My new bush/wood knife design

[jojo]

I have been fiddling and playing with ideas for a while about what makes a good wood craft knife for the conditions we have here. (for me anyway!)

Not too big, so to be discreet, light, all nicely rounded (less threatening?) with a nicely rounded, waisted handle, no sharp edges to it, so as to be easy to manipulate, lanyard hole, decorative, home made mosaic pins and fibre liners.

210 mm long, blade is 100mm, 25mm wide and 3mm thick, 01 tool steel, of course! The handle is Mexican Rosewood and black liners, with brass and copper pins.

The sheath is dark brown/reddish, 3.5mm Veg Tan decorated with some stamping and with a fire steel loop.

I'll take some more pics to show the waist on the handle.

 

[keen-edge]

super looking knife top work fella

 

[dazcon]

Excellent looking knife and sheath, i really like it! Nice mosaic pins,i like the placement of the firesteel,and the workmanship looks top notch all-round!
I'd be interested to know how the blade pattern was achieved- was it a forced patina? If so what was applied and for how long? Looks like damascus-i think it looks really cool!!
Great job mate, nice one!

Dazcon.

 

[HillBill]

Nice work Jojo. It looks a useful design., The handle shape looks comfortable too, its similar to how i do some of mine. It locks nicely in the hand i bet?

 

[SimonM]

Superb work, as always!

Simon

 

[Shewie]

Great looking knife Jojo

 

[TinkyPete]

great knife

 

[jojo]

Thanks gentlemen.

I'd be interested to know how the blade pattern was achieved- was it a forced patina? If so what was applied and for how long? Looks like damascus-i think it looks really cool!

Dazcon

I used a improvised mix of white wine vinegar with dried garlic (just what I had at hand) applied it to the clean, degreased blade, wrapped it in cling film and left it alone overnight. The vinegar seems to have eaten the metal around the edges of the garlic lumps, you can feel the pattern on the blade, I am quite pleased with that one, although it may not be everybody's cup of tea.

The handle shape looks comfortable too, its similar to how i do some of mine. It locks nicely in the hand i bet

Hillbill
Yes it is very comfortable and it's very easy to hold and not slip forward on it. It's easier to manipulate than the mora handle (the plastic one) and I prefer it to my bushie handle too.

 

[Shewie]

I used a improvised mix of white wine vinegar with dried garlic (just what I had at hand) applied it to the clean, degreased blade, wrapped it in cling film and left it alone overnight. The vinegar seems to have eaten the metal around the edges of the garlic lumps, you can feel the pattern on the blade

I'm so tempted to give that a go on a few knives I've got. Is it a fairly permanent treatment Joel or does it fade eventually ?

 

[jojo]

I'm so tempted to give that a go on a few knives I've got. Is it a fairly permanent treatment Joel or does it fade eventually ?

I think this one is deep enough to be fairly permanent. I sometimes use some ferric chloride, but that can be removed if preferred. The mix I think needs to be fairly dry, but not too dry.. It's a question of experimenting to get the mix right. How about trying it on some offcut steel? I haven't tried it but I would think it'd work on some ordinary steel, the stuff you can get from B&Q if it's sanded first to get rid of the black goop on it.

I have just polished the bush knife on a leather strop and that pattern has really, really come out beautifully. I'll try to take some good pics of it tomorrow. I am definitely going to use that mix again, if I can remember the recipe!

 

[dazcon]

Thanks for the reply Jojo!
Your method of patina application works really well, certainly gives the steel a lot of character! I'll experiment with the method myself as i think it looks really cool.
Thanks for sharing mate!!!!!

Dazcon.