Part 8 - Done!

Snapped some pics of the finished knife.






(sorry I tried to do hydra logo, but its impossible with the tools I have to do something that complex)


Next Project
Me and a buddy already started on another knife project. here is a teaser where I put in silver steel pins to hold blade before cutting out rough shape. Not sure if people want updates, otherwise I might as well only post the finished pic.

Will it be dishwasher safe?

the steel isnt stainless, so no the handle material is stabilized (pores/moisture replaced by glue/resin under high pressure though) so there is no risk of cracking in the washer if I was dumb enough to do that.

updates pls, rly enjoyed the progression of your first one, especially since this is something i would never even consider thinking about or doing

alrighty. I will make it more short updates with milestone pics rather than tutorials like the first one though to cut down on the writing effort. many steps will be similar too so there isnt any point showing them.

was going to do kydex and G10 this time so you got to see me trying to mold plastic in the oven, but I'm liking the way the handle is turning out too much atm so it will have to get a leather one. I'll go with a different style though.

handle material is this: stabilized lime green poplar

its a lot more deep golden/yellow than it is green though, but it is clearly limey.

I was debating going with these, but felt lime green was much less common color.
navy blue alderwood root:

or the maple burl:


This stuff is industrial, but apparently you can do it yourself too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DfZXM2B51Q

this was my pre-purchase photoshopping to try and decide on materials and design:


Main reason to go wood over G10 is that it wont kill my cat and I dont have to use a respirator and gloves. G10 is glass fiber reinforced. I dunno if anyone has worked with glass fiber based insulation in their house etc, and remembers what it does to your skin, but imagine that shit in dust form in the air. bads for you.

forget your skin, imagine that shit in your eyes

the blue one looks so boss though

Part 2.1 - New knife

This new knife section will be much shorter, so ask if something is unclear etc.

This time, instead of going with a mass produced blade I went with a one-off (afaik) from a blade maker in denmark. Here is the dudes website: http://va-knives.blogspot.se/ its actually a really cool blog too, but jesus how can someone who makes such cool design by hand have a website that looks so fucking terrible :S Blade is made from Uddeholm Vanadis 4E steel which is a lol "super steel", like the big boys use in expensive knives (£300 folders etc). Really hard, strong steel basically, but not stainless.

Handle, as I talked about earlier, is made from a block of stabilized lime green poplar. Basically its wood turned into a hard plastic, so:
1. quite tough to cut/drill (broke a drill)
2. cant go too fast because it melts a hardens a lot, and discolors when hot

This blade doesn't have holes that fit corby bolts, which makes assembly a bit more involved because I need to use 2mm pins from silver steel instead, drill holes for them and then glue it all together with boss mode epoxy. I really wanted to use aluminium pins instead, but couldnt find any, and it was a project I did together with a friend (I'll see if I can grab some pics of his knife later, its done) so I wanted to start when he did.

I'm cheating a bit here. There are only 5 holes for pins, but that asymmetric shit wont do, and I'm also too lazy to make a new hole in the metal (or dont have the drill bits capable of drilling in this metal), so I only drill the last hole through the wood part and insert 2 shorter pins there instead of one long one

After that I smear on the epoxy (make sure it gets on the pins so it fills up the holes!) and put it all in a vice over night (24h drying time on this glue)


That done I use a metal saw and dremel cutter to clear away all the extra stuff from the slabs, then file down the handle to shape etc like for knife #1. only it takes 3 times longer now because this material is so hard. I have new respect for the guys who make knife handles from gemstones.

Knife is now sanded down to 1200 grit and I'm using a layer of thick shellac polish to seal any pores (technically it wont have pores and is perfectly water resistant as is, but any small irregularities will be filled also so surface will be nicer):

(yes I am aware it doesnt even look remotely lime green here. its super green in direct sunlight tho)

next update will be with finished pictures for blade.

2.2 Handle done

didnt need more than 2 coats of polish, and I sanded most of it off and skipped more. The material is naturally shiny enough, and I think I prefer more of a satin finish.



Next up is sheath. I will probably wait a while until I do this. Like maybe until after summer. My current idea is something dark to make the green of the handle pop. maybe dual colors, like dark green + black. I want to do something fancy since the last one turned out so well to learn some new skills, like multi-dye and patterns. example of something that could work:

alternatively something with shiny silver rivets on it:

Long time, no see! I finished this thing during christmas holidays. if anyone is interested in the steps I can talk about it otherwise here are pics:









there is no proper belt loop, the idea is you can attach some brass ring or such and put that in a belt or attached to whatever instead.

here is a pic halfway through while I'm making the pattern (my neighbors probably super hate me because it takes like 2 hours of banging with a hammer):

why are you meditating on carving up The Coccinellidae, not cool man