Final Contour of First Knife--New pics

[Cooter Brown]

Knifemaking in quotes because I sure didn't make the blade. My sister sent me the parts.

Posted another thread with questions--thanks so much to whitebuffalo58 and Orvet for the help.

Used a scrap of bubinga. Glued to the tang with Gorilla glue--I roughed up the tang first. Red Loctite on the screw rivets.

I used a stationary belt sander for most of the work, and a drum sander on the drill press for the tight radius of the finger groove. My belt sander is a 3 inch Makita clamped in a homemade table.

I'll live with it a while and look around for some examples before I contour the handle any more. I need to figure out the best tool for that. Prob. finish with Tru-Oil. Need to come up with a sheath as well.

The OAL is 6 1/2"

It was a fun project, and since I didn't require stitches, I consider it successful.










I carefully used the belt and drum sanders to give it the final contour. I put mineral spirits on it to give an idea of what it will look like with a finish. Not sure what I'm going to finish it with. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for the help given so far!

[313 Mike]

Nice lookin' knife! Those handle scales look mighty thick, won't be losing your grip on that one, looks solid!

[glennbad]

Great first build!

Glenn

[orvet]

Nice job.

Try tung oil for a finish. Just follow the directions on the can, and rub down between coats of tung oil.
It looks nice when you get 6-8 hand rubbed coats on it.

[Cooter Brown]

Thanks Orvet, It was a satisfying project and I'll do it again; at some point I'd like to try my hand at making a blade. I've got some old files and leaf springs to use.

I've got some tung oil in the shop and I'll use that for the finish.

Not sure where my sister got the blade she sent me, but I sharpened it and it took a fine edge. It's a handy size for what I do outdoors.

[whitebuffalo58]

Beautiful job Cooter!! The Bubinga against that Damascus looks great!!

WB