Knife for a friend

[Draven]

This knife was put together for a friend who's birthday is coming up in a couple months; I saw his camp knife a while back and decided then and there that it wouldn't do! I'm not sure what the wood is (any ideas?) but it's pretty tough . . . I DID make a matching wood & leather sheath, but it just didn't look right with the relatively narrow handle, so I'm ditching it in favour of a folded leather horizontal carry sheath, reinforced with brass sheet and copper rivets as is seen in archaeological examples of viking knives!

It's a bit rough at the mo, I intend to smooth it out a bit more . . . it was pretty dull before, but the sheen from the linseed has shown up new imperfections. As you can see, there's also quite a large gouge on one side of the handle from a mistake when splitting (the fibres of this wood are VERY intent on sticking together, wouldn't be happy at all about splitting a larger section of it!) and it's really too deep to have any chance of getting it out, but I figure it adds character!

Comments welcome!

 

[Dave Budd]

looks like a good old bit of oak there

Not sure about the burning under the back end though. The rest looks cool I hope that the blade is the carbon variety so it will match the handle?

 

[Draven]

looks like a good old bit of oak there

Not sure about the burning under the back end though. The rest looks cool I hope that the blade is the carbon variety so it will match the handle?

Great, I was hoping it would be oak I've got a few bits left so I should be able to make a couple more handles at least, plus maybe a hammer pendant . . . tis Thor's wood!

I'm not sure about that patch either, to be honest, I'm thinking of sanding it down a bit and replacing it with a carving of some sort.

If I were making the knife for my self, it would certainly be a carbon steel. Unfortunately, knowing the guy that I'm giving it to, I don't think he'd be able to offer it the care that carbon needs, and I'm quite confident it'd have rust patches before long. Thanks for the comments

 

[Dave Budd]

people always assume that carbon steel needs lots of care, but it really doesn't. as long as you wipe the blade off on your trousers before putting it away, it will normally be ok. Sure some rust will happen if you leave it wet for a while, but unless you want a shiny blade you can just remove it with a bit of wire wool

 

[Draven]

Trust me, stainless is safer He probably wouldn't think it anything to worry about til the edge was serrated from rust flakes