Owl Knife

[EduBacha]

Hello steel lovers, 
I brought to you today a new project, it's basically a knife with an Owl shape. 
In the photos below I show the first result, but I plan to make another one using damascus steel. 

The project: (Blade quenched and tempered)


I take some photos while I was doing it: 
The blade polished by hand


And here with the Cedar handle: 


Using the Dremel Engraver I transfered the draw to the wood. 



And before the finishing I applied some layers of Perma Blue on the side of the handle. 


That's all, now 3 photos of the result: 






Steel - SAE 1070
Quenched in oil
wood- Cedar

As I said it's the first result of the project, so I will make another correcting my faults like the drawing symmetry. 

Thanks, 
EB.

[SpankySmith]

I like it, my only comment would be that the owl would look better if it had some dimension to it, some carved out portions.  When I saw what you were doing with the Dremel I actually expected the next shot would be some carving out.  Give it some dimension and it'd be awesome.   You might also finish out the backside, it would be all feathers, but same concept, with some carved dimension to it.  

 

And thanks for the photos, I like seeing people's process. 

[Benton Frisse]

Awesome, EB! I have that same dremel engraver, yet I haven't used it on wood yet, only steel. 

 

Very creative! 

[EduBacha]

SpankySmith, Thanks for the words!
I agree with you about the reliefs on the wood. I really think that it would be much better if it had some dimension.
On the back side of this knife I tried to find a piece of wood that had some natural drawings, like this: 

I do appreciate your words, next time I will make some reliefs. 

Benton Frisse, Thanks for commenting! 
It's a little bit more difficult to engrave on wood with this kind of rotation tool- like Dremel Engraver- because of the wood fibers. 
I recommend that when you would do something like this, you make the design very slowly. 
It was my first time using the Dremel on wood by the way. 

Thanks again, 
EB. 

[mitch4ging]

Nice. If you do another in damascus, may be neat if you do the owl with inlay...silver, copper....

[Frosty]

Nice work EB. A little more contrast between the engraved lines and the handle would make it stand out better. I'm a sucker for owls very expressive birds. Drawing owls in negative space is very effective as well.

 

There is a lot of potential with this theme and just a small change can change the looks greatly. For instance if the horns angled more upwards than down you have an entirely different owl. While its not the same as the ears on a dog you can imply emotion with how the horns are angled: Sad, curious, angry, etc.

 

I agree, engraving the back will really make a more elegant knife. Naw, that's not what I mean. Maybe I'm thinking more complete? Adding relief is a winner too. You did a good job of expressing some of the bird's back feathers with the wood grain.

 

I'm liking your blade more the more I think about it. I think it's a winner of a theme.

 

Frosty The Lucky.