Few Projects Since Getting Back In The Shop

As some of you know, i mangles up a disc in my back in early February 2017. After months of physio, waiting 8 months for MRI's, light duty at work, and laying on the couch bored and frustrated, I have finally been able to spend some time in the shop over the last couple months. Been working on a variety of projects from hunter, to fillets, to an integral socket spear. After Photobucket turned to Sh!+ and basically screwed everyone over, i had to switch to a different hosting site and start uploading again which has taken some time. I figured i would share some of that with you fine folks.

A local printing and promotion company was having a big sale, so i decided to have some shirts and stuff made with the logo I am using. My girlfriend who does all the website and Facebook stuff, and takes the pictures designed it sometime last year, so we decided to try it out. Doing a Facebook give away to draw some traffic, had a few people who are interested in buying from the next batch, and a couple very loyal customers who will get one when they pick up their next knife.


AEB-L hunter, with Dymondwood and a wheat and black colored sunburst sheath that isn't sewn yet in the picture.


AEB-L hunter, with black paper bolster, green G10 spacer, and stabilized Black Ash burl scales. Sheath also not sewn in the picture.


80CrV2 hunter, with forge texture and camo Dymondwood. (i dont really care for the stuff but it was dirt cheap when it was available and people seem to like it)


80CrV2 Carter pattern small hunter with forged texture and cocobolo scales (hate that hammer mark at the top of the plunge, but it was either leave it or break the shoulder)


AEB-L Large trailing point skinner with Bubinga scales. (this wood is insanely hard and has a tendency to burn with anything other than brand new belts) Its not oiled in the picture, which i did after, and oiling makes a whole world of difference with this stuff.


AEB-L Large hunter, with black paper bolster, G10 spacers, and green curly spalted maple. (and apparently dirt on the bolster)




AEB-L Large fillet, .060 thick, and an 8 inch blade as per the customers request. Black paper and G10, with blue dyed box elder burl that had been sitting in my drawer for 7 years waiting for a knife to put it on. I used a camouflager stamp to create a sort of fish scale pattern on the sheath.


And now, a whole different project, an intergral socket head spear. This was a random idea from a guy who originally wanted a tomahawk, but changed his mind. Since i dont have a press or a power hammer, all work was done with brute force and determination. This one is made from some large 5160 plate I bought from Cal a few years back for a different project that I never ended up doing. The customer came up with the general design and i made it happen. Everything except the bevels was left exactly as it came out of the forge and heat treat, hammer marks, bits of scale, burned on canola oil and all. The handle is Ash and the sheath is secured by a strap around one lug. First picture shows one of the plates i started with beside the spear in its early stages.

 

Hey Brandon.love the shirts...... !!!!! and those sheaths and knives are real nice.
See you on the weekend.

 

Wow, nice batch of knives! You are really "back" in the swing of things! I love the green maple and G10.

Put my name in for a T-shirt. I collect knifemaker T-shirts.

Dan

 

That’s some fine looking knives and cases . Like you T shirts too.

 

I’ve been waiting all day to look at these and they are well worth it. Very nice work!

 

Again I'm in awe at some of the plunge lines that people on this forum are able to create. And everything else. Sheath for filleting knife is such a nice touch.

 

Thanks everyone for the comments. @cuatroXcuatro for me the key to plunge lines is a file guide, which allows me to run up against the side of the platen, keeping both sides lined up the same. Basically a grinding stop. I have had a few questions about the radius at the top of the plunge, but all it really takes is overhanging the belt a bit. Once I get to about 80% height, I hang the belt off the side of the platen about 3/32 and the flex helps soften the plunge slightly and radius the top. I really like the Trizact belts for plunge cleaning as well. The thickness and structure of the abrasive allows me to essentially use the side edge of the belt to clean up against plunge lines.

 

Hmmm looks like those Trizact belts are hard to source.

 

I haven't had any trouble sourcing them. I have gotten them from USAknifemaker, knifemaker.ca, pops, and trugrit.

 

ToddR I wipe the front of the scales really carefully with a rag and acetone until no squeeze out is visible, then I support the knife in a vertical position while the expoxy is curing. Gravity makes sure nosqueeze out can come back. That is if I understand your problem correctly. Sorry for moving off thread topic.

 

The thing that helps me is a brass scraper. I just grind a bevel on a piece of 1/4 brass rod so its like a sharp chisel. Since the brass is softer than the blade steel, you can use it to scrape off any epoxy that gets missed without risk if scratching your ricasso area.