Two new ones just off the bench

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Doug Lester

Well-Known Member
IMG_0035.jpgIMG_0034.jpg Just finished these two. The first one is a trailing point blade with buffalo horn scales and brick red spacer attached with nickel silver washers and brass cuttler's rivets. It has an OAL of 8" with a 3 1/2" blade. It's 1 1/8" at the ricasso and 1/8" thick.

The second is a straight spined blade with leopard wood scales attached with brass cutler's rivets. The scales had previously been treated with Nelsonite but that didn't prevent it from taking four coats of boiled linseed oil. It has an OAL of 8 1/2" with a 4 1/2" blade that is 1" wide at the plung line and 3/16" thick at the ricasso.

Both were forged from 3/4" 52100 round bar. They were normalized three times after forging and again after the rough grind. They were also austempered at 430 degrees for two hours followed by a single cycle of in the oven at 425 degrees. They were given a satin finish.

Doug Lester
 
Thank's for the support. I do feel better about my latest efforts. I guess that I did ding the blade on the trailing point trying to grind in the secondary bevels. The curve of the blade near the point is a difficult area for me. Any suggestions? I've already seen some things that I need to do with the handles, one is to stop using horn. If I need thin flat scales I think that I will stick with wood or go to micarta. The horn seems to want to delaminate where it's cut or drilled. I do like the coffin handle pattern but I think that I'm not going to use the finger and thumb notches with them all the time. They looked great on a spear point knife with brass bolsters that I made a couple of weeks ago and not too bad on the little trailing point but I just doesn't seem to go well the the handle on the staight spined utility with the wood scales.

Doug Lester
 
The only real problem I have with horn is the smell, I wonder if you are going too fast and getting it to hot. One day I was upset about a mistake on a knife and my son said isn't correcting your mistakes and making it look like you planed it that way what it's all about? Perhaps mistakes are just a way to create new ideas, rather than just filling a drawer with old junk.
 
Aside from grind practice, I would for sure skip the washers on the scales. You don't need washers. I would lightly pein the pins, but be real careful not to split the scales.
What epoxy are you using, Doug? If everything is properly roughed up and clean, I would use Brownells AcraGlas for epoxy.
Later on when your work has improved and you want some better materials, I suggest going to NS because of the tarnish factor of brass.
I think you are coming along just fine!
 
The washers were mainly for looks, sort of in the way of a Hudson Bay trade knife but they might also help prevent the horn scales from warping. I've use AcraGlas but the Loctite can be had locally if I run low in the middle of a project. This was the five minute set though I do prefer the 50 minute set but the tube of that that I ran out to get was so old that half if it was hardened in the tube so I ended up using what I had on hand. I avoid the store brand long set epoxies because half the time they won't cure. The pins that I use were actually cuttler's rivets so they're not peaned at all and yes I clean and rough the surfaces to be glued.

Doug Lester
 
I should have realized those were period pieces, Doug. Your choice of materials confused me. Sorry about my confusion.
Some hidden pins could prevent warpage of scales.
 
No offence taken, John. I would say that if anything was period on those two, it was just a look that I was trying to copy. The look achieved is not quite what I was aiming for on that trailing point knife with the horn handle. If I do something like it again I'll either go with the larger cuttler's rivets so the heads don't stand up so much or I'll recess the head of the rivet inside the washer so it's flush. If I use horn again I think that I'll use the smaller cutler's rivets around the edges with a couple in the center to keep it down. Of course, if I do make a more period piece it will be rivets over washers. I had tried this with just peening over some pin material but it was hard to keep the ends round for the "knife with eyes" look.

Doug Lester
 
Just an update on the knife with the leopard wood scales. Not only did the Nelsonite that it was "stabilized" with not keep it from absorbing four coats of boiled linseed oil it also do not prevent one scale from warping so badly that it had to be replaced. This time I'm going to use untreated Osage orange. Lesson learned: if you want stabilized wood send it out to have it professionally done.

Doug Lester
 
It can be a long slow learning curve for some of us and that does include me , for sure. I continually look for some way to do "things" better. My knife making friends know that is my way of trying to improve my work.
The one thing that I believe will help most of us is to do more and stay with it. Frank
 
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