I think Bob Loveless was crazy or really good.

Squawsach

Squawsach

Well-Known Member
I decided to make a Loveless style knife. Not just the profile but actually try to make a Loveless drop point. I have never seen one in person and I haven't watched his video. I'm just trying to produce a flat ground version of his drop point knife by looking at pics on the web and using my limited experience as a knifemaker to figure it out. The best I can figure, the guard has a radius on the bottom and the bottom of the blade is rounded to match. The back of the guard butts against a small flat just behind the rounded section and it's pinned on. I may be wrong but that's what I came up with looking at pics. I use mainly hand tools and it's very difficult to get a good fit using his method. I have been scratching my head and thinking, Really, this is the way he decided to do it? I may be doing completely wrong but I'm going to continue and see how it turns out. I have also decovered that tapering tangs right to the back of the guard is a pain. You can over or under shoot it without having a gap somewhere. Trying to make a Loveless is hard.
 
Squawsach:

You're correct about the radius on the bottom of the guard and blade and the bit that extends down from the handle side. I mean the handle is 1/8" or so deeper than the ricasso. Here's some pics of a Loveless drop point that I haven't finished yet.

shoulder.jpgricasso.jpgprofile.jpgguard.jpgDSC_0598.jpg

If you have a drill press you can make the guard radius with a drill bit the width of your blade. I file the radius on the blade. I used 1/4" flat ground stock for the blade. So I measured and marked 1/8" down on each side of the blade shoulder and used that as a guide to help me file a decent half circle radius. You don't want to end up with an "egg shape" radius. The Loveless drop point is a challenge but worth it in my opinion.

Jay
 
Thanks Jay. Yep, it looks just like mine. I just trashed a guard because the fit was lacking. Bob Loveless sure made a fine looking knife but after trying to duplicate one, I leaning towards crazy.
 
Bob's knives are very high quality and he was a pioneer. He also was a machinist and definitely a production maker as many of his assembly techniques were geared for repeatability and speed. In my opinion the radius at the front of the ricasso is solely so the guard can be drilled and slotted without needing to be broached square, as applying a radius to the outside of the blade is a very fast process prior to heat treatment compared to squaring the round end of a mill cut. It works, looks good, and has economy in mind.
 
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Frank:
I agree with you 100%. The Ol' Rascal was no fool. The older he got the more short cuts he took. Frankly, I like making his knives, but they have a fault, IMHO, because after you sharpen it the first time, the you keep cutting into the blade, making for an increasingly ugly profile.

Squawsach:

If you are trying to taper the tang with just a platten, well...I wouldn't be able to do that. I hollow grind out most of the taper, after marking the handle with parallel 1/16" lines, so I have a target center line for the rear of the tang. Also, don't forget that Mr. Loveless always used red liners on his handles. He said, It was because the red was like lipstick on a lady, but in reality the liner and epoxy smooths out a lot of imperfections.


Jay
 
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I did taper the tang on a flat platten and hand finished it on sandpaper glued to a granite tile. I went slow but I got there. Thanks guys for the info on Bob. Red liners, ok sounds good.
 
I think it is the milled guard slot that you are looking at. he had a radius guide that he hand filed all the radius in front of the guard to match up to. It may not show in many places but the dvd I had showed him using a soldering iron to heat the guard up for his soldering. he milled a slot on the head of the iron so he could slide the blade with the guard on with it pinned in place then solder it.
it is easier to taper after it cut some of the taper to finish it on a disc grinder to you can see better where the taper is coming up into the guard area.
What a lot miss when they try to make his design is that the blade bevel goes all the way to the top.

He also was known for his thin grinds. In one place it said where he would pull his blade across his thumb nail and they woud waiver they were so thin.
 
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More good info. Mine has a flat grind on it and it doesn't go all the way to the top of the blade. I did notice that he ground all the way up.
 
Sticks said:
Frank:
I agree with you 100%. The Ol' Rascal was no fool. The older he got the more short cuts he took. Frankly, I like making his knives, but they have a fault, IMHO, because after you sharpen it the first time, the you keep cutting into the blade, making for an increasingly ugly profile.

Squawsach:

If you are trying to taper the tang with just a platten, well...I wouldn't be able to do that. I hollow grind out most of the taper, after marking the handle with parallel 1/16" lines, so I have a target center line for the rear of the tang. Also, don't forget that Mr. Loveless always used red liners on his handles. He said, It was because the red was like lipstick on a lady, but in reality the liner and epoxy smooths out a lot of imperfections.


Jay
Click to expand...

Yep! Red lipstick and liners both cover a multitude of sins!
Having a common material for the steel and handle material to epoxy bond to really helps seal the three together!

And YEP! Bob was really GREAT!
Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
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Eric, Trying to make a good a Loveless Hunter has taught me more than any other knife I've tried, a very good teaching tool. Glad you enjoyed that link.
 
Mike Miller , I know that Loveless made his blades pretty thin. I think way to thin . just my .02

David Sharp, has a nice tutorial.

And last but not least Squawsach, I'll bet your copy will be every bit as nice as Bob Loveless knife.
 
ArtinNC said:
Mike Miller , I know that Loveless made his blades pretty thin. I think way to thin . just my .02

David Sharp, has a nice tutorial.

And last but not least Squawsach, I'll bet your copy will be every bit as nice as Bob Loveless knife.
Click to expand...

Thanks Art and everyone else for the good info. I hope it turns out good but Bob and I have very different methods and I'm still leaning towards him being crazy, crazy in a very skilled sort of way.
 
I've often wondered the same thing about Bob. Then it occurred to me that his background influenced the way he made knives, as it does nearly everyone. What I mean is Bob was a machinists so his approach to making knives was from a technical/methodical standpoint. A woodworker or lay person would approach the same subject totally different in most cases.

I'm certain that if Bob had only used hand tools primarily he would have done things a lot different than he did. I'd like to believe he would have still come up with those timeless designs though, but who knows. After cutting slots in guards out with a saw and file, he may have thought those knives didn't need guards after all! :)
 
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