Howdy!
Some of y'all may recall a little while ago I posted about the Condor Mini Duku parang and my rationale for its use in the desert. I'm pretty much sold on the idea of a big knife in the desert (this one, at least) but not completely sold on the parang being the best choice. It's a great chopper, but quite heavy and very forward-balanced. Given that chopping isn't a massive priority for me, I thought I'd keep my options open.
This knife started life as an Ontario SP5. The blade jumped out to me immediately as being reminiscent of the Marbles Trailmaker, which I wish I had. The blade is 1095 and I've only heard good things about the SP series in general. I actually rehandled this knife a while back in oak with a half-guard, but gradually started to dislike it. So, I broke that off (breaking off a mortise tang grip with 1/4" pins, steel guard and held on my jb weld is no small task, I'll tell ya) and started fresh. I decided to take some cues from traditional knives with the new handle design, and figured I'd try something I hadn't before. So, I decided to make it a frame tang. The materials are 1/4" 5160 for the frame, 1/4" copper for the tang pins, 1/8" brass for the frame pins, 5160 for the spacer and 1/8" mild steel for the guard.
The knife right after stripping the paint, with the original handle and a new sheath.
The setup before soldering. The frame was cut to fit the tang closely, though a measuring accident led to it being a little long. This isn't going to be an abused knife, so I'm not worried about it. Because the tang was so wide (about 3/4" at the top) there wasn't enough meat on the frame up there to pin it, so the frame has a protrusion that fits inside the 1/4" steel spacer to hold it firmly. The frame and spacer were then soldered together and the guard was soldered to the blade. Also shown is the honey mesquite I used for the scales. I ground the ricasso down a little bit, which makes it a bit safer to use as an extended grip in my opinion and had the aesthetic advantage of centering the tang.
The scales were glued and pinned to the frame and collar so that it could be shaped as a single unit - pin holes had to be drilled first, of course. As much as I had heard that mesquite was a pain to work with, I thought it worked beautifully - didn't burn on the end grain like oak seems to always do for me, so dense that I think you could probably polish it up like glass if you had the patience. Maybe my expectations were just low!
The fit of this unit on the tang was very tight.
The finished product! I'm extremely happy with how this came out. The copper pins are riveted slightly (the mesquite wanted to grab slightly when I was drilling, resulting in a slightly wobbly hole). My finishing skills on the metal parts still leave quite a bit to be desired (notably on the underside of the guard when I was cleaning up the solder, and when I slipped with the saw cutting the pins) but I'm really pleased nonetheless. And, since I didn't clean up the signs of wear from the blade, I guess it matches! The grip was worked up to 600 grit and finished with danish oil, which I'm still working into it.
Questions and criticism are welcome!
Pete
Some of y'all may recall a little while ago I posted about the Condor Mini Duku parang and my rationale for its use in the desert. I'm pretty much sold on the idea of a big knife in the desert (this one, at least) but not completely sold on the parang being the best choice. It's a great chopper, but quite heavy and very forward-balanced. Given that chopping isn't a massive priority for me, I thought I'd keep my options open.
This knife started life as an Ontario SP5. The blade jumped out to me immediately as being reminiscent of the Marbles Trailmaker, which I wish I had. The blade is 1095 and I've only heard good things about the SP series in general. I actually rehandled this knife a while back in oak with a half-guard, but gradually started to dislike it. So, I broke that off (breaking off a mortise tang grip with 1/4" pins, steel guard and held on my jb weld is no small task, I'll tell ya) and started fresh. I decided to take some cues from traditional knives with the new handle design, and figured I'd try something I hadn't before. So, I decided to make it a frame tang. The materials are 1/4" 5160 for the frame, 1/4" copper for the tang pins, 1/8" brass for the frame pins, 5160 for the spacer and 1/8" mild steel for the guard.
The knife right after stripping the paint, with the original handle and a new sheath.
The setup before soldering. The frame was cut to fit the tang closely, though a measuring accident led to it being a little long. This isn't going to be an abused knife, so I'm not worried about it. Because the tang was so wide (about 3/4" at the top) there wasn't enough meat on the frame up there to pin it, so the frame has a protrusion that fits inside the 1/4" steel spacer to hold it firmly. The frame and spacer were then soldered together and the guard was soldered to the blade. Also shown is the honey mesquite I used for the scales. I ground the ricasso down a little bit, which makes it a bit safer to use as an extended grip in my opinion and had the aesthetic advantage of centering the tang.
The scales were glued and pinned to the frame and collar so that it could be shaped as a single unit - pin holes had to be drilled first, of course. As much as I had heard that mesquite was a pain to work with, I thought it worked beautifully - didn't burn on the end grain like oak seems to always do for me, so dense that I think you could probably polish it up like glass if you had the patience. Maybe my expectations were just low!
The fit of this unit on the tang was very tight.
The finished product! I'm extremely happy with how this came out. The copper pins are riveted slightly (the mesquite wanted to grab slightly when I was drilling, resulting in a slightly wobbly hole). My finishing skills on the metal parts still leave quite a bit to be desired (notably on the underside of the guard when I was cleaning up the solder, and when I slipped with the saw cutting the pins) but I'm really pleased nonetheless. And, since I didn't clean up the signs of wear from the blade, I guess it matches! The grip was worked up to 600 grit and finished with danish oil, which I'm still working into it.
Questions and criticism are welcome!
Pete
