Hi Guys
I have had a yearning for sometime now to have a go at making a knife. I have read BB and admired some of the works of art and thought Im going to have a go at that one day. Well guess what? I finally did it! Last week I booked on a 2 day course with Dave Budd at his workshop in Dartmoor.
I booked 2 days because I thought if I am going to do this, I want to do the whole thing. I wanted to make the knife from scratch, right up to sewing up my own sheath.
On my arrival I explained to Dave that I wanted a lightweight neck knife for general bushcraft duties. I showed my design to Dave and we then set to work.
Dave made a knife the same as my design so he could show me each step of the way. He forged the tip, I forged the tip. He forged the blade, I forged the blade and so it went onto the bevels, tang, normalizing, heat treat and tempering. Dave then took me to choose some handle material. I decided to go for something a little unusual and opted for yew. Once again I followed Dave each step of the way. That took care of day 1
On day 2 we put the finishing touches to the handle then made a start on the sheaths. Once again I copied Dave parrot fashion, from cutting the template to the forming of the leather, the dying process and stitching the sheath. Finally we got busy with the waterstones and put a hair popping edge on the knife.
I do like Daves style. At no time did he take the knife from me, he wanted it to be my knife and that way I have the pleasure of knowing that I made the complete article myself.
If there are any lurkers out there who have been pondering on making a knife and have been wondering how to get started I can certainly recommend a couple of days in the company of Dave Budd.
The down side is that now I have got the bug I can see myself hassling you guys for more information when I embark on my next project.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so go easy on me guys. Here is the finished article. Many thanks again Dave.
Here goes for the difficult part, trying to post the pictures!
Nick
IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b75/Lemontracer/knife1.jpg[/IMG]
I have had a yearning for sometime now to have a go at making a knife. I have read BB and admired some of the works of art and thought Im going to have a go at that one day. Well guess what? I finally did it! Last week I booked on a 2 day course with Dave Budd at his workshop in Dartmoor.
I booked 2 days because I thought if I am going to do this, I want to do the whole thing. I wanted to make the knife from scratch, right up to sewing up my own sheath.
On my arrival I explained to Dave that I wanted a lightweight neck knife for general bushcraft duties. I showed my design to Dave and we then set to work.
Dave made a knife the same as my design so he could show me each step of the way. He forged the tip, I forged the tip. He forged the blade, I forged the blade and so it went onto the bevels, tang, normalizing, heat treat and tempering. Dave then took me to choose some handle material. I decided to go for something a little unusual and opted for yew. Once again I followed Dave each step of the way. That took care of day 1
On day 2 we put the finishing touches to the handle then made a start on the sheaths. Once again I copied Dave parrot fashion, from cutting the template to the forming of the leather, the dying process and stitching the sheath. Finally we got busy with the waterstones and put a hair popping edge on the knife.
I do like Daves style. At no time did he take the knife from me, he wanted it to be my knife and that way I have the pleasure of knowing that I made the complete article myself.
If there are any lurkers out there who have been pondering on making a knife and have been wondering how to get started I can certainly recommend a couple of days in the company of Dave Budd.
The down side is that now I have got the bug I can see myself hassling you guys for more information when I embark on my next project.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so go easy on me guys. Here is the finished article. Many thanks again Dave.
Here goes for the difficult part, trying to post the pictures!
Nick
IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b75/Lemontracer/knife1.jpg[/IMG]
