My blade, Snakewood's handle

[Stormcrow]

This blade was commissioned by a fellow who posts on the PaleoPlanet froum under the name Snakewood. He wanted a knife blade patterned after the knife I made for the airman to take to SERE training, but with a hidden tang that he could put his own handle on. He's making the knife and a sheath for a customer.
Here's what it looked like before being shipped:





Note the plentifully-stout tang. It's approximately 1/4" thick at the blade/tang transition, tapering slightly to the end of the tang and tapering distally to the point of the blade. The blade is around 7" long, forged from 3/4" round 5160 and given my typical triple normalization, triple hardening in canola oil, triple tempering heat treatment.

And here's how it looks now:





The handle is osage orange (bodark, as we Texans pronounce it) mortised to fit the tang, the guard is copper, the pins
are 1/4" brass with bronze flange bushings, and the butt of the handle is Montana big horn sheep held with brass pins.







And for a sense of size-in-hand:



Looking forward to seeing what he does with the sheath and with the other blades I'm finishing up for him. :)

[Loneforge]

Nice job thanks for sharing!

[HWooldridge]

Bois d'arc (bodark) is some tough stuff - almost impervious to breakage. Nice knife all around...and posing the dog with the jeep in the background is also a good shot.

[Stormcrow]

Thanks, I'll pass word along to Snakewood. I'm working on four smaller knives for him to put handles on.

HWooldridge - That's his dog and jeep. :)

[metal99]

I really like that style of pin on an antique looking knife. I restored an old puma for a friend of mine that had the same type of pins thats when I fell in love with them.

[AndersMJ]

That knife has some fine lines even though I will never understand why American survivalists and the like prefer those 6-8" blades - too big for fine work, too small for serious chopping. But I'm from Scandinavia and our knife culture differ by the fact that we usually never go past 4 inches for a blade.

[Stormcrow]

Sheath pics forthcoming in the next few days.

Anders - You're not the first nor the last to comment on larger knives in the outdoors. I can't wrap my head around why the Scandinavian design is so appealing to many folks, either. :) The difference preferences shall forever remain a mystery to each other. I have no problems with big or little knives, as long as the fellow with it finds that it suits him and he can do the tasks he wants to with it well.

[AndersMJ]

Sheath pics forthcoming in the next few days.

Anders - You're not the first nor the last to comment on larger knives in the outdoors. I can't wrap my head around why the Scandinavian design is so appealing to many folks, either. :) The difference preferences shall forever remain a mystery to each other. I have no problems with big or little knives, as long as the fellow with it finds that it suits him and he can do the tasks he wants to with it well.

So true. I have had the discussion on various outdoor forums in the past, but have now reached a point in my life (and age) where I couldn't care less what other people use - if it works for them then I'm happy on their behalf. :)

[Stormcrow]

Snakewood made a rather nice sheath to go with the knife. I particularly like how it acknowledges the blade's choil and follows the curve of the inside of the handle so well.







As before, the photos come from Snakewood. Not my handle, sheath, dog, Jeep, hand, or...um.... tattoos. :)

[Daniel.85]

Epic.

Great knife man

[metal99]

That handle goes well with the bricks haha lol. really like that sheath man.

[tantofolder]

.....as American as it gets....GREAT JOB to you both!!