Another leaf spring knife

[HEAP of JEEP]

By request, I came up with a less expensive version of a Jeep Knife, than the damascus ones I've been making. This was made from a leaf spring out of a 96 XJ. I left the forge scale and hammer marks on the sides, to give a rustic look with a lot of character. The handles are bamboo, finished with brass pins.

 

total length 9"

handle 4.5"

[Daswulf]

Love your Pattern welded stuff more but as a jeep guy...... I like it  

[Prevenge]

I like. Did you buy the scales as pre stabilized pieces or make them? I have actually been thinking of making knives out of all the springs on my Cherokee if it springs another leak or decides it wants any more of my money.

[HEAP of JEEP]

6 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Love your Pattern welded stuff more but as a jeep guy...... I like it  

Thanks, Man.  I like making the other ones better too, but I have a few Jeep friends that want to throw money at me... and I like money... so just whipped this out to show them I can make something that they can afford. 

Working on the next damascus one now.  I'm trying something totally new to me, and attempting some integrated bolsters.  Fingers crossed that my ideas of how to do it efficiently and effectively will work right.  I should probably try it out on a hunk of mild steel, but I'm one of those "jump first" guys.

4 hours ago, Prevenge said:

I like. Did you buy the scales as pre stabilized pieces or make them? I have actually been thinking of making knives out of all the springs on my Cherokee if it springs another leak or decides it wants any more of my money.

Well of course your Jeep is going to spring another leak, and of course its going to want more of your money.  Come on.... its a Jeep. LOL

The bamboo is just a flooring sample from Lowes.  I don't know how it is milled or prepared.  I just grabbed a bunch of different samples (50 cents a piece), and decided I like the looks of the bamboo and wanted to try it.  I sanded it down first, just to see what kind of finish I could get, and it looked decent, so went to town on the scales.  I worked them like I would a regular hard wood, but it turned out to be one of the most difficult things I've ever worked with.  It ruined 2 belts on the grinder, just from gumming them up to the point where they are now useless.  The wood rasp did okay, but it is tough stuff.  I showed this to an old knife maker, I know, and he said he has used bamboo, and he goes after it with an angle grinder.  I love the look of the scales, so I may try that on a future project.

[rhitee93]

The end grain on that bamboo is quite striking.  I didn't know it would show that much figure.  Now you have me thinking...

[jwilson645]

1 hour ago, HEAP of JEEP said:

 

Well of course your Jeep is going to spring another leak, and of course its going to want more of your money.  Come on.... its a Jeep. LOL

Coming from another Jeep guy....................I'm sure you've heard that Jeep really stands for Just Empty Every Pocket.

[JHCC]

1 hour ago, HEAP of JEEP said:

The bamboo is just a flooring sample from Lowes.  I don't know how it is milled or prepared.  I just grabbed a bunch of different samples (50 cents a piece), and decided I like the looks of the bamboo and wanted to try it.  I sanded it down first, just to see what kind of finish I could get, and it looked decent, so went to town on the scales.  I worked them like I would a regular hard wood, but it turned out to be one of the most difficult things I've ever worked with.  It ruined 2 belts on the grinder, just from gumming them up to the point where they are now useless.  The wood rasp did okay, but it is tough stuff.  I showed this to an old knife maker, I know, and he said he has used bamboo, and he goes after it with an angle grinder.  I love the look of the scales, so I may try that on a future project.

I think this is what they call "stranded bamboo", which is made of chunky splits of bamboo glued together under pressure. Between the resins in the glue and the hardness of the fibers themselves (and remember that pound for pound, bamboo has more tensile strength than steel cable), it's pretty tough stuff. (Ironically, for a material that's touted as "environmentally friendly", it's actually impossible to recycle!)

That's a great looking knife, HoJ, but the corners of handle look pretty sharp, like they could use some more rounding. Of course, anyone who drives a jeep is used to unnecessary discomfort....

[HEAP of JEEP]

14 minutes ago, JHCC said:

I think this is what they call "stranded bamboo", which is made of chunky splits of bamboo glued together under pressure. Between the resins in the glue and the hardness of the fibers themselves (and remember that pound for pound, bamboo has more tensile strength than steel cable), it's pretty tough stuff. (Ironically, for a material that's touted as "environmentally friendly", it's actually impossible to recycle!)

That's a great looking knife, HoJ, but the corners of handle look pretty sharp, like they could use some more rounding. Of course, anyone who drives a jeep is used to unnecessary discomfort....

I never knew that about bamboo.  Interesting stuff.

I wanted to do more with the scales, but I was whipped at the end.  After ruining the belts, I went at it by hand, and since it wasn't cooperating, I settled for "Good enough", but I agree that they need a little more love.

[DRoberts]

love the handle. 

[Michael Cochran]

I see I'm not the only one that saw the bamboo flooring and said 'hey that would be a cool knife handle.'  I put some down last year and had a couple pieces left over and saved them for handle scales. I have also saved scraps of black walnut which looks great on a knife as well as it does on the floor. Just today I acquired some nice red oak with some figuring that might look nice. You should befriend a guy that does wood flooring so he can save you some of the scraps lol.