Today's large knife build..

About 99% done, some more sanding of the Lacewood, and another coat of Tung Oil, before she heads to the buffer for polishing.

Looks great as usual but I thought you said a LARGE knife?

thebigsd said:

Looks great as usual but I thought you said a LARGE knife?

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lol. 9.5" stainless

very pretty. Are you going to use that reptile skin to make the sheath? It would greatly compliment the lacewood grip panels.

Dreamer said:

very pretty. Are you going to use that reptile skin to make the sheath? It would greatly compliment the lacewood grip panels.

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Im certainly considering using some of it. Perhaps for trim on it. It's Ostrich leg, and there's not a piece of it large enough to make the entire sheath, but good for some decorative trim. When I saw how the Lacewood turned out with the oil on it, I immediately went and got that skin to check it out next to it-and bingo.
Also, the skin would'nt be strong enough to make the sheath, itself, anyway. It's a rather thin skin.

But I have used some to make wallets, and such, so far.
Made this one recently for a Golfer in Boca Raton







Still in progress, at the time of the pics- the stitching there was just temporary to hold/stretch the hide in place.


Also, BigSD- how's the sheath working out so far? Any issues? Is the deerskin holding up for you, properly?

It's working great, I wear it more in the fall/winter when I wear my boots. I really like it, thanks again!!!!!!! Everything is holding up well and the leather has molded to my leg/foot.

thebigsd said:

It's working great, I wear it more in the fall/winter when I wear my boots. I really like it, thanks again!!!!!!! Everything is holding up well and the leather has molded to my leg/foot.

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Excellent, just wanted to make sure everything was holding up as intended. ty!

Man that knife looks great so far. You have some real talent.

AAriondo said:

Man that knife looks great so far. You have some real talent.

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Ty sir.
The sheath though, is about 60% done so far.. but not sure the original design I came up with for it is going to pan out. Wont know for sure, until Im about 90% done with it, unfortunately. So, may be back to the drawing board for that aspect of it..
Knife itself..prolly could have gotten the handle scales a bit more flush with the tang..but hard to to without messing things up. So, sometimes just have to let it be, rather than risk messing up what IS good..

do you order the blade from somewhere or do you make that yourself? anyways it looks nice good work. iv always wanted to take a shot at making one of my own. also how do you get the blade to stay in the wood? is there a pin of some sort that holds it?

newbie said:

do you order the blade from somewhere or do you make that yourself? anyways it looks nice good work. iv always wanted to take a shot at making one of my own. also how do you get the blade to stay in the wood? is there a pin of some sort that holds it?

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For now, the blades are made by others. I then take the blades and make the handles for them out of various woods, then glue them to the tang of the blade, and clamp them. Then I final-sand them to shape by hand, then finish them, usually with tung oil.
One can put pins through the handle and tang, brass or steel usually- but these are actually more decorative, than serving any real function-most of the time. I find though, that doing so, weakens the wood around the areas where they are drilled through.
Over time, when or if a knife handle breaks or loosens, it's usually at -or around- where they are drilled for the pins.

I have one on the bench now, actually, that someone asked me to replace the handles for -because this had happened to their original handles.

j4l said:

For now, the blades are made by others. I then take the blades and make the handles for them out of various woods, then glue them to the tang of the blade, and clamp them. Then I final-sand them to shape by hand, then finish them, usually with tung oil.
One can put pins through the handle and tang, brass or steel usually- but these are actually more decorative, than serving any real function-most of the time. I find though, that doing so, weakens the wood around the areas where they are drilled through.
Over time, when or if a knife handle breaks or loosens, it's usually at -or around- where they are drilled for the pins.

I have one on the bench now, actually, that someone asked me to replace the handles for -because this had happened to their original handles.

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i agree that it would make the wood week around the pin, but what about making a pin type inside the handle (not going threw to outsides then gluing)? its hard to explain what i see in my head. also where did you order the blades from?

iv always been interested in this kind of stuff. iv been doing wood work since i was a kid helping my parents. over the years iv got myself a great woodwork shop. now my mind just races on what i can make myself.