N
Nomad
Guest
Sometime around the start of this year, I bought a blade and scales with the intention of having a first go at making a knife (albeit not from scratch). The kit I got was the one in the first photo in this thread...
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101419
Having recently acquired a 1" belt sander, I finally got around to doing it. In the intervening months, the cherry scales and brass pins that came with the blade have vanished, so I used a bit of oak and some brass that I had lying around. I also changed the shape of the blade to something more like the Woodlore shape, and had to regrind the area where the edge curves up (I did it on the sander, doing lots of little bits of grinding to keep the heat down). I found the regrinding quite fiddly and would have to say that I'm not terribly happy with the result - if I was to do something like this again, I would definitely consider making some sort of jig. That said, however, it has honed up nicely and will slice through a flimsy Asda till receipt from ricasso to tip, and from tip to ricasso. Sharp enough to be getting on with.
Anyway, the main purpose was to see if I could put scales on a blade and end up with something that I felt I could use. Quite what I'd use it for, I don't really know, but it struck me that something shorter for whittling and basic shaping would be handy on the assumption that it offers better control of the tip of the blade (I find the woody clone a tad long for that).
Construction was pretty simple. First, I roughened the flat surfaces at the tang to give the epoxy something to key to, then drilled through the 4mm holes into the scales to set their position and drew around the tang to outline the shape on each. After a bit of trimming on the bandsaw, and some sanding at the end faces that would be next to the ricasso, I glued the bits together - epoxy on the pins and on the scales, then assembled it all and clamped it in a vice. A couple of bits of thin softwood went between the vice jaws and the knife, which allowed the ends of the brass pins to poke into the softwood and get an even clamping force over the rest. The epoxy was the slow setting stuff, so I clamped it up tight and left it for 24 hours. The softwood bits came off easily with a bit of levering at the ends.
After that, it was a case of gradually shaping it on the belt sander, occasionally comparing it to the handle on the woody clone, and trying it for feel as the shape came together. The end result is something that's a little more chunky than on the woody, which is what I was aiming for - I like a fairly thick handle. I found the convex parts a bit awkward - it was difficult to get the shape as smooth as on the convex areas, with the result that it feels a little lumpy in those parts when I check closely (but unnoticeable otherwise). Getting the scoring out of the edges of the tang was also not very successful. I used 60 and 120 grit belts, but still had scoring that was too deep to remove when sanding by hand later.
The oak was quite light in colour, so I used my own blend of 'staining oil' to darken it. This was a mix of 80ml boiled linseed oil, a couple of generous dollops of pine tar, and a squidge of Burnt Sienna oil paint (a transparent warm brown colour that is more like an amorphous colour rather than ground pigment suspended in oil), heated up in a makeshift bain marie and poured into a 100mm medicine bottle bought in Boots for pennies. Applied with a finger, left for an hour, and wiped off.
It's by no means perfect, and the surface finishing in places isn't as tidy as I would have liked. On the upside, it does feel very good in the hand - better than the woody clone. Much better, in fact. Overall, I'm happy with it despite the flaws, and I'm especially pleased with the shape and feel of the handle. So, not a work of art, but it seems to me that it has the makings of being a very good working tool.
Some photos below. On my screen, the wood in these looks more orangey than it does to the naked eye. The real colour is more a neutral mid-brown.
General views
Details of the handle
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101419
Having recently acquired a 1" belt sander, I finally got around to doing it. In the intervening months, the cherry scales and brass pins that came with the blade have vanished, so I used a bit of oak and some brass that I had lying around. I also changed the shape of the blade to something more like the Woodlore shape, and had to regrind the area where the edge curves up (I did it on the sander, doing lots of little bits of grinding to keep the heat down). I found the regrinding quite fiddly and would have to say that I'm not terribly happy with the result - if I was to do something like this again, I would definitely consider making some sort of jig. That said, however, it has honed up nicely and will slice through a flimsy Asda till receipt from ricasso to tip, and from tip to ricasso. Sharp enough to be getting on with.
Anyway, the main purpose was to see if I could put scales on a blade and end up with something that I felt I could use. Quite what I'd use it for, I don't really know, but it struck me that something shorter for whittling and basic shaping would be handy on the assumption that it offers better control of the tip of the blade (I find the woody clone a tad long for that).
Construction was pretty simple. First, I roughened the flat surfaces at the tang to give the epoxy something to key to, then drilled through the 4mm holes into the scales to set their position and drew around the tang to outline the shape on each. After a bit of trimming on the bandsaw, and some sanding at the end faces that would be next to the ricasso, I glued the bits together - epoxy on the pins and on the scales, then assembled it all and clamped it in a vice. A couple of bits of thin softwood went between the vice jaws and the knife, which allowed the ends of the brass pins to poke into the softwood and get an even clamping force over the rest. The epoxy was the slow setting stuff, so I clamped it up tight and left it for 24 hours. The softwood bits came off easily with a bit of levering at the ends.
After that, it was a case of gradually shaping it on the belt sander, occasionally comparing it to the handle on the woody clone, and trying it for feel as the shape came together. The end result is something that's a little more chunky than on the woody, which is what I was aiming for - I like a fairly thick handle. I found the convex parts a bit awkward - it was difficult to get the shape as smooth as on the convex areas, with the result that it feels a little lumpy in those parts when I check closely (but unnoticeable otherwise). Getting the scoring out of the edges of the tang was also not very successful. I used 60 and 120 grit belts, but still had scoring that was too deep to remove when sanding by hand later.
The oak was quite light in colour, so I used my own blend of 'staining oil' to darken it. This was a mix of 80ml boiled linseed oil, a couple of generous dollops of pine tar, and a squidge of Burnt Sienna oil paint (a transparent warm brown colour that is more like an amorphous colour rather than ground pigment suspended in oil), heated up in a makeshift bain marie and poured into a 100mm medicine bottle bought in Boots for pennies. Applied with a finger, left for an hour, and wiped off.
It's by no means perfect, and the surface finishing in places isn't as tidy as I would have liked. On the upside, it does feel very good in the hand - better than the woody clone. Much better, in fact. Overall, I'm happy with it despite the flaws, and I'm especially pleased with the shape and feel of the handle. So, not a work of art, but it seems to me that it has the makings of being a very good working tool.
Some photos below. On my screen, the wood in these looks more orangey than it does to the naked eye. The real colour is more a neutral mid-brown.
General views
Details of the handle
