Damascus and KOA

opaul

Well-Known Member
This is the work to date on the little damascus hunter/skinner. I was going to use redwood burl but I split a small section while drilling to aggressively :(.
So I used a piece of Koa. As with any knife at this juncture in my knife building, I continue to learn something with every knife.
 
Good choice of NOT going with Redwood. I quit using it some time ago. IMO, it's just not well suited to knife handles. Koa is a much better choice, from pretty much every aspect.
One suggestion....if you don't already have one, get yourself a 3/4" "small wheel" for the "finger groove" at the guard......it makes your job in that area so much easier, and gives an much smoother look, with a lot less work. With the thicker guard/spacer materials, the 3/4" wheel is just the ticket. ;)

A lot of folks have difficulties with that finger notch area...... but once you discover what you can do with a 3/4" wheel.......


All of those guards where rough ground out with a 3/4" wheel, then followed up with a slack belt (a belt(s) torn to about 3/4-1" wide) to finish out/blend everything. The big key is using thicker guard material(s). I can't remember the last time I used anything thinner than 3/8" material for a guard.
 
Good choice of NOT going with Redwood. I quit using it some time ago. IMO, it's just not well suited to knife handles. Koa is a much better choice, from pretty much every aspect.
One suggestion....if you don't already have one, get yourself a 3/4" "small wheel" for the "finger groove" at the guard......it makes your job in that area so much easier, and gives an much smoother look, with a lot less work. With the thicker guard/spacer materials, the 3/4" wheel is just the ticket. ;)

A lot of folks have difficulties with that finger notch area...... but once you discover what you can do with a 3/4" wheel.......


All of those guards where rough ground out with a 3/4" wheel, then followed up with a slack belt (a belt(s) torn to about 3/4-1" wide) to finish out/blend everything. The big key is using thicker guard material(s). I can't remember the last time I used anything thinner than 3/8" material for a guard.
Thanks Ed. You are right about the radius around the finger guard. Normally I would have done that. The reason i didn’t here is poor planning on my part. I left the tang to wide at that point and as a result didn’t want to grind into the hidden tang hole.
 
I used wrought iron for the guard and spacer. I’m going to try touching them up with etching solution to see if I can get the grain to show.
 
One suggestion....if you don't already have one, get yourself a 3/4" "small wheel" for the "finger groove" at the guard......it makes your job in that area so much easier, and gives an much smoother look, with a lot less work. With the thicker guard/spacer materials, the 3/4" wheel is just the ticket. ;)

A lot of folks have difficulties with that finger notch area...... but once you discover what you can do with a 3/4" wheel.......
All of those guards where rough ground out with a 3/4" wheel, then followed up with a slack belt (a belt(s) torn to about 3/4-1" wide) to finish out/blend everything. The big key is using thicker guard material(s). I can't remember the last time I used anything thinner than 3/8" material for a guard.

Yes this^

I got one awhile back and being able to get into that finger groove and round things out quickly is great. Much less file work and hand sanding. Helps even more with a full tang knife since there's hardened steel in there as well. Trying to file all of that into shape is no fun.

Just be sure and watch out for your scale material as that will grind a lot faster than the bolster/guard.
 
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