Christmas Presents for my Gals

[BrokenolMarine]

Do you cut out your own blades or do you order precut blanks? I'm thinking I might want a new
hobby.

I was going to learn to forge my own blades, but I have had too many surgeries to stand at the forge and the anvil pounding on them. I have been buying blades from Woodcraft, and lately from Jantz in Davis, OK. You can check them out at https://knifemaking.com/ They have everything you could want for knife making, leather work and more. Really nice folks and the shipping is fast. I ordered some stuff Sunday night, late, and it's arriving today. (To be fair, my order was only some Dremel polishing heads, but I won't say other stuff wouldn't come quickly.)

I'll warn you, it's addictive. I started with a knife for the daughter, then a kitchen knife for the wife, and I was off. The knives led to leather work, which led to tooling leather. It's an evil thing. I love it though.

[BrokenolMarine]

Was in the shop this morning, and set the scales on the Shawnee blank. Spalted Maple, with the Bone scraps from another knife as accents between the brass bolsters and the scales. A lot of trial and error hand fitting. But, we'll see how the finished product turns out. The Corby Bolts WON'T have the slots showing, you grind those off.

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This will sit in the vise for several hours to let the epoxy set and then I can trim off the tops of the corby bolts, trim around the blank to remove excess wood and bone, and start shaping and smoothing the scales and accent. Once done shaping, the polishing will begin. We'll go to 800 or 1,000 grit, then move to buffing with rouge.

Then I have to decide on the finish. Tung Oil, Watco Oil, or just a buildup of wax to preserve the finish.

[cooperhawk]

I have been buying blades from Woodcraft, and lately from Jantz in Davis, OK. You can check them out at https://knifemaking.com/ They have everything you could want for knife making, leather work and more. Really nice folks and the shipping is fast. I ordered some stuff Sunday night, late, and it's arriving today. (To be fair, my order was only some Dremel polishing heads, but I won't say other stuff wouldn't come quickly.)

I'll warn you, it's addictive. I started with a knife for the daughter, then a kitchen knife for the wife, and I was off. The knives led to leather work, which led to tooling leather. It's an evil thing. I love it though.

Oh heck, now you've gone and done it. I simply have to give it a shot. Something simple to start I think.
I have a very nice heated shop and all the tools.

[cooperhawk]

I ordered the Wyoming Hunter Kit. Something simple.
Here we go.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have a mini split in my shop as well. Woodworking, leatherworking bench, and an area for the knife work. We set Tina up with her She Shed too. She quilts and does her embroidery work there.

[BrokenolMarine]

My last session today was spent working on getting the corby nuts and the bone inlays trimmed down then flattening the rough spots in the scales.
Then I worked with the vertical sander and the oscillating sander to shape the scales and the rest to the blade blank. Once that was done, I shaped the knife, and then I worked up thru the grits to 800. Some of the sanding was done with thin strips cut from the sandpaper sheets, backed with painter's tape to keep them from breaking.

It's looking pretty good at this point, but I'll do some additional polishing on the metal surfaces with jeweler's rouge in several grades to see if I can get the brass and 440 steel go glow.

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[BrokenolMarine]

A look at the work areas in the shop.

The leather working bench... (There is also a similar Cutting Bench...)

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The Knife Shaping benches:

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[markiver54]

I have always admired your shop and your work.. I am not nearly the craftsman you are. That is beautiful work. You have more of what is most important ,...patience is paramount.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have always admired your shop and your work.. I am not nearly the craftsman you are. That is beautiful work. You have more of what is most important ,...patience is paramount.

My first career taught me patience. There was a LOT of hurry up and wait. (I learned to carry a paperback in a thigh pocket of my utilities or flight suit.)
My last career taught me patience and anger management.

[BrokenolMarine]

More work on the knife. Using dremel buffing heads, and rouge in various grades, I polished the brass and bone on the knife. A learning experience. Not as easy as I thought. This will take some experience. The final step was to coat a strip of leather with the finest grade rough and buff some more.

Then I worked the Maple with three coats of Watco Oil in Golden Oak to bring up the grain pattern. After that cured overnight, I applied a coat of Amber fly rod varnish. I'll work up three, four, five coats. Wet sanding between coats to insure it's smooth.



So far, it's looking promising.

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I just need to get those last fine scratches out.

[Hatchdog]

The above picture is sure improved from the previous one showing the corby nuts with the “buggered” slots. At first I was shocked to see that as your work is so professional. Of course your explanation helped me understand. Corby nuts and scales are two terms I have never heard of. See, not only are you giving us enjoyment seeing your progress you’re educating us too!

[BrokenolMarine]

When that screwdriver slipped and buggered that screwhead I was HOT! I had already started reaching for the german files in the drawer to try and dress it when I remembered that I was going to cut the head off the bolt anyway. I just HATE to do that.

Here is a look at Corby Bolts before they are installed. Note that they come in two pieces, and are screwed together. They come in various sizes with varying shaft thickness and shoulder thicknesses, and varying lengths. They are MEANT to be installed and then the heads cut off and polished smooth. You can get them in brass, nickel silver and stainless. The length of the threads allow for some leeway in the thickness of your handle material as you shape them.

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When you order the Corbys, the narrative will tell you which step bit you need. It will drill the hole for the shaft and the shoulder. For me that's always a pucker factor. I always insure the rounded side of the bit is against the edge of the pilot hole so I don't end up with the work wasted when I fail to center the holes in the scale. No, No I haven't made that mistake... (More than once.)

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Another option are the Screw top rivets that come WITH the kits. I used those when I first started making knives. The downside is that you have to match the thickness of the handle material to the limited range of these provided rivets.

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Or... you can order various lengths and thicknesses and keep them on hand.

[BrokenolMarine]

Another option would be Rod Stock. You can order this in Brass, copper, Nickel, Silver, Stainless... the possiblities are endless. It comes solid, hollow to use for lanyard holes in the base of the knife, or as Mosaics, with patterns filling the hollow ends. Some may remember I used mosaic pins in Miss T's Ivory Scaled Knife. The Bottom Rod in the pic below has a dog print mosaic pattern. You can get Batman, dragons, anvils, stars, Texas, whatever.

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There is a downside. The Mosaic rod for Miss T's knife was about 12" long....

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This variety pack of brass rods was about the same price.

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The downside to that was, it didn't contain the size rod I needed for my latest project and I had to order a 6" brass rod for that one. But, they aren't that costly for the plain brass rods, about $2. Standard sizes can be had at most hardware stores if they keep their stock up.

[BrokenolMarine]

If you watch for sales, you can find kits at really good prices. Woodcraft sent me flyers all the time in VA and I loaded up on kits when they marked down several of my favorites to clear old stock at the end of the fiscal year. 50% to 70% off.

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The blanks for handles or scales don't have to be high dollar either. I found them as offcuts from my other projects, as sale items at woodcraft over the years, as recovered pieces from old furniture or even a piece of an old barn.

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Being a woodworker first helps as I have a corner in the shop with some really nice woods. That stack in the corner is made of of wood cut on my Bandsaw mill. It's spalted maples, osage orange, black walnut and more. the vertical rack holds all kinds of sweet stock. Lacewood, black cherry, curly cherry, cocobolo, purpleheart and more. I didn't rush out and buy it all at once, I picked up a piece here and a piece there. Miss T couldn't believe I moved all that WOOD from VA. I told her it was worth more than she could imagine, at least to me.

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Then there is the small goodies shelf in my cabinet. perfect for small boxes, inlays, and of course, knife scales. They too come from offcuts, Woodcraft grab boxes I bought on sale, and a friend's cabinet shop floor pile.

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Last but not least is my scrap cubby. These are the scraps too good to toss. I can't tell you how many times I have used scraps from this bin to repair major pieces, make trip, or create inlays, keys, or accent strips. I don't keep every little piece like I did when I started, but the good ones...

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I'm hoping the knives will continue to improve... as my skills do.

[BrokenolMarine]

When you use any of the methods, you epoxy the scales to the knife and the pins or bolts are added security.
With the brass rods, you CAN pin them to the scales by peening them on an anvil. You cut them oversize, with an 1/8" or so sticking out on both sides. Put one side on the anvil, the other up. Whack the up side with a hammer and the PIN swells inside the scales and mushrooms just outside.
When you sand it flush it's tight all the way thru.

The risk is it could crack the Scales if you over do it, or MISS the pin and hit the scales. Especially risky with bone, ivory, etc.

[BrokenolMarine]

The part I really hate is the waiting:

for glue to set,
for varnish to dry,
for dye to cure.

Then you can move to the next step, the next coat, or start assembly or sewing.

Normally I have a couple things going at once so I can go back and forth between the projects. But, the daughter and her family are coming up so I didn't want to have the shop cluttered with a lot of things, I promised to put new snap rings on a strap for her pouch, and work with her on a camera strap for a friend. I'll start more things after the holiday.

[BrokenolMarine]

Braved the cold and frozen slick ground and went back out to the shop. The knife was still a tad tacky and I didn't want to risk messing with it. I'll leave it overnight. I still had the pattern from making the doc's sheath, so I started work on a sheath for the knife. I cut it out carefully, and started the tooling. I decided to go with carving a pattern, a skill I really need to work on. I went with oak leaves and acorns. So far so good, but there is a lot of work left to do.

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[cooperhawk]

Wow! I just ordered that knife lit three days ago and it came today. I won't have time to play
with it for a few days, but I'm looking foreword to giving it a try.

[markiver54]

Wow! I just ordered that knife lit three days ago and it came today. I won't have time to play
with it for a few days, but I'm looking foreword to giving it a try.

That company owes Marine some $ commision.

[BrokenolMarine]

Bitter cold this morning... but still went out to the shop. Bored inside.
Got the final polishing done on the brass with the Black, Red and Blue rouge. Looked Good, so I waxed the bone and Maple and let it dry while I worked on the sheath, then buffed it out. I'll likely put one more coat of wax on it.

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On the sheath I did the background tooling and dyed the leaves and acorns. Once that dries good, I'll put a coat of resistance finish on it, let it dry then antique it.

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A long view of the sheath gives you an idea of the design. The extra pieces are welts that go inside and on the edges. These protect the stitching from the blade and insure the knife sits properly when inserted. They are first glued in place, then stitched.

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Getting closer....