gray residue that is left from oil quenching by sanding all surfaces. But the knives are still a light gray, kind of a patina. Does the steel need to be shiny silver in order for...

Mike, I tried Black Walnut, Red Cedar, Zebra Wood, Black Palm, spalted Maple, Macadamia nut., Osage Orange and Koa. The vacuum gauge read close to 27. I know some of those are historically diffucult even with the professionals so maybe it was a stretch. I used a toasting oven set on 120 F for...

I tried it and didn't like it. It contains volatiles and they evaporate very fast leaving hard waxy clumps which are difficult to hand buff. One of the guys on this forum loves the stuff which is why I tried it. He sometimes makes boxes and uses a power buffer to blend the wax and I think that...

I could never get the woods to absorb much of the cactus juice. The level of juice never went down like shown on the instructional video, no matter what type of wood I used. I also used the recommended vacuum pump and the TurnTex vacuum chamber. I finally gave up.

Frank, Thanks for the info. Just to be clear, the metal spacers will not be located under the scales, rather, they will be stacked between the bolster and handle. I will alternate between Micarta and spacer for a striped effect. Does this change your answer?

I plan on building a couple of full tang fillet knives that include .030 inch nickel silver or stainless steel spacers beween the Micarta bolster and Micarta handle material. One knife will have a dovetailed bolster while the other will not be dovetailed. Will super glue or epoxy hold the metal...

I just did a weight comparison, Linen Micarta vs. G10. The G10 weighs about 30% more than Micarta. Durability with any of the Micarta products should be well suited for backpacking. Hickory, Osage and Red Cedar are lightweight, strong, readily available and low cost. I have made some Hickory...

When I purchase steel from the usual knife supply businesses, the grain direction of the blank appears to be random. In other words, it can be perpendicular to the length or parallel. Does anyone specify the grain direction when they order steel?

"Cure" for epoxy Gluing up knife handles can sometimes be a mess so I use a silicone "place mat" on top of my work bench and do all my epoxy work on it. Epoxy won't stick to it so when it has cured, I simply shake the place mat over a waste can and the all the epoxy lumps fall off and it's...

Thanks for the information, it is very helpful.

I am building a full tang knife and my first one with domestic sheep horn scales. I have read some reports about sheep horn coming loose after a period of time. Is it necessary to use corby's or are round pins sufficient? Any warnings about the sheep horn? Thanks.

Maybe I'm a bit late on this thread but, has anyone tried using 303 stainless for bolsters? I'd like to try it to see if it's polishes better than 416 since it is cheaper and more available. I know it machines much better than 304. Does anyone have experience with it?

I use a toaster oven to heat up my knife assembly and speed up the curing process. I place it in the oven that has been pre-set to 120 deg F then "bake" it for 30minutes. Then I remove it from the oven but leave it clamped. While it is still warm the epoxy is still soft and can be gently scraped...

Thanks J., that makes a lot of sense.

Very nice! I've been wanting to try a damascus knife but haven't make the plunge yet. How do you sand the scales flush with the spine without removing the etching? Are the scales proud? Brad