Made a new knife

[rapidboy]

This is an attempt at a sort of classic fighter, a lot of "firsts" for me in this one - first time soldering a guard, first time threading a tang and tang nut, first time grinding a false edge.
It was a very different process to my previous, "full tang with a couple of bits of stick nailed onto it" builds.
It's not perfect and it was a steep learning curve but i really enjoyed this one - it was much more involved and slower but it felt like proper knife making.

I will stick some better pics up when i get a sheath made for it but that may take a while

6" blade, 11" OAL

 

[British Red]

Oh now theres a thing

I have to say your journey into antler has taken your knifemaking to a whole new level

Bravo!

 

[kimbo]

Stunning piece of craftsmanship RB. Truly lovely - can only sit back and admire that mate.

 

[Shinken]

Thats brilliant, i too have some to the conclusion that full tang isn't proper knife making!

Getting a good bolster to blade fit is harder than everything on a full tang.

Soldering is even harder, nice job mate. That is a top top knife, everything works together

 

[Wilderbeast]

another stunner rb, good work!! You seem to be specialising in in antler handles these days!!

 

[brancho]

Rapiboy
Thats very nice and IMO all the better for being a hidden tang.Very nice fit and finish and very nice for leaving the bark on.

 

[Barney]

Thats good that, I love antler on a knife.

 

[rapidboy]

Thanks lads, it was supposed to a stacked leather handle, i had the leather all cut and ready to go but when i tried a piece of antler it just looked right for this one so the stacked leather will have to wait for anther project.
I only had a couple of pieces of stag to try it and that's it all used up now so i need to source some more - it's too nice not to use it again.

 

[Wilderbeast]

looks like that might be a good skinner rb?? easy to clean!!

 

[covertcraft]

Oh now theres a thing

I have to say your journey into antler has taken your knifemaking to a whole new level

Bravo!

ditto that

 

[sapper1]

An excellent piece of work,Please don't take this as criticism but did you solder from the back or the front of the bolster?
Would it have given a cleaner finish to the front of the bolster if you had brazed the bolster on instead of soldering?

 

[Native Justice]

Beautiful work RB!! There's nothing like the feel and look of stag with its full bark.

Something you might want to know, you can use JB Weld instead of regular solder when securing your bolster to the tang. Secures with the strength of epoxy with the look of solder and takes a fraction of the time to complete.

 

[rapidboy]

The bolster was a very close fit, perfect on 3 sides with a slight gap on the forth and I hadn't intended to silver solder at all, the epoxy under the stag would have sealed it but a friend has just started silver soldering and i wanted to try that,
This was soldered from the front but we experimented with soldering from behind on some scrap pieces and i will try that next time.
The solder melting point is just below the tempering temperature, brazing needs much more heat and would destroy the temper.

I have used JB weld on previous knife projects and for bedding a rifle and i know it's a handy product but at the minute I'm just trying to gain as much experience as possible with different techniques.