Chopper/Fighter with some Crazy Koa!

Longdog

Longdog

Well-Known Member
hey guys just wrapped this one up today.
it was originally my first attempt at a fighter but when said and done, i think it leans more towards the chopper side of things.
some beautiful deep weight Koa that i got from my buddy pete in Hawaii
1084 1/4" at ricasso tapering out.
sharpened clip
416 scalloped guard, satin flates, polished inner guard
copper spacer
416 spacer
copper peened and polished pin.
had allot of fun with this one, now on to the next!
As always your critique is much obliged :)
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Now that's a beautiful knife! I love the detail on the guard and the copper spacer. Nice work.
 
thanks guys! I'm not 100% sure who started the whole scalloped guard thing, but to the best of my knowledge it was Jason Knight. So i accredit him with the idea :)
 
i want to try something like this. Do you use internal pins through the guard and spacers, the way John Doyle showed in his WIP? Do the pins extend into the wood of the handle? I'm scared I'll botch the alignment of the pins (skew) and never get the handle on.
 
Nice work! I like the scalloped guard, the copper spacer,the koa, and the recurve in the blade ...... everything. - Mark
 
Hey john! Sorry i just saw this, been in class from 10am to 10pm :/ haha
anyhow there are no internal pins on this blade as i shaped the guard, spacers and handle after everything was glued together. Reason for those pins are if ya have to assemble and reasemble pieces as you go about shaping, as mr doyle so masterfully depicts. If you choose that route fit up all your roughly shaped pieces, super glue em together and drill for your alignment pins. Come time for the handle, super glue your handle to the shaped guard and spacer pieces and drill.

Justin, thanks for the kind words! I saw your design and its absolutely awesome. I look frwd to watching you build it :)
And here are the dimensions....
13.5" OAL
8.25" blade
1.5" blade
 
Last edited:
Longdog said:
Hey john! Sorry i just saw this, been in class from 10am to 10pm :/ haha
anyhow there are no internal pins on this blade as i shaped the guard, spacers and handle after everything was glued together. Reason for those pins are if ya have to assemble and reasemble pieces as you go about shaping, as mr doyle so masterfully depicts. If you choose that route fit up all your roughly shaped pieces, super glue em together and drill for your alignment pins. Come time for the handle, super glue your handle to the shaped guard and spacer pieces and drill.
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding! Without pins, do the layers have to be brazed, or will epoxy hold? (Or is it that each piece is press fit to the tang?) I have done several hidden tang knives, but they all had one piece guards with no layers. I did my shaping once it was all epoxied together. That's why I ask.
 
John,
No they arent brazed or anything just epoxied together. The slot i have cut into them fit over the tang very tightly so they arent going anywhere! The actual guard is press fitted and epoxied on. I doubt the alignment pins add a whole lot of strength to the handle, because even then you epoxy the layers together; I see them more as a guide for fit up :)
 
That's great to hear because this is along the lines of what I was planning to do.

I used to worry a little about my handles until I had to grind one off. The epoxy was way tougher than the handle itself. I couldn't break it loose with two sets of channel loks. I ended up grinding back to the metal tang. I no longer worry about the epoxy being a weak link.


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yeah epoxy is extremely strong. i add the pin through the center for shear strength, but when all said and done its really just aesthetic. I've seen many a master smith make large choppers and the likes completely pin-less. now your pieces have to fit up well; i wouldn't recommend removing any more material than it takes to get a nice tight fit up; i believe thats crucial to the strength of the knife.

however someone with more experience than i could chime in and tell me I'm completly wrong at any moment, theres so many great and knowledgable makers on this forum!
good luck on your endeavors :)
 
All of us want to make the best knife possible. But let's be honest. If someone can afford to buy a knife like yours- and then goes out in the yard and chops tree limbs with it for fun, they can afford to buy another one.
 
Thanks everyone! y'all rock
oh just wanted to add that i just finished up the sheath for this blade. my second leather sheath to date, much thanks to Paul long for his videos! flattened the learning curve quite nicely :)
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