First knife & sheath

[Big John]

Hi All,

Thought I'd post some pics of my first handle attempt - let me know what you think.

I started with a lump of Beech & a lump of Birch, unfortunately both turned out to be unsuitable, so ended up with Ash so it's quite light coloured - nice grain though.

The blade (a Lapplander 115) and mosaic pins both came from The Good Stuff Shop and are pretty reasonably priced.

I over-sized the handle as I've got quite big hands, I started off by making a couple of scales out of polystyrene so that I had some idea of size and fit before I started on the wood.

I'm pretty pleased with the result, although I messed up the sheath by stamping my initials on it..... wonky and in the wrong place! Fortunately I've managed to press most of it out and you can't see it on the pics!!

If (when!) I do another I'll definately either use spacers or do a stick tang - getting the wood flat enough without spacers was a right pain - having the handle over-sized made it even more difficult to get a decent fit.

The sheath roughly follows rapidboy's tutorial and is coloured/treated with Hydrophane leather dressing which is good stuff (get it from a saddlers/ horse tack shop) - the original colour is as per the background on the pics.

Hope you like it!

 

[leon-b]

well done mate i love the sheath and knife the ash handle looks great
leon

 

[Marts]

Nice job there. Careful though, it can get addictive!

 

[BorderReiver]

Very impressive.A really nice bit of work.

 

[Zammo]

That does look really nice well done! What was the cost outlay for the parts and equipment you needed to produce this?

 

[Big John]

That does look really nice well done! What was the cost outlay for the parts and equipment you needed to produce this?

Thanks for the kind comments guys, as for cost, hmmm, not sure I want to add it up!

The blade was about £15, and the Mosaic pin about £7 I think, they were a christmas present.

Tools for making the knife - because of the re-shaping I had to do to fit the over-sized handle I needed a new file (my old one wouldn't touch it!), and I needed a half-round rasp for the basic shaping, about £8 each. Then it was just sandpaper and the Danish oil for the wood - about £3 I think. I already had some epoxy.

For the sheath, well I went mad in The Identity Store (Northampton) a couple of years ago and bought a load of stuff - most of which I've never used! To make this sheath you could get away with an awl for the stitch holes (£5?) and a groover for the stitch lines (not strictly needed I guess, but lets the thread sit into the leather and stops it getting caught - another £5 to £8) and a sharp stanley knife. The leather is taken from a 1/2 side which cost around £30, I guess I could make another 10 from the same piece, so £3, plus the thread. The Hydrophane oil was £5, but I hardly used any of it despite giving it about 20 coats, so that'll last for ages.

All in all about £45 I guess, so not bad really, and all of the tools will be used on other projects so I don't mind the outlay.

Give it a go!

 

[beowolf762]

Great job!!
The sheath looks very good to me :You_Rock_

 

[tilly]

hi great bit of work there mate looks fantastic and the sheath spot on keep up the good work can not wait to see the next one . tilly

 

[spamel]

That is an excellent first knife. You should be ery happy with yourself. Of course, I reckon you could sell it in an instant although most people will tell you to keep your first knife. I still have to make up my first knife which will happen in a few weeks when I get on leave, I hope it comes out as good as yours!