Now that we have a new forum, I guess it's time to start up a new thread documenting my journey into knife making and miscellaneous hobbies. A lot of time has passed since I was last able to work on a knife (or anything really), due to a steaming pile of troubles at home and some issues with my health. I'm glad to say, that I am somewhat back in action... Or slowly building up to it at least. Here is the current knife I'm working on. Learned several new things, and made many mistakes after being away from the shop for so long. Surface grinding a Kephart pattern designed by one of our own. I take it up to 600 grit to remove the dirty stuff, and put a clean finish on. Although 98% of it will be covered- but it helps to have a clean starting point. Removing excess green canvas micarta. I'll be keeping it simple for the prototype, also being very short on time to finish before my upcoming trip. Handle will have three 1/8'' solid ss pins, and a 1/4'' ss tube. One of the mistakes I made along the way, was being a cheap sob not reaching for a brand new belt, and grinding after sundown with just a headlamp. Sheath pattern Keeping busy, worried about my personal deadline- I brought in some stuff to do at work. Stay tuned..
Beveling the front of the scales I learned it's a really bad idea to use a router the way I did. By taking big cuts in one pass, and not using a fence. The router grabbed the micarta and threw it across the shop twice. Risky business for your fingers too. Proceed with caution. Used a piece of scrap wood for the test piece. Roughed out Logo etched Finished, rough- but it works.
Onto the leather... Something differen't I've been trying, haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet. Pricking iron for a different style stitch, compared to the normal western style, that sits in a groove and in line. Back stitches, looks like ass. Haven't quite gotten the hang of using an awl yet. Front of the stitches look good (to me)
Thanks man, went through some rough times, and had to disappear a while. But I'm back now, and I'll be slowly building up to posting regularly again.