Frostts Laplander 75 blade. Knife scales frrom spalted Sycamore than initially began as a log from the woodpile. Sorry about the poor picture quality - crap digital camera.
My first knife
- Thread starter boisdevie
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Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
My first completed knife was also a Lapplander. It's an addictive hobby, this knife making business... You have been warned..
How have you fixed the scales and where the sheath? 
How have you fixed the scales and where the sheath? Scales were fixed with epoxy - no tangs because I think with modern glue they're not necessary - I hope.
I'm waiting to order some leather from Le Prevo unless I can find something I can recycle into a sheath.
I'm waiting to order some leather from Le Prevo unless I can find something I can recycle into a sheath.
Epoxy, like any other glues, is not perfect for all occasions. You need to make sure the surfaces you glue together are not contaminated, even the oil in you skin can cause problems, you can use acetone to degrease both the blade and the wood. The other thing epoxy is susceptible to, is heat, that can make it fail fairly quickly, particularly if the wood is dark, just keeping your knife a bit too close to a fire could soften the glue enough to make the scales part with the blade. The failure is in the molecular structure of the epoxy rather than in the way it sticks to the wood/metal.
A while back, I wanted to make a firesteel with a turned handle. So I epoxied the wood blank to the steel, and a couple of days later turned the handle on a lathe. Well, tried to. The small amount heat from turning the small bits of wood with the chisel was enough to make the glue heat up and fail.
Also, I had to remove a complete plank from the side of a boat once, it had been fitted poorly, all the tools needed to do that was a heat gun.
the other thing that i've found is that scales with no pins tend to be weaker in "Shear" strength- basically you couldn't pull them apart easily, but they could be pushed off with some force.
It looks good but as has been said pins would help the shear strength of the scales. You can buy brass rod from B&Q.
You can improve your pics by taking them outside using natural light and read the manual on to find the minimum focus distance and crop the photos if necessary.
You can improve your pics by taking them outside using natural light and read the manual on to find the minimum focus distance and crop the photos if necessary.
