swc knives

[halo]

has anyone bought one of swc's kit's?

been thinking of getting one and putting my ws micarta woodlore away for safe keeping now there not made anymore,and is antler easy to work with because i quite fancy antler scales i picked some up off the park ranger at wollaton hall a while back.

any feed back would be great as i dont think you can go far wrong for £65,and i would'nt be that sorry if i lost one of these!

cheer's all
halo

 

[-Switch-]

Good thread.
I was going to ask about peoples experiences with swc knives too as I'm also thinking of getting the kit. I tried searching on here but 'swc' is too short for the search function to recognise.

Halo - £65 is a good price for the knife but remember you'll need to get a sheath made as well. And good sheaths don't come cheap.

 

[halo]

hia switch,i know sheaths arn't cheap so i'm going to have a bash at making my own,
i just wish i was as good at leather work as rapidboy'his work is somthing else still practice make's perfect as they say,that way i can put a fire steel loop on it and have a matching antler handle if it's not too difficult to work with.

halo

 

[Isshogai]

Hi Halo,

I bought one of SWC's knife kits a couple of months ago. Since I finished it, it's the only knife I've used .

The instructions with it were clear and concise, the quality of the blade is excellent and despite it being my first full tang, I was able to produce a very nice knife indeed.

Definitely recommended.

 

[billycan]

I bought an SWC kit late last year, for £45 and had him do the heat treat and obviously bevels aswell which brought it up to £65.
The blade seems good and was finished pretty well when i got it and it holds its edge well. The instructions were clear except for one diagram of the handle profile which wasn't to scale so had to get him to send me a correct one.
I swapped the bubinga scales provided with a nice block of walnut and used the stainless pins, instead of the brass or patterened ones which he provided.


i'm after another one, actually just a blade blank if you know where i can get one?

 

[halo]

that's that settled then just need to know how antler is to work with
thank's isshogai
do you have any pics?

halo

 

[RichUK]

i'm after another one, actually just a blade blank if you know where i can get one?

I seen one some where on ebay ?

 

[AlexRowan]

Can someone point me to these SWC blades? I've tried google and searching the forum and no luck.

I've spent ages looking on BB and other sites but simply can't find what I'm looking for...

All I want is a woodlore shaped blade (basic shape, doesn't have to be a copy) with a full tang. Preferably a blade kit so I can make the handle/sheath but to be honest I think I'd buy a whole knife if I could find one!!!

Any help much appreciated...

 

[scanker]

http://www.swc-handmade-knives.com/

 

[eraaij]

I can recommend the blanks from Steve Wade as well:

Finish and edge retention were great on this blank. I consider the grind on par with the better Alan Wood Woodlores out there, including my own.

-Emile

 

[Ogri the trog]

You wont be dissapointed Halo,
Steve offers great kits and is able to add finishing touches should you want them. I had an engraved kit and its just fantastic.

No affiliation other than a satisfied customer etc.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[halo]

hey ogri'i like the sound of the engraved kit what's the engraving like,quite fancy my user name engraving on it?

halo

 

[AlexRowan]

Has anyone got an info on the hardness of the blades from SWC?

I see they are 57-58 RC. I was told that the RM/AW was around 61-62?

what is the relative/real world difference between the two??

Ta

 

[bushtuckerman]

I heard the woodlores were 58!

I think my choices have become one of either a ben orford or swc. i like.

 

[benjamin.oneill]

I heard the woodlores were 58!

I think my choices have become one of either a ben orford or swc. i like.

I love the look of the Ben Orford one. I also like his philosophy, we have lots of good wood here, why go getting it from far flung places.

Does anyone know if SWC (or Ben for that matter) do blade only blanks? I have emailed SWC but await a reply. If so, do you know roughly how much they came out as?

Thanks

Ben

 

[leon-1]

Ben I had seen unground blanks (no edge bevels) from SWC before on ebay IIRC. I think he was selling them for about £25 at the time.

 

[bushtuckerman]

he seems like the kind of guy who would sell you a blank if you asked, but apparently it can be tricky getting hold of him.

right on, I can't see the point in random foreign woods, i much prefer the english woods anyway. and his is a damn nice knife. with swc i doubt you pay much extra for the wood for the handles, but if you're against sourcing foreign wood on principle then i suspect you could get a lone blade blank anyway.

 

[leon-1]

he seems like the kind of guy who would sell you a blank if you asked, but apparently it can be tricky getting hold of him.

right on, I can't see the point in random foreign woods, i much prefer the english woods anyway. and his is a damn nice knife. with swc i doubt you pay much extra for the wood for the handles, but if you're against sourcing foreign wood on principle then i suspect you could get a lone blade blank anyway.

True we have some truly wonderfull woods in the UK, but some like Oak are believed to have corrosive effects on steel (partly due to high levels of chemicals in the wood itself) so if you were to have a knife made with Oak scales you would almost certainly require some form of liner.

Some of the foriegn woods have qualities that we do not find in indigenous woods which make them very suitable for handles on knives. I have used striped ebony and the way it behaves in both temperate and arrid enviroments is impressive (prolonged dry heat that would cause many woods to warp away from the tang of a knife having little effect on it). Then some woods like cocobolo (apart from having a lovely grain) are quite oily and as such have quite a natural resistance to the ingress of liquids.

 

[Shing]

Native boxwood makes a very good handle, very hard close grained wood, a pale yellow colour and used to be used a lot for knives and good quality wood working tools. Sycamore and ash would be good too.

I think Rc56-57 would be the right hardness for a bushcraft blade, hard enough to keep a good edge but soft enough to sharpen easily in the field and tougher than a harder blade.

 

[bushtuckerman]

OK now it makes more sense, i hadn't though about corrosive effects i must admit. Why isn't ash used more for knife handles? it's used a lot on other workshop tool handles. and beech? with the choice i'd probably have a birch handle. i haven't used boxwood, it sounds interesting, am i right in thinking it grows lots of relatively thin limbs? striped ebony is a very nice wood, but i wouldn't buy it myself, it's not really justifiable for me. how do you guys rate yew as a knife handle wood? there was a thread on bb about ben orford's knife which was done in yew, and there were comments about the durability, and it's use as a kitchen knife (given the whole poisonous berries thing...)? i personally very much like the way it looks but would think twice. doesn't the woodlore have sycamore scales? i think its scales are pretty good either way.

ian