S
sugs04
Guest
Hi All,
A few months back I decided I'd have a go at making my own knife since I was getting more interested in Bushcraft.
So I took a look at the SWC website and ordered one of the WL like pre-ground blade kits. I followed some of the great threads on this site ( :You_Rock_ )and BB to put it together and this is some pics of my progress.
The bits - The kit arrived with olive wood scales and I had some black and red fibre liners from ebay but I just decided to use the black with the pale olive wood.
First steps were to glue the liners in place on the scales using slow setting araldite and then marking out and drilling the holes. I only have a hand power drill and small workbench so this was a tricky bit but seemed to go relativley well for the brass bolts. However, I didn't seem to have exactly the right drill bit size for the lanyard tubing - something I only really noticed after drilling
...anyway...I shaped the front of the scales and then on to glueing them in place on the knife. I left it clamped overnight for this.
I then profiled the scales doen to the shape of the knife using a rasp drill attachment first, then a set of hand rasps and finally sandpaper. I was a little worried about my craft skills at this point......
Then I moved onto the shaping to fit my hand comfortably. The folk who say look twice and remove once know exactly what they are talking about.
I then worked down through the sandpaper grades and fine wirewool to bring out the grain. You can see the mistake round the lanyard tube on this pic. Ah well, it makes it unique
So final step was to give the scales a coat of linseed oil which brought out the grain and colour.
It was an altogether enjoyable project and I'm really please with how it turned out. I'd recommend it to anyone who's thinking about it. It's not a slender handle but it has a good grip and comfortable so far.
Now for the sheath.......
Sugs
A few months back I decided I'd have a go at making my own knife since I was getting more interested in Bushcraft.
So I took a look at the SWC website and ordered one of the WL like pre-ground blade kits. I followed some of the great threads on this site ( :You_Rock_ )and BB to put it together and this is some pics of my progress.
The bits - The kit arrived with olive wood scales and I had some black and red fibre liners from ebay but I just decided to use the black with the pale olive wood.
First steps were to glue the liners in place on the scales using slow setting araldite and then marking out and drilling the holes. I only have a hand power drill and small workbench so this was a tricky bit but seemed to go relativley well for the brass bolts. However, I didn't seem to have exactly the right drill bit size for the lanyard tubing - something I only really noticed after drilling
...anyway...I shaped the front of the scales and then on to glueing them in place on the knife. I left it clamped overnight for this.
I then profiled the scales doen to the shape of the knife using a rasp drill attachment first, then a set of hand rasps and finally sandpaper. I was a little worried about my craft skills at this point......
Then I moved onto the shaping to fit my hand comfortably. The folk who say look twice and remove once know exactly what they are talking about.
I then worked down through the sandpaper grades and fine wirewool to bring out the grain. You can see the mistake round the lanyard tube on this pic. Ah well, it makes it unique
So final step was to give the scales a coat of linseed oil which brought out the grain and colour.
It was an altogether enjoyable project and I'm really please with how it turned out. I'd recommend it to anyone who's thinking about it. It's not a slender handle but it has a good grip and comfortable so far.
Now for the sheath.......
Sugs
