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.

December 2011 Knives

I haven't made a stag handle knife in a while, so this weekend I made a nice medium size Bird and Trout knife. I found a way to polish up the antler so it looks great, not dull and dingy. My secret (muhahaha). It's the little things that make me happy. The blade of the knife measures 3 inches long, 7 1/8 inches over all, and is made of L-6 steel. The knife features a brass guard. The spacers are stainless steel, stabilized buckeye, and black vulcanized spacers.

I 've never been a big fan of stainless steel because the first thing I think of is all the cheap crappy knives and swords that are made of stainless steel. The kind of stuff that you buy because of looks at the mall or from a catalog, before you know any better and understand the different grades and types of steels. The kind of stuff that dings and dents easily. Don't get me wrong, there are some knifemakers who work with high quality stainless steel and create masterpieces. I'm not talking about those. So anyway, I ordered some high quality stainless steel to try some spacers and was delighted with the results. I made the spacers out of it and it looks really sharp with the stabilized buckeye and it's very durable. No denting these. The sheath is made of 8-10 ounce leather. The sheath was tooled into a pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

Works in progress: I have about 4 miniature knives I have ideas for and am currently working on. They should be done in a couple of weeks or so. I'm also working on a larger buffalo horn knife idea.

This is the first of several miniature knives I'm working on for the month of December. I'm trying out a few different types of wood to see how well they work in a small scale on handles and spacers. The leopardwood works well, but is kinda irritating on the nostrils. It shines up beautifully however. I really like the textured pattern on this wood.

The blade of the miniature knife measures 1.75 inches long, 3.75 inches over all, and is made of L-6 steel. The knife features a brass guard and leopardwood handle. I used a penny in some of the photos for size reference.

The leather sheath was made of 5-6 ounce leather and was hand tooled in quilted pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

I wanted to make something fun and functional with this miniature knife. My idea was to make a small knife you could hook to a backpack, a set of keys, or a chain bead necklace. I also had new piece of wood to try out, Bloodwood. So, this little knife was a new knife design and new sheath design. I was happy with the results although it took a little longer to make than I had originally thought. Mainly, with any new designs, or just making a knife in general, you can easily run into minor setbacks. I like to completely plan out a knife and sheath before I get started on it. For example, the first sheath I made for this knife, was too small. Even though I measured it, drew it out before I cut out the leather, and began to sew it. I am happier with the new sheath design shown above because of the great molded fit and slimline design built for the purpose of it being used daily, ease of access, and non bulkiness.

Before I go into the specifics of this miniature. I wanted to give my thoughts on making miniature forged knives in general. I have looked at a huge amount of knives, both full size and miniatures, and spent hours upon hours researching on making knives, stock removal, forging, different metal types, ectera. Sometimes, you see a miniature knife and think, " Wow, they must have used a magnifying glass to make that!" My shop is not set up to make anything micro sized. Maybe one day I'll set up a second shop just for miniatures and set up those large magnifying stations . Other times you see a knifemaker who's miniatures are 6 inches long. So the sizes greatly vary in what people call a miniature knife. My miniatures are usually 2.5 to 5 inches long. Making miniature knives is not any easier than making a full size knife. Actually, a miniature knife is less forgiving in the overall details than a larger knife is. Sure,  less materials are used in the making of a miniature knife and sheath, but there's less room for errors. On the other hand, in making a full size knife, my biggest concerns are the blade warping when quenching it or the blade snapping when flex testing the knife in a vise. Enough of my rambling, here's the specifics of this miniature knife.

The blade of the knife measures 2 inches long, 4.5 inches over all, and is made of O-1 tool steel. The knife features a nickel silver guard, bloodwood spacer, and white tail stag antler handle. The sheath is made of 5-6 ounce leather. The sheath was molded, dyed, and sealed. I attached an antiqued brass key ring to the sheath, so it could be hooked onto a set of keys, backpack, or necklace.

I was really pleased with the way this buffalo handle knife turned out. It's very elegant but it's really hard to photograph because of how reflective it is. I absolutely loved working with the buffalo horn. It's taken about 5 days to make the knife and sheath.

 The blade of the knife measures 2 7/8 inches long, 6 3/4 inches over all, and was forged from 5160 spring steel steel. The knife features a stainless steel guard, stainless steel spacers, and black vulcanized spacers. The tang of the knife was hot fitted into the beautiful buffalo horn handle. The sheath is made of 8-10 ounce leather. The sheath was tooled into a basket weave pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

This will be the last medium to large size knife I make for the next two weeks because I have to order 8-10 ounce leather for the sheaths since it's not available locally.

I made this little knife over the weekend. It's a Wharncliffe style .

The blade of the knife measures 1 3/8 inches long, 3.5 inches over all, and is made of L-6 steel. The knife features a brass guard and purpleheart handle. The knife is a full tang construction with the brass and purpleheart dove tailed together. The sheath is made of 5-6 ounce leather. The sheath was tooled into a pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

This little gut hook skinner knife was a challenge to make, mainly because of the gut hook and it being so small. It's my smallest miniature knife to date. The blade of the knife measures 1.25 inches long, 2.5 inches over all, and was forged from a 1/4"  allen wrench. The miniature gut hook skinner knife features a brass guard, brass spacer, and buffalo horn handle.

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

I like to keep challenging myself to try different styles of knives and blade types, forging methods, ectera. This is the first dagger I've made. It's one of the ideas I had for miniatures at the beginning of the month. I was really pleased with the way it turned out. I'll probably try to forge out 1 more miniature this month but the rest of the month will be devoted to making medium to large size knives.

The blade of the miniature dagger measures 2 3/8 inches long, 5 inches over all, and is made of 5160 Spring Steel. The dagger features a brass guard, brass spacers, white corian handle, and a brass cap. The scabbard is made of scrimshawed white corian. This is a fully functional knife, miniature sized.

This is my last miniature knife of 2011. The blade of the miniature forged knife measures 1 7/8 inches long, 4.5 inches over all, and was forged from a 1/4"  allen wrench. The knife features a brass guard, brass spacers, Arizona Desert Ironwood spacer, and stag handle.

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

This is the last knife of 2011. It turned out beautiful.

The blade of the  drop point knife measures 2 5/8 inches long, 7 inches over all, and is made of 5160 spring steel. The spine of the knife has been file worked into a double thorn vine pattern. The knife features a brass guard, buffalo spacers, brass and copper spacers and copper lanyard hole.

The tang of the knife was hot fitted into the beautiful stabilized lace madrone burl handle. The sheath is made of 8-9 ounce leather. The sheath was tooled into a  pattern, molded, dyed, and sealed.

A special note on ending 2011.

 I'd like to say, "Thank You," to all my customers and fellow knife enthusiasts, who have both supported my dream endeavor of making knives by purchasing my knives and giving kind encouraging words though out the year. All the knives I forged in 2011 were sold. (Save the one I just made lol)

Best wishes to everyone for a great 2012.