My latest

[John Fenna]

A couple of P*ss poor photos of my latest.
Made for sale in my local outdoor shop this is a 4" ish E Jonnson carbon steel blade with the rat tail tang twisted into an eye and mounted in the "Henry Rabbet" style in Ash (thanks Greg) and with a cutlers rivet through the eye. The black bit is buffallo horn.
The sheath is 3.5mm veg tan wet moulded, hand stitched with a double dangler.
The leather is undyed and waxed with /Nikwax.

Sorry about that - having real problems with Photobucket today!

 

[Seagull]

I cannot see the pics JF.....
Ceeg

 

[Jedadiah]

Nice work as always John, simple and straight forward, just like the bloke who made it! Will i be able to have a look at this on Saturday or has it already gone to the shop?

 

[rancid badger]

I like that
how thicks the blade John?
And how much for something similar?

Cheers
Steve.

 

[John Fenna]

The blades are 2mm - very like the Frost Mora - and I generally never do two the same!
In fact that was my last piece of Ash, though I have lots of Oak and Beech...
I do not think myself good enough to take commission work yet - I let the buyer say that they want to buy what I have made, rather than me saying "I can make for you"....
At the moment it is just a hobby, not a business, and I more or less just make for my own amusement and then sell to cover my costs and afford more marerials.
I am hoping this knife will bring me in about £30 - £35.
I will bring it along for your comments Jed.
See you fri at GYM!
In the snow.....

 

[rancid badger]

I'm in the same boat John, I love making stuff for the sake of it and if I can cover my costs then thats a bonus.
I'll tell you what though, I was wondering if you might like to do a swap for one of my crook knives?
I'll see if I can find the pictures of it on here somewhere.FounD: p.m. sent
Cheers
R.B.

 

[Robby]

That looks really nice John, can you tell us more about the eye making and rivetting process. That sounds like quite an interesting way of reinforcing a stub tang set up. All of mine have been through tang so far and I was thinking of a stub tang for my next project. Please forgive my ignorance, what is the "henry Rabbit style"??? I haven't come across that one before.

 

[John Fenna]

Wellllll - the problem I had with the tang on this one was that it was a tad short for a stacked handle of the type and length I want and I like.
The simple method for making a hidden tang knife out of a rat tail tang is to drill a hole the depth of the tang - but I have no bits long enough of a sensible width.....
So my answer is a Henry Rabbet handle, as done, and named after by a Mr Henry of the USA (I understand).
Take two slabs of wood, rebate (Rabbet in colonial parts) one to match the tang, glue tang into rebate and the other slab onto the rebated piece. Clamp, let dry, shape handle - done!
As I have found with some I have stuffed up - the glue joint is stronger than the wood!
To make a tougher tang I heated it up (carefully keeping the heat away from the blade!) and reshaped the very end into an eye.
I drilled and parialy shaped the rebated half before gluing - just to make the job of finishing the handle easier and locating the eye possible...
The cutlers rivet was banged in just before final finishing - the horn was fitted before the rebate was cut into the wood so it was a simple butt the horn up to the wood, draw round, cut out to make the rebate, using no more than a Mora for the cutting.
I have made and used many knives of this type over the years and never yet had a handle fail - but then I avoid battoning and such work with thin blade knives anyway!

 

[topknot]

Nice work john.

 

[John Fenna]

Many thanks for all your interest and comments.
Just as a point of interest - does anyone else make knife handles using the Henry Rabbet method?

 

[Robby]

Thanks for that John. I've got the same problems so that sounds like a really good way around it.

 

[JBird]

I've used a similar method except (if I understand correctly) I did not offset the tang. I carved half the thickness of the tang on one side and half on the other then expoxied the whole thing. I hadn't heard of the Henry Rabbet method until now, I used this since I wasn't riveting the tang at the end and kept messing up drilling and clearing out the soild piece of wood for the hidden tang. I have done some light battoning with the knife and haven't had a problem yet. I used a Karesuando blank from ragweed forge for this and have been debating about making one with a Mora.

I like the idea of the eye, will have to try this next time.

 

[Draven]

That looks great

Just as a point of interest - does anyone else make knife handles using the Henry Rabbet method?

And I do as well, working pretty good so far on my Clipper rehandle Seems to work alright for battoning as well, but I make sure that the handle is really just resting in my hand, rather than putting any force on it, so I doubt the tang/handle is receiving much, if any, stress.

Peace

 

[John Fenna]

JBird
It aint the tang so much as the join in the wood that is offset
This means that any force from tang to handle is against solid wood not the joint....and it is easier to carve one rebate not two
It is good to hear that other folks are using the same method of construction and finding it strong enough - even for battoning!
Cheers guys
John