Lost track and have four on the go right now. First a small hunting knife in 1084 and a fillet knife in 15N20. Have a long way to go with file work but still mixed feelings since it seems to be the fashion and following a fashion is not in my nature. Learned that grinding a fillet knife before heat treating will not save any time if it warps. And straightening something that thin is really a challenge, and I have straightened 20 ton girders in less time with a torch. Main goal with the pins was to have each one different than the one beside it so they changed shape along with the handle from front to rear. Used red spacer on the handle but it looks more brown and blends in with the wood grain. Second one with Zebra wood cut for the end grain. Handle finish is a little odd from something I learned a few decades back. Heat the wood until hot too the touch, coat with spar varnish and keep the layer thick until it stops soaking in. sand all varnish off up to 400 grit exposing the wood and apply several coats of Tru-oil sanding until smooth and finish with 1000 to 2000 grit, apply last coat and wax after sitting a couple of days. At least I think it gets waxed with regular wax but the Tru-oil product has a finish coat the Cabela's did not have in stock.
Very nice John. Cool what you did with the pins. What is the red band in the tail end of the hunter? Was that in the scale material or did you assemble? I like how you matched up the grain in the fillet knife. That looks really good.
The red band is a G10 material and the handle black portion could be G10 or paper micarta. Should have written it down, was off cuts I picked up a few months back. The red stripe was cut wider than needed then stood on end. Makes it easier to align before drilling. For the handle I essentially worked from the stripe outward. Only sanding to length after all pin holes had been drilled and everything lined up properly. A good bandsaw and new blade do most of the hard work when cutting an end off the board. Of course marking the pieces helps or you spend a couple of minutes getting sorted out when sanding the sides flat. Or you end up with two left scales, not that I did that or anything The finish on the fillet knife has turned out real nice and will get a couple more pictures once the sheath is done.
