Bush "craft" - my first knife & sheath

[Dark Horse Dave]

My bushcraft year tends to have a theme. Previously I've focused on survival skills, wild food & plants, trees and camp craft. This year I've been dabbling with the "craft" bit of bushcraft. I've had a go at wood carving, leatherwork, tool refurbishment and also knife making.

I bought a Karesuando carbon steel kit from Greenman Bushcraft (a good supplier IMO, no connection etc) and had a go.

I've not done anything like this before, and am certainly not very adept at DIY. Nor do I have many tools or a workshop. Instead I used the back garden and an old hand-me-down Workmate, a rasp, a cheapo drill and some Abranet (like sandpaper) someone had given me. All I bought was a long 3mm drill bit and a small file.

I tried to shape the handle for my hand size. It fits me pretty well and is comfortable to use; in fact I used the knife all week at the Bushmoot this month. I reckon though that as far as looks go at least, the knife looks a bit out of proportion with the big handle and small blade. Still, it seems to work OK!

The sheath I made following an interesting day spent at Bardster's house learning some principles of leatherwork. I also closely followed Rapidboy's tutorial on this site. I made up several templates using cereal boxes, refining the shape as I went on.

So that's the preamble, now the pic!

Comments / suggestions welcome!

 

[Ed]

Excellent work there .... I wish my first time at making a sheathe came out that good!

Ed

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Thanks! I should maybe add that the reason I made the sheath like that was because I made the handle of the knife too big to fit the bit of leather supplied with the kit. Ho hum!

 

[Deaner666]

Hey Dave, your knife and sheath look great. You've got a nice finish on the curly birch there. These things are good fun aren't they? I reckon they must be even more fun when you've got the right tools to take away the pain of the few tedious bits!

 

[brancho]

Thats a good first attempt especially the sheath.

 

[udamiano]

good job there

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Thanks for the nice comments all. I feel confident enough to have a go at another, maybe sourcing a scandi blade and bits from Brisa or English Handmade Knives rather than a kit.

 

[brancho]

can I suggest that you dont use a plastic liner but either make a wooden one or dont use one. Do use halftanned leather though is wet molds muvh bettter than veg tanned and goes very stiff.
Factory bolsters make it easier at first if you buy factory blades.

HERE is a Scandi sheath tut

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Thanks Alf, that's very helpful indeed - esp. that tutorial, which I'll study further.

 

[brancho]

I reckon though that as far as looks go at least, the knife looks a bit out of proportion with the big handle and small blade. Still, it seems to work OK!

I read your post again and as far as design is cocerned making work is important but looks are a different matter. One of the reason it looks big is the bolsters that come with these are big and to make asthetically pleasing you need to file them down. The main thing is that works for though and is its you first I suggest you well alone anyway and dont give it away either (many have and regret it). My first is similiar to that.

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Thanks Alf. I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I based the size of the handle to a large extent on the size of the bolster so that the antler and wood flowed from it. Looking at it when I'd finished I thought the bolster looked a bit big compared with the width of the blade (especially so when I compared it with a nice little Woodsknife Mrs DHD has, where the bolster is barely wider than the blade). I just assumed it would be OK as the bolster had been provided with the kit.

Having no experience of working with brass at the time, I hadn't realised that it could be filed down. I know now!

I'll take your advice and keep hold of the knife though. As a simple cutting tool it works fine and is quite comfortable for me at least. I'll have another go soon and take a bit more care with choosing the components and getting the aesthetics a bit more in balance.

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Hey Dave, your knife and sheath look great. You've got a nice finish on the curly birch there. These things are good fun aren't they? I reckon they must be even more fun when you've got the right tools to take away the pain of the few tedious bits!
Dave
Celtic Rambler - www.celticrambler.co.uk

Thanks for that. If anyone is interested I achieved the finish by sanding down through the grades with some Abranet someone gave me (great stuff by the way, highly recommended by me; it's an abrasive sheet a bit like sandpaper, but mounted on some sort of man-made mesh so the powdery bits fall through).

Then I soaked the handle for 24 hours in a jam jar full of 50/50 boiled linseed oil / white spirit. The smell of white spirit went off after a couple of days. Finally I buffed with a soft cloth.

Seemed to work rather nicely, if I say so myself!