MOKWEPA, Amature knife making part 2

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Wow that is a great sheath man! I like that feature where you've molded the leather up around the hilt...very cool.

I'll bet that shoe polish thing is worth a try. Shoe polish, in the USA anyway, is usually Carnuba waxes (comes from a coconut or something I think) and may or may not contain beeswax which is a must have for saddle makers. I have a bunch of beeswax that I have never used except to fill up little holes and things. I may try meting it...that would have to be a good finish. That's kind of the thing...lots of good finishes. Oil is really easy and looks good and what is really nice about it is what I learned here...you put the veg oil on first and then the dye. That makes the dye go on really even and you don't get any brush strokes. I use Fiebings alchohol based dye so I am not sure water based dye would work.

I will try the shoe-polish, beeswax thing Mokewpa...thanks for the idea.

Those are great bowies. I was at the fair yesterday and watched the blacksmith display...sorta cool but they don't make anything. I may take a knive making class at a place called Connor Prairie...frontier kind of a place. You bring an old file and you spend 7 evenings making a frontier style knife. I think I am going to sign up.
 
Thanks. I need some ideas on the handle. I was thinking of nice hard wood and engraving a lioness stalking with her head being at the back and faiding out towards the gaurd(about half way) of the handle or a screaming eagle.
 
Mokwepa

It is sort of a classroom setting. I think about 1 hour a night and I suspect one doesn't get to a forge until the second or third night. There is a more comprehensive class called "Blacksmithing" that is much longer.

I suspect there is a couple classes where we hammer the file into the knife, probably a class or two where we'd finish the blade in some fashion, probably a class or two on heat treating, and probably wrapping up with putting on a handle, maybe a class on honing it to a final edge. I've got some very nice, old files that would make really good sized knives, almost bowie sized.

The key thing for this class, no grinders...18th century technology only.
 
Cool. Sounds very involved. Wish i could attend a knife making class, im certain there is a hell of a lot to learn. For now this forum and its members are teaching me far more than i thought possible.
 
Mok,

Nope haven't fired the forge in over a month, actually, since I made a butt-cap for my spear. I generally do most of my work in late fall and winter, when cooler weather prevails. Pretty weak sounding, that, as I talk to a guy who's forging shirtless in South Africa....

Also, the wife's about 3 days from delivering our son, and it's the middle of model aircraft flying season. The 2 year old doesn't stop for anyone!

I tell you, though, I'm pretty inspired to try a knife like the one you showed in Post 22, with desert ironwood scales when I do get out there next. Maybe a small steel guard too.....

So many hobbies, so little time!

J
 
Congrats on the little one.

I also fly, and it might not be a surprise but i fly spads(www.spadtothebone.com). Flying a spad dogfighter and a few electric jets at the moment. Built a 8kg super spad stick with a US41cc gasser, strapped on a video camera and got some aerial footage of animals, was good fun. Forging is taking up all my flying time now, crashed the dogfighter and am busy rebuilding it, slowly
:).

Going to start work on the bowies scales today. When i attempt to engrave the scales, i presume i do this before i fit them incase i skrew up the engraving?
 
Thanks, Mok! LOL, seems we share a few interests, eh?

I'm not sure if you'd want to engrave your scales before or after, I can see advantages to both. If you engrave them first, you risk damaging your work when you install the rivets.... Engrave second, and risk having to forcefully remove a flubbed scale....

I'd probably be tempted to engrave them on the knife, but I dunno. I lack the artistic vision to engrave much of anything....

J
 
Here is the start of the handel. I used a piece of "sickle bush" which is very common here (actually a pest) and boy was i surprized. Once sanded smooth and oiled, it shines a bright orange in the sun and changes color as you move it arround, kinda 3D like. Very pretty. I drilled out the tang first this time then one scale then the other, got a good tight fit. The photo only has two pins but it will have three(just a temp fit)

KwenaBowie.jpg

Left to do:
HT blade and straighten a minor bend
Polish
Assemble
rub scales with steel wool and fit
Engrave..........maybe

Do you think i should engrave or leave it, it looks kinda nice plain?
 
My vote always is for rugged utilitarian simplicity.

I REALLY like the look of that one! Very nice work on the guard shape.

Have you noticed how much better your current work is than what you produced just a month or 2 ago?

J
 
Straighten then heat treat.

Don't get side tracked with carving on the handle. Learn to do decorative filework first if you really want to pop their eyes out. Then do the carving/inlay/engraving.

Work on making your own mosaic pins. All you need is some copper or brass or bronze tubing, brass or copper or bronze rod/wire to make a contrasting pattern inside the tubing and then epoxy fill the whole thing so that it will hold together to make your own mosaic pins. Very decorative way to pin the scales.

Work on learning how to blind mount your scales so that you don't see pins (yes, I know that sort of contradicts the advice on mosaic pins, but it produces an impressive handle).

Find a good epoxy so you can epoxy and pin your scales. Helps keep moisture out of your tang.

If you have a palm sander, rip the pad off and get some adhesive backed sanding/grinding paper to tack to it. This gives you a flat steel plate with an abrasive surface to use to clean up your blades. It gives you the power of hours of time on flat stones in minutes.

Right now you have a good looking knife that would be a credible showing here in the US.
 
Thanks for the kind words.

The mosaic pins sounds good, any good sites that explain how its done?

Im using epoxy called Z-poxy(30 min stuff). Its designed for model aeroplanes and is heat/water/solvent/shock resistant. Ive used it for a few things other than planes and have yet to see it fail or break away. Quite expensive but lasts quite a while.
 
Z-poxy's good stuff. I've used it a time or 2 myself. I do prefer West System, but it's more expensive still. It's what Dad and I used making a cedar strip kayak. Very thin, though, and that may not necessarily lend itself to this work (though it can be thickened, as can the Z-poxy)....

J
 
For what it is worth, Valkman, one of our reident knifemakers, turned me on to Devcon epoxy, Cheap and works great.
 
How would you thicken Zpoxy? Can you do the opposite and thin it out?

Decided against the engraving and did a little brass gadget arround the centre pin, looks good i think. I saw how to do mosaic pins but theres no chance of me getting that stuff out here. Have to wait till i get to a hobby shop.

I spoke to a guy that made all the lodges furnature and he has tones of off cut that he said i could take. He only uses indigenous wood. He has red ivory, leadwood, tamboti, wild olive and lots more. He cuts his own burl aswell. Cannot wait to go pick some up, as soon as my guests leave. Sounds like quite a score.
 
Epoxies can generally be thickened or thinned. Both will reduce the bond strenght to some degree.

Most folks thin epoxies by adding alcohol. A drop or 2 goes a long way. This will take some bond strenght away, though. Some thinning results from heating epoxy (when I need thinner hardware store epoxy, I keep the tubes in my pocket before use, especially in winter in my unconditioned basement)...

They're thickened by adding thickening agents. These are generally powders that simply add mass to the glue. Microballoons are commonly used, but lots of us RC plane guys will also use baking soda. You add it when mixing the glue, and add until you get the consistancy you like. You can get it so stiff it's like old window putty if you like.

If you were thickening the glue to better fill a tang-to-scale seam, you might use very fine sawdust from the wood you're working. Then the glue will be closer to matching the final colour of the wood.... Closer....

Lots out there!
http://www.jamestowndistributors.co... Additives&categoryId=210&refine=1&page=GRID

J
 
Sounds good. I kept some of the sawdust when i cut the scales for this purpose. Im probably going to need it. The scale to blade fit has a very small gap near the gaurd. Here is the brass "thing:)" i made for the pin. Its the back of a .375h&h case (i have hundreds) that i just drilled out, countersunk and sanded fush with the scales. What do you think?

Can1001.jpg
 
Great idea using the cartridge! Very relevant to the lodge and work you do.

Don't be reluctant to remove the scale to fit to closer tolerances with a new piece if you plan on selling this one. I've walked away from many a seemingly great deal on a knife because the maker didn't want to get the fit they could have is they'd just tried another piece of handle material that wouldn't have left a gap>
 
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