Couple blades and a couple questions

[Draven]

Howdy y'all!
These are a couple of blades I just cut out of a circular sawblade I've had lying around for a while. The dagger-ish one is the prototype of a knife I'm making (in copper or bronze) for my Fiancee and the other is just a seax-y type blade I made for the hell of it Neither blades are handled yet, though as you can see, the first one has a handle made up. I was going to a rustic look, which I think I achieved quite nicely The first blade has a bindrune (poorly) dremelled in, a bit of filework on the back (I left the bit nearest the handle free for use with a firesteel, and I didn't go to near the tip as the blade's quite thin as it is) and was given a patina with vinegar. The seax is just that colour from the torch when I annealed the sawblade.

No idea what the handle wood is, it's just something I had lying around from an old cutting board. Quite a tough wood, though not as hard as, say, mahogany. I was hoping to get it to a reddish-brown colour with a bit of controlled burning and linseed oil, but it came to the more rustic finish that's there, which I quite like personally The tang is quite short (due to the size of the sawblade ) and narrow, but I don't plan on doing anything resembling hard work with it anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I was planning on fixing the first knife in the handle with pewter - is there any problem with this? I heard about it on a website I can't find any more, where it was mentioned as a traditional method of fixing blades to handles. And how to do it? Just put the blade in the handle and pour molten pewter in with it?

For the seax, I was wanting to use hide glue. How easily will this dissolve in water? Is there any traditional somethingorother I can put over it to prevent the water getting to it? I was thinking of using the hide glue and then putting pine pitch over the top. Suggestions?

Cheers!

 

[Dave Budd]

I stuck a knife together with hide glue in November 2006 (during one of my knife making courses in the woods) and I lost it straight away. I found it again in march under the leaf litter. The blade was rusty and the handle (field maple) had mould on it. I put the blade in the vice and tugged on it, nothing happened! I keep the knife in the woods (undercover now) and haven't had any problems with the joint dissolving or even softening

to make the glue I bought the geletin sheets, wiped them through water to wet the surface and then broke the sheets into bits in a jar with some water (which was drained off once the geletin had softened). Warmed it in a pan of not quie boiling water unti dissolved and added a little milk (supposed to make it water resistant). When it was as runny as I wanted I poured it into the hole and plunged the pre-warmed tang into the handle. When the thing had set I melted a little beeswax into the joint to keep any moisture out. All good. Though I have found since that the consistancy and the temperature of your surroundings both make a lot of difference to the setting time (from 1/2 hour to a couple of days!)

 

[Draven]

Wow, that's great If that's the case, I might use it instead of pewter for the other knife as well

Cheers mate! :You_Rock_

 

[spamel]

What did you use to burn the symbol into the wood? It looks very symetrical and not like a bodge job but a specific tool.

 

[Draven]

What did you use to burn the symbol into the wood? It looks very symetrical and not like a bodge job but a specific tool.

To be honest, it's not burnt in but it is meant to look that way I just used a dremel with a round engraving bit, and then used some black nail varnish afterwards. Very little nail varnish, applied thinly with a paint brush so it didn't cake the surface. When it was dry, I sanded the top a bit, as some of the nail varnish was outside the grooves I coloured the wood after I did the two trefoils, so I think that contributed to it looking realistically burnt.

Peace

PS: A note about drawing trefoils. I generally do them by drawing about 140 degrees of a circle (a 2p coin works quite well for small ones). If you start by drawing a centre line, it's a very easy way to ensure symmetry

 

[spamel]

Well, you fooled me!

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

Cheers for that insight George Dubyah, always makes me smile! Anyway, back to the subject in hand, how did you get them so perfect?

 

[Draven]

Well, you fooled me!



Cheers for that insight George Dubyah, always makes me smile! Anyway, back to the subject in hand, how did you get them so perfect?

Best Dubya quote ever!

I added an edit to that post, y'must have missed it If you'd like a more detailed explanation I'd be happy to come up with one