January 2012

Happy New Year everyone!

This month I will be focusing on making several medium to large size knives. I may squeeze in a few minis as well. I'm looking into some new types of handle material for the latter part of the month. I like to keep things different, change things up, and find a new challenge.

Works in progress: 7 inch blade with stag handle


Here's the completed hunter or camp style stag handle knife I was working on earlier. It's the first knife of January 2012.

This is a larger knife than I usually make. I had this big beautiful white tail stag antler piece that fit in the hand so perfectly I had to make a knife for it. This is the end result. The blade of the knife measures 7 inches long, 12 inches over all, and was forged from L-6 steel. The knife features a brass guard, brass and Arizona Desert Ironwood spacer, and a stag handle.

The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce leather. It has an antiqued finish and it is double stitched. The sheath was tooled into a  pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

Works in progress: Really knobby grooved stag handle knife with buffalo horn and brass end cap. Upcoming projects in the next couple of weeks : I decided on my new materials to start the year off with. Yellow Buckeye with some good figuring and birdseyes, Blue Green Quilted Maple with a cool wavy effect, flaming Amboyna Burl , and just maybe a new miniature in the next couple of weeks.  I can't wait to get these materials in. I already have some ideas about the knives I'm going to make with them.

Here's the completed 7.25 inch knife. With this knife I wanted to make a smaller stag handle knife for those people that don't want to carry around a 12 inch knife. I ended up working out most of the knobby parts of the stag antler for the handle, so it fits smoothly in the hand and left in most of the natural grooving so it would have a great grip and not be to slip out of the hand when using it. I also tried a different method on the butt cap by slightly contouring the edges of the butt cap to align with the natural groovings in the stag antler. This seems to make the lines of the end of the knife handle flow smoother and make the transition between the stag antler and brass butt cap have less friction reducing the possibility of it snagging on something. I try to put a lot of thought into each knife design. I think of how the knife is going to be used, how it fits in the hand,  how it moves in and out of the sheath, ectera. Then I try to figure out how I can make it better than the last knife I made.

This is the specifics of the knife. The blade of the knife measures 3 1/8 inches long, 7.25 inches over all, and was forged from 5160 Spring Steel.The knife features a brass guard, brass and buffalo horn spacers, stag handle, and a brass butt cap.The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce leather. The sheath was tooled into a nice oak leaf and acorn pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

Works in progress: I'm working a full size knife with a rich yellow Buckeye handle and dark gray Buckeye spacer. It should be a very striking knife. My wife is trying to talk me into making a neck knife for the ladies with a Bubblegum Dymondwood handle. I don't know about making a knife with a bright pink and bright blue handle. LOL, we'll  just have see.

I joined the ABS American Bladesmith Society today and start the long road to becoming a master bladesmith. Wish me good luck with it!

Here's the completed Buckeye Hunter knife. I was really pleased with how the grain of the charcoal gray stabilized buckeye lined up with lighter stabilized buckeye. A little planning goes a long way. The knife specifics are: The blade of the knife measures 4.25 inches long, 8.75 inches over all, and was forged from 5160 Spring Steel. The spine of the knife was file worked.

The knife features a brass guard, brass & stainless steel spacer. A stabilized dark charcoal buckeye spacer, and stabilized light buckeye piece complete the handle.The tang of the knife was hot fitted into the beautiful buckeye handle. The buckeye is unique in appearance from being light on one side and darker on the other. This knife was made in the primitive style with the use of no power tools in finishing the blade. With the primitive style you will see minor file marks and tool marks. It is intentional, giving the knife a rustic, not store bought look.The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce heavy oak tanned leather.  The sheath was tooled , molded, dyed, and sealed.

Works in progress: Survival/Tactical knife with black micarta handle.

Upcoming projects: 3 full tang knives with stabilized spalted maple, juniper, and black palm.

The combat tactical knife is completed. The blade of the knife measures 4 3/8 inches long, 8.75 inches over all, and was forged from high carbon steel file. The knife features a stainless steel guard, and stainless steel spacer. Black canvas micarta handle with a stainless steel butt cap .

The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce heavy oak tanned leather.  The sheath was tooled , molded, dyed, and sealed. Lately, I've been designing some new knives and making templates for them.

Works in progess: Amboyna Burl handle knife.

As you can see, the amboyna burl handle hunter style knife is completed.

The blade of the knife measures 3.25 inches long, 7.25 inches over all, and was forged from high carbon steel file. The knife features a brass guard, and brass spacers. The handle is a beautiful piece of amboya burl.

This is a nice thick stout little blade. The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce heavy oak tanned leather.  The sheath was tooled , molded, dyed, and sealed.

Works in progress: I have a lot of irons in the fire...lol

Shameless pun completely intended!

Great miniature knife coming up next with copper , medium size stag handle knife, medium size puukko tradition style, and in the design process with some full tangs.

The first miniature knife of 2012 is completed.

The blade of the miniature knife measures 2 1/8 inches, 4 inches over all, and was forged from a 1/4"  allen wrench. The knife features a copper guard,  Cocobolo spacer, and stag handle. The sheath is made of 5-6 ounce leather. The sheath was tooled into a pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

 I have a lot of fun making these miniatures. I try to do something a little different on each one.

Works in progress: Medium sized Canary Wood knife with brass guard. Still working on medium sized stag handle knife.

Designing 3 full tangs and blue green quilted maple handle knife.

Sometimes designs don't work out the way you plan, and you have to scrap the whole project. Such was the case with the canary wood handle knife. All you can do is try to learn from your mistakes and move on. So instead, I completed the stag handle knife I was working on earlier.

 This knife was made for a lefty or a left handed carry.

The blade of the hunter style knife measures 2 7/8 inches long, 7 inches over all, and was forged from 5160 Spring Steel. The knife features a brass guard, Arizona Desert Ironwood spacer, and stag handle.

The tang of the knife was hot fitted into the white tail stag antler handle.
The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce heavy oak tanned leather and features a buck concho.  The sheath was tooled , molded, dyed, and sealed. I don't use a lot of conchos on my sheaths, but I really liked this buck one and thought it would look great with a stag handle knife.

Works in progress: Since there's been a lot of interest and demand in my miniature knives, I'm planning a big forging day tomorrow of just miniatures.

I really like the look of the Amboyna burl, so I had to make a general purpose utility knife. The blade of the knife measures 3.25 inches long, 7.25 inches over all, and was forged from 5160 Spring Steel. The knife features a brass guard, and beautiful Amboyna burl handle.

The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce heavy oak tanned leather.  The sheath was tooled , molded, dyed, and sealed.

Big forging day today: Here's the works in progress.

Here's the latest miniature knife. The blade of the miniature knife measures 2 3/8 inches, 4.5 inches over all, and was forged from 5160 Spring Steel. The knife features a patina brass guard,  patina copper fuller, and stag handle.

I tried to give this mini a real aged look.

The sheath is made of 5-6 ounce leather. The sheath was tooled into a pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.