Some In-Progress pics of what I've been working on lately

[BRad704]

This is what I've been doing for the last few weeks... Let me know what you thing, and if you see anything I'm doing wrong or could do better...

chisel tip tactical thing of a knife. Its actually already sold, I'm just working on getting it finished. Customer wants a black paracord handle, so I've gotta figure that out for the first time...

2 Gent's clip kits from Tracy (3" closed"

Brass hardward and Bocote wood scales

I LOVE this side of this knife. There are actually some pinkish streaks in the wood that are hard to get with the camera.

Brass again and the Honey Brown Buffalo Horn from USAKM. I'm hoping the horn lightens up once it is sanded slick and polished.

This is my poor-man's method of relieving the liners. $12 carbide Dremel bit from Lowe's.

Some goofy kitchen blade thing I ended up with. It started as a tanto/chisel type full tang, but I decided to grind it really thin and see what I could come up with. Layered green and black canvas micarta with brass and steel hardware. I'm going to do an octagonal handle, but I need to get some good epoxy to glue it up first.

I'll trim a little off the handle length, but not much.

Not sure how good of a slicer it will be, but this was my first try on the new little grinder I got.

 

[gobblergetter]

all looks pretty good Brad

 

[BRad704]

Thanks... I love starting new stuff, I just need to force myself to actually finish some of these very soon.

 

[D.Douglas]

Hi Brad, Yep looks like they are moving along pretty well.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Lookin good Brad. I have a couple of questions on the folders as I am about to start on my first folder. 1. How did you attach your bolsters? 2. How do you pivot/move the liners around the dremel bit? Looks like you mounted it to the board and moved the board around by hand. Is this correct? Thanks in advance for your answers and keep us posted.

 

[BRad704]

Thanks guys...

The bolsters are soldered in place. There is an awesome WIP in the tutorials section on bolster soldering. My best advice is to glue the bolsters together, sand the edge that will touch the handle material and drill your hole while all still glued. Then you can heat them up and pop them apart. Clean them up and use the holes to help you hold things steady while soldering.

Yeah, every now and then I pick up 3 or 4 of the free hardwood flooring samples from HD or Lowes.. They are great for all sorts of random things like this. As for moving it around, you have it right. I set the wood/liner under the bit and ram it up into the bit, then tighten the workrest. Its not exact, but it gets just enough material off to make a difference.

I was hoping to work some more tomorrow afternoon, but am going to go with my cousin (driver) to the USCS race in Greenville, MS... There's always Monday though.

 

[redyak3]

Good looking blades, I especially like that kitchen blade. What model of grinder is the new one?

 

[BRad704]

The new one is just the 2x42 from Sears. It was all I could afford and once I put on a new flat platen from Tracy, it should work just fine for a while.

 

[redyak3]

The new one is just the 2x42 from Sears. It was all I could afford and once I put on a new flat platen from Tracy, it should work just fine for a while.

That's the one I'm getting ready to order... looks like it can do the job. It'll do for me until the economy rebounds...:52:

 

[BRad704]

Yeah, it really is a decent little grinder for the money. I got mine online and on sale for $135 plus shipping. And you might as well go ahead and order a flat platen from Tracy ($14) because the original one isn't actually 100% flat. I am about to order some belts from Trugrit also. They carry this size in finer grits than 120.

I just finished (very literally) hand sanding the kitchen blade to 220 before heat treat. I may go ahead and do that tonite, but I need to make sure I have time to get it tempered. I may try out flash tempering for the first time so that I don't need 7 hours worth of heat and cool in the oven.

 

[BruceM]

Those are all looking good Brad. I really like the first knife, the tactical knife, bet it looks good with the para cord wrap.

Bruce

 

[BRad704]

Thanks Bruce, I am gonna send that one to a buddy in CA that has tons of paracord, and he's gonna wrap it for me. I'm gonna do a black kydex sheath for it when it gets back and I'll surely take some good pics before it leaves for good.