S-guard Bowie- Bronze and textured redwood burl

J. Doyle

J. Doyle

Dealer - Purveyor
Here's a nice medium sized bowie I just finished today. All comments, critique, discussion and/or opinions welcome. I particularly like the 'ghost' hamon above the main transition line. Also, how the figure and color changes in the redwood are still visible through the texturing.

Specs:
Hand forged from 1075 steel, clay quenched and etched
13" overall, 8" blade, .225" thick at the ricasso
Radical distal taper, clip is just shy of sharp
Bronze guard and spacer
Stabilized Redwood burl, hand carved and textured
Checkered stainless steel finial nut











 
Great looking Bowie!!! Just how did you do the texturing on ferrule and handle - if it's not a trade secret?

Ken H>
 
J Doyle:

I really like this knife. The blade and hamon look awesome. The S guard rocks. The redwood handle just speaks to me. Just exceptional.

My only complaint is the finial nut. Its stainless. I wish it was bronze and matched the hardware. For whatever reason it just bugs me. Probably just my personal taste. I hope I can sleep tonight. :biggrin:

DeMo
 
Thanks for your comments everyone.

Due to the majority of the the feedback I've gotten on this, I've gone back and made a new bronze finial to match the fittings. I ended up machining one out of a block of the same material as the spacer. I do think it looks better. I guess I could have done that right from the get go, but it was easier to make a finial out of already round stock vs flat sheet. But the people have spoken and therefore........new finial. :)

 
DeMo said:
J Doyle:

I really like this knife. The blade and hamon look awesome. The S guard rocks. The redwood handle just speaks to me. Just exceptional.

My only complaint is the finial nut. Its stainless. I wish it was bronze and matched the hardware. For whatever reason it just bugs me. Probably just my personal taste. I hope I can sleep tonight. :biggrin:

DeMo
Click to expand...

Hey DeMo, thanks for the comment. I was making a new post as you posted. (See it above.)You are far from the first to mention that. Long story short, I have at least two different types of bronze round stock but none matched the color of my fittings. Usually, if something doesn't match, I find it better to go with a contrasting material.

In this case, I machined one out of the same stock as the spacer. A pain, but worthwhile in the end it would seem. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.
 
You, Sir, are very welcome. Far be it for me to contribute to anyone's loss of sleep. :D

I feel quite a bit better about it myself. ;)
 
KenH said:
Great looking Bowie!!! Just how did you do the texturing on ferrule and handle - if it's not a trade secret?

Ken H>
Click to expand...

Hi Ken. No trade secret here. :)

I'd be happy to tell you how I do it. There really isn't much to tell. It's one of those things that really is as simple as it seems.

I lay out a pattern that I like for the texture on a paper drawing. Next I cut that out and lay it on the handle where I want it. Trace it with pencil. Flip the knife and pattern and lay out the other side checking that they are symmetrical.

Then take a rotary tool of some sort, dremel, gravematic, foredom, whatever. Using a very small (like 1/64") ball end burr, I go along and cut my pencil lines to make the border. Once I have the border where I want it, I use that same burr to 'dimple' and stipple all the area inside the border.

It is very tedious and very time consuming but it's not that difficult. It takes me about 3-4 hours to do a handle like that. My way is probably not the best or the fastest, but that's exactly how I do it.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for the info John - I can see where that would be very time consuming.... By doing it manually it puts the "random" appearance to the texture. It sure looks good.

Ken H>
 
J.
Overall you have another excellent gents Bowie.
I do have some food for thought. Have you giving any thought to Patinaing "Is that a word?" The brass, it has an almost gilded look in the pictures like a French Death clock and if you were able to bring it down a few shades on the tips of the guard and on the stippling on the Ferrule while leaving the Ferule bands brighter for instance it would give more contrast instead of it all bing so bright which would compliment the Hamon and shades in the wood.

A few drops of liver sulfur painted on and then a little work with an ultra fine Scotchbrite pad to highlight would work and I'm sure you know others.

Just some ideas for you.
 
Hey Laurence. Thanks for the comments. I hadn't thought about antiquing the fittings. On this piece, I'll let the natural patina take it's course. I'm always looking and open to new finish ideas. I'll play around with the idea.

Gordon- thanks man. Good to see you around here! Hope to chat again at a show soon.
 
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