Here is the engraving design to be done on the bolster.

Just finished this one.

Blade: N690
Bolster: 304
Handle: Carbon Fibre
Blade Length: 92
Overall length: 205

 

Here's some progress on the engraving on my Dumascus Hunter

Very nice Stefan. What kind of tools do you use for engraving?

I also like that Carbon Fibre handled one. Never saw a tapered tang with dovetailed bolsters before.

Alexander, I'm not doing the engraving myself. Wish I was that good...

Well Stefan based on your encouragement I went and gave the whole "tapered tang" a try a while back.

Came out pretty nice I think. I've since done a few more that tapered to a much thinner point. But for a first try I'm pretty happy with this one.

Oh I agree all the way. I currently have a couple of loveless style blades with the heat treater just because of that fact. I'm mainly interestede in the guard on those since I've never done an integral bolster OR soldered a guard. But I'll do both in those.

Good luck.

Show us the picks as they come along.

Will do!

a unique one of a kind hand made. the blade was made from a saw mill blade, the handle is deer antler.

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Comment by Dario on April 12, 2010

Nice group, I'm new.
My favorite knife are 2, one folder and one fixed blade.
The first are the EAGKE ROCK from Bob Terzuola, because I have wished to buy one from many years. And the second are the Randall 12-11 Smithsonian, the first Randall I have buyed some years ago.
They are:

And

Here whit my Busse FFBM.....

Oh man! Jan, you got a Terzuola? I've love one...but a lefty. But they're virtually impossible to get.

Alexander,

Integral bolsters and soldered guards take a bit of practice like anything else but from what I've seen of your knives you should do just fine! For me soldering is kind of hit or miss, sometimes it works out perfectly and sometimes I redo the joint multiple times. From what I understand, I think that I sometimes overheat the surrounding metal and the flux turns brown. I think that sometimes I don't use enough flux also and that also causes problems with getting the solder to stick. I just need to do it more often and get more practice.

Thanks Tom. I'm hoping one of the integral bolsters will work out good at least.

Years back when I was around 12 years old my dad had gotten me a "scouting" knife. Which for me meant a fixed blade, (looking back I suspect it was around 4" in bladelength which to 12 year old me felt HUGE).

There was a problem with it though. In the actual blade itself was a bottel opener cutout. And on the last day of camp (offcourse) it broke right at that point.

Now one of the counselors saw me crying over my favourite posession in the whole wide world. He took me aside and showed me his knife. He told me: "See this knife? My sister brought that for me when she went all the way to spain on her vacation. I'd like you to have it"

I (sadly) don't have that knife anymore. I'm unsure what became of it. It might've been lost in the mail or something. But I never forgot that man's kindness. I suspect he'd been around his 30's or so when this happened. He visited our church branch yesterday. And I realised...I never thanked him properly for doing something that so profoundly influenced my way of thinking about posessions.

So I decided one of the knives currently in heat treat will be destined for him. He offcourse doesn't know this yet. But I'm looking forward to seeing his face. He doesn't know I make knives or that his kind act had such an impact on me. But I'm looking forward to seeing his face when I hand him the knife I made for him.

Hunter Model: HUN01
Blade: 12C27
Bolster: 304 Stippled and sand blasted
Handle: Red Bush Willow

Alexander,

I missed seeing your post until now. That's a really cool story! Let us know how it works out when you give the knife to your former camp counselor.

Stefan,

Great looking knife Sir! Well done!

Will do once it's finished Tom. It's the next knife on my list while a pair are away for heat treat.

I'm still working on grinding my batch of what will be about 26+/- knives that I will hopefully be sending off for heat treat soon/when funds permit. I have over 20 of them rough ground at 36 grit but need to get them all finer ground. I have maybe 8 that are in need of shaping and grinding also. I need to drill the pin/thong holes, bolster pin holes and any holes that I want to add to lighten the weight of the blanks and/or as epoxy bridge holes also and also maybe touch up some of the spine profiling. Plenty of work to do before putting on handles which I enjoy a good bit more!

Put a handle on that knife. Still needs sanding and polishing but it's looking pretty decent.

I'm getting excited about getting that guy his knife. He doesn't suspect a thing.

Hay Alexander, show us some photos.....

With any luck I'll be able to wrap up the knife this evening. And I'll get some photos then.

It's the top one of the two. Tapered tang, olive drab micarta, one piece guard soldered.

Alexander,

Those look very nice Sir! Nice work! I have the same issues with peening pins though. I have to get a tapered reamer I guess because I typically end up grinding through the area that's well peened exposing the epoxy lines around the pins. One of these days I will get it right consistently.

Since you've started adding bolsters to your knives how much additional time do you think it adds to the knives? Are you charging more for the knives with the bolsters - if so about how much?

Hey Tom, The problem with this one wasn't that I didn't have a reamer...but simply that I drilled the wrong size holes. I accidentally drilled with a 3.2mm drill bit whilst I should have used a 3mm one. 

You'll notice that I did it right on the bottom one which is of the same construction.

One piece bolsters like this take me a LOT of extra tyime. I don't have a mill so I have to do all my  "milling" with my drill press. That takes me about 1,5 hours before the slot is all done. Then there's the added shaping of the bolster as well as soldering the damn thing, drilling it etc.

At the moment I add about a $40-45 charge to the price for adding a bolster. It's just a number I plucked out of thin air though. Depending on the bolster, thickness, type of bolster/guard my price for it might differ from knife to knife.

OK then, I'm the only one without a reamer!!!LOL. I get it right half of the time at least!

I do my bolsters the same way that you do - on my drill press and then with a file and solder mine too.

I asked about the bolster time and price because I am trying to figure out what I should be charging for my knives. I don't actively market them but may do so someday. Right now it's just a hobby especially while I improve my skills. But maybe someday....

Nah, I don't have a reamer either. Never needed one thus far.

Looking GOOD Alexander!! Well done.

Thanks Stefan. That's a compliment coming from you. You're the one that inspired me to give both tapered tangs and one piece bolsters a try.

Tom, did I understand you correctly, do you use epoxy on your bolster pins?

I've gotten started on the sheath for the knife. A first time stamping leather in a pattern for me. Although I see LOTS of room for improvement...I'm quite happy with this for a first try:

Stefan,

Yes, I epoxy them and then peen them quickly. It's probably not the best way to do it but that's how I started out doing my knives in case I over peen them and the pins get loose. How do you do them?

Tom,

Here is a tutorial I put together a while back. Hope it helps

Bolster%20Fitting%20Procedure.pdf

Good work on that sheath Alexander.

Thanks Stefan, I'll be doing the final work on it this evening. The loop has been glued and everything is dry. So it's contact cement and stiching on the couch for me this evening.

The helpfulness going on in the group is just fantastic!  Alexander the sheaths are looking great.  Are you finding it any easier or even less time involved to do the stamping than sewing in the panels like you were before?

I've not really made an estimate on that. I expect it's probably about the same.

Have to say that the current sheaths that I do make the first one with stamping look a little bad.

Great Article on Alabama Damascus and Brad Vice

Milk River DagMMilk River DagMade this one a short while back, just before Trackrock. The 7' blade is forged from commercial Husq. mower blade (a CruV series steel); 13" OAL; guard is hammered bronze; handle is hog jaw with copper pins, antler inserts & pewter; Sheath is deer over cow with copper cones and horsehair roaches; Milk River Souix design on sheath.     Photography by my friend Dirk Lootz, recently from So. Africa (now trying to become a Georgia Redneck). He is an exceptional knifemaker as well.

Short Recurve Bowie     just off the bench, was a fun one to finish up and play with for a bit.

****************************AS WE TRANSITION THIS GROUP FROM A MAKERS GROUP TO A CUSTOM KNIVES GENERAL GROUP, WE WILL BE LEAVING THE MAKERS DISCUSSIONS AND ENCOURAGING THEM TO CONTINUE THEM.**************  I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE MAKERS AND COLLECTORS INTERACTING HERE :)

Hi everyone,

I've not posted anything here for a couple of years. Lost my job a few years back and since then I have not been very active on forums.

Started making slip joint folder in February this year. here is some of my work. Comments please..

Some Carbon damascus and stabilized Maple. Kitchen queen! https://www.facebook.com/HHHKnives/videos/3386521658040269/

HHH Carbon damascus and stabilized Maple. Kitchen queen!

hello  anybody know anything about  "ruana knives " . i never heard of them until a friend showed me some

hello  does anybody know how to get a knife made in antarctica ?  i have knives from the other six continents

Harry Karmun - send me a two way ticket and I'll go down there and make you one.

hello carl rechsteiner if i could afford to i would go there myself and make a small quick knife lol