Well since the first request for a skinner I have since made 5 of them...and here I thought that there where more fisherman in my neck of the woods than hunters. this one being a different request, I was asked to make the same shape, but to use leather for the handle. I had to think about that one for a while...I now about stacking leather on a hidden tang but this wasn't a option for the client, So I went out on a limb and got the toughest leather I could find and cut them out as if they where scales, Made a copper liner and soldered the front bolster to it and then soldered and pined the liner and bolster to the tang. once that was done I sandwiched 3 layers of leather on either side and glued it with epoxy, once dry, shaped the handle on the belt sander. now seeing that yeah it looked cool and felt really comfortable there was still missing something, not having any leather stamps to make a design on it, I do have a metal stamping kit...so grabbed a few letters and tested some effects and patterns. came down to the letter O that kind of made a reptile skin effect....should of picked V and make dragon scales.. Any how....here it is hope you guys like it. Cheers
nice job man. Grind looks really good. I don't know anything about leather but will that handle shrink or stretch over time? Dragon scales would be really cool lol
Thank you Roy, Yeah that was my though too....but to help minimize that effect I buffed it with pure bees wax, just layered that stuff on it and let it soak over night, and buffed it again. should be waterproof, and moisturized enough that it would help...did tell the client to give it a good rub with wax or leather oil once in a while.
Pierre, Your fit & finish is improving. I wish I could see the filework on the spine. I do see some fine scratches on the blade which could have been worked out with some additional sanding. Certainly looks like a cool little knife and as always your choices of materials is exciting. Dan
Thank you Dan, yeah I cant seem to get those dam scratches out....I go from 350..400.600..1000 and 2000....and still end up with those line scratch... I do most of my sanding before heat treat, and get it up to where I can see myself in the blade...and looks mirror, but once I buff, these things just show up and I go back to hand sanding to where again it looks mirror. I have changed my wheels 3 times now...and still dose it. don't know...maybe I'm missing something. maybe change the lighting in my work area? different type of sanding paper?
I think the key is more time spent at each grit. Those look like 60 or 80 grit scratches. If they get left at 120, they are there for life. Sand each grit 45 degrees to the previous grit, it makes any scratches left from a previous grit stick out easily. Check several times during each grit stage in various light sources. Buffing essentially just polishes an already smooth surface, but no amount of buffing will clean up scratches that are left from 60-80-120 grit paper regardless of compound or wheels. If you want to mirror polish I would suggest a progression of 120-220-400-600-800-1000-1500-2000 followed by green compound on a sewn wheel. If you leave a 120 scratch when you move past 220 thinking you will get it out at 400, it's not gonna happen. The thing to remember is that you aren't sanding out a scratch, you have to sand away everything that isn't a scratch. The scratch is the deepest mark on the blade, so everything else has to be brought down to that same level. Proper grit progression and time spent will be the key. If there is a previous grit scratch left, In my opinion, everything else after that point is wasted time, because going back to fix it negates all other work you had done past that point.
Thank you Grayzer....ill put more elbow grease in to it...and dint know about the 45 degree, I always sanded back and fourth strait line.
Similar to Grayzer, I do a 90°change direction of sanding. E.g. 220 goes longways, 320 goes across, 400 goes longways etc. I think this helps reveal scratches that may have been missed. I also sometimes buff to reveal scratches during this process.
It's great that you are making the knives you do. I can tell you like pushing the boundaries in materials and design. We're happy to offer some constructive criticism so you (and others) can make even better knives. We all learn something new, every day. ;-) Dan
I had an invincible scratch and found after that experience that at 220 or 400 I hit the blade with black and a cutting wheel then brown this makes any deep scratch very noticeable. Also as mentioned rotate your sanding direction is very important and I will occasionally resort to a draw file to make sure everything is flat before going into the 220 or higher grits
Hey Guys, after getting tips from all of you, I was able to keep the skinner for a few more days to do more work on it...so here it is Skinner 2.0! the gap near the bolster and handle has filled out...
Wow! What a difference man.... I just learned something new from this thread also. I never have alternated directions between grits. That is something that is going to change immediately!
