Hamon, Ironwood, and Sheath

silver_pilate

silver_pilate

Well-Known Member
I actually finished this one a while back, but thought I'd share it here as I just finished up the sheath. This one is 1095, clayed, and quenched in Park's 50. The handle is ironwood secured with a corby bolt and epoxy. The hamon turned out pretty good for my first claying attempt. The sheath is just a simple design with a boot clip. It's not perfect, but being for myself, I'm not too worried about it.

The marks on the blade are there because I have been using this little guy a bit. It's nice to finally have a sheath to haul in around in :).

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Thanks for looking!

--nathan
 
Beautiful. I can't wait until I'm confident in my work to actually use a piece of Desert Ironwood that I have... Interesting to see the wear on the blade... I don't think I could use something that artistic. Thanks for posting this!
 
Here's a better picture of the knife and hamon before it was sharpened/used. The previous pics aren't the best because it was at night, and I had to use just house lighting.

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Mike, thanks for the comment. I really enjoy working with desert ironwood. It finishes so well and makes great handles.

I need to mention that this design is Paul Smith's. I heat treated some blades for him a while back, and he sent me this 1095 blank cut out by Great Lakes Waterjet in way of thanks. I modified the design slightly, ground the bevels, heat treated, and finished it out.

--nathan
 
That is a beautiful knife. I really like you r work. Thanks for sharing it with us.
 
Thanks, everyone! Raguel, I thought the ironwood really did flow nicely. The small handle sacrificed a bit of the scale I had, but the end result with the bold grain in this piece of wood worked out really well. I tried to set it up so that it looked as if the grain from the wood flowed onto the blade to form the hamon. :)

--nathan
 
Your knives always look great. I am really impressed with the finish of the wood. Maybe you'll share some of your secrets.
Mark
 
How the wood finishes is all in the hand rubbing:eek: :D!! Thanks for the compliment! Here's how I finish my handles.

For ironwood, I shape roughly at 36 grit using the platen to remove larger amounts of material and then blending it with the slack belt. I don't go back to the platen after 36 grit. From 36 grit, I stay on the slack belt and progress to 80, 150, 220, and 400 grit.

After all is even and well blended at 400 grit with no scratch marks from earlier grits, I swithch to hand paper. If necessary, I take a thin strip of 400 shop roll and round the edges a bit on the handle scales with a shoe shine type motion with the blade in a vice. Then I go to 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and then 2000 grit papers with the knife in hand, working each grit until there is no more of the previous scratches. At around 1500 and 2000 grit, you will see the ironwood start coming to life. Once sanding is finshed, I coat the handle in 5-10 coats of Danish oil until the wood stops taking it up. I the buff the excess off with a soft cloth and then buff VERY lightly and BRIEFLY with a soft cotton sewn buff and white rouge just to get it to shine a bit. Don't buff too much or you will "smear" the grain of the wood or get an orange peel effect.

That pretty much sums it up. Don't know that it's the best way, but it has worked well for me. Hope that helps!

--Nathan
 
Same way my friend Don "Merlin" Hall taught me to finish the scales.
Every time you think your done with a certain grit, go one higher and hand sand ,.. if you see anything "Ya aint done yet kid- keep goin"
 
Nathan,
That knife is still beautiful and all yours! The hamon is super! I made my move from KY to AZ and am just about ready to set my shop back up. Look forward to getting back at some steel! Hope all is well with you!!
Paul
 
I like this knife and sheath. You must have nailed the heat treatment too. That hamon looks like the south american coastline from the space shuttle.
 
Thanks John and Bruce! I've looked up to both of you for a long time, and your words mean a lot.

Paul, glad to hear you're getting ready to start back up! This is actually the first knife I've kept for myself since I started selling 'em! So it's the only example of my work I have on hand, and it's not even sole authorship! :D. It's been a great user, and it's a wonderful size/blade design. I've found it carries very well being so small and is perfect size for just about any little chore. When I'm not at work, it's on my hip. And if the sheeple at the university weren't such fainting goats, I'd have it there as well. Thanks for the great blank, Paul, and for giving me an excuse to actually keep one I finished! :)

--nathan
 
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