The trip to Jantz Supply in Davis was a success. Everything on the list was available and Miss T picked out a very nice set of synthetics for the next blade blanks.
In the pic below you can see part of the haul...
A selection of round rod stock... two sizes of copper and some 1/4" nickel silver to be used for pins for the scales and inlays.
Two sizes of Carbide Drill Bits, costly, but needed to drill thru the heat treated blade blank. We'll use those a bit later.
I broke down and bought a container of the blue marking dye, will make the pencil lines much easier to see when laying out future projects.
23 jantz goodies.jpg
The real expense on this trip was the dedicated Knifemaker's Vise. This thing will make life a LOT easier when tooling the spine or belly of the knife blank, or when shaping and or sanding/polishing the knife after assembly. I'll mount the base on a piece of 2x6 that can be attached to the work surface with clamps. the vise itself can be mounted vertically, and will rotate 360 degrees and lock in any position in that rotation.
24 vise vertical.jpg
You can also turn the vise on it's side to a horizontal position without ever removing the blade / knife assembly from the jaws, and still rotate thru that 360 degree range, still locking in position anywhere in the rotation.
25 vise horiontal.jpg
Should be back at work on the project tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. The work will now move into the slow but steady pucker factor mode. Will be drilling holes in the blank and in the copper, cutting pins, and gluing up things in steps and stages before moving to rough shaping and sanding.
It's about to get interesting.
(If you have questions, ask... I've got nothing to hide. For example, one of the carbide bits? $21.00, but, unless I screw up, I should only have to buy it once...)
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