Thanks for all the positive comments guys
I've left the bump as it is as I felt that the handle would be too small to be comfortable if I took it down any further, it's not a big knife, the blade is about the same length as a Mora, and the handle is quite slim compared to commercial knives I have. but it feels right in my dainty hands
The antler itself isn't too hard to work, I used a drill bit held in a vice to drill the antler out to accept the blade, and it was trimmed down using the work bandsaw.
The blade itself is an old Sheffield steel wood chisel reshaped with an angle grinder(working slowly so as not to upset the temper) and a fine tooth file to get the final bevel.On the handle there's also a slice of ebony and a slice of bone in there with leather washers between them. Final shaping was done with a file and sandpaper.
The brass end cap was made by a mate because I'm cr&p at turning, the domed bit he did freehand with a craft knife on the lathe! It's all held together with 2 part epoxy.
What's a welt? The sheath is made from some nice leather I picked up at a car boot sale and some thick leather lace. It looked wrong at first but now it's getting used to its form and function and getting battered, it's looking better.
Apart from the brass, the ebony and bone, and the epoxy, all the materials for this knife came from car boot sales.
There was a point when I was making this that it stopped being a collection of bits and started being a knife, difficult to explain that feeling. it just felt right as I was doing it. I use it every time I'm out in the woods now so I feel it's a practical knife too.
Got the bug now as I have another 2 knives on the go!
