Just finished this one up for my brother in law (as a surprise). Blade is forged from a John Deere mower blade, which seemed appropriate because he is a large John Deere fan. His two favorite hobbies are shooting clays and fly fishing, so I patterned the blade after a bird and trout. He builds race cars for a living, so I used red and black g10 (the fiberglass connection) for the front of the handle. His last name translates to something about birch, so the main part of the handle is stacked birch bark. The handle is backed with a piece of cherry that I've treated with hardener then sanded, treated with danish oil, then hand buffed with steel wool. No sentimental reason for the cherry, just thought it worked color wise Hopefully he likes it. My sister had let me know she thought he'd like one based on things he said about knives I've been giving others, but he didn't feel comfortable asking me to make him one. 

Knife, surprise and brother in law conjure up all kinds of funny images. 

A very fine knife indeed

I have to agree with Charles that brings up almost vaudevillian images.

Nice looking knife he's going to love it. . . Depending on how you LET - HIM - HAVE - IT, that is. 

Frosty The Lucky.

good job.real nice blade.

Practical, sympathetic handle in unusual material combination behind a useful blade with good allround edge.....I like the knife a lot... and Your good intensions also increase it overall.  

That hammerhead shark signature is awesome!......

I was going to comment on the blade, but templehound did it for me. 

Nice work, Nate. 

He should love it, Nice work. 

Haha, you guys are always good for a chuckle. They're married with a son now, so I think the ship has sailed on the more threatening surprise  Now any boys coming around my daughters may get a different type of surprise! Luckily I have a few years before that (boy I hope I do at least).

I appreciate all of the kind words. He was very happy with it. He's had a go at making a birch bark handle himself for a fly rod he's making, so he appreciates the level of pain in the tookas that is. I promised him a sheath once I teach myself the next part of this learning journey, leather work. I've got kydex sort of figured out, but kydex didn't seem right for this knife.

Templehound, the hammerhead shark is from my daughters. My 8 year old informed me you are supposed to sign your "art projects". I told them about maker's marks and how bladesmiths often sign their work with pictures. My 5 year old daughter thought it should be a picture of a shark because she's obsessed with sharks. I thought it would be a fun idea to use a hammerhead shark and swap the head with a cross pein. My wife actually drew the shark for me on the computer. Then I printed that out and transferred it to electrical tape as a resist for the the electro etching. I guess in the end you could say the entire family played some part in the creation of this knife, which is kind of neat in itself.

By the way, when I say the daughter is obsessed with sharks, I mean it. These are the curtains she picked out for her room (yeah I'm proud of my zany little girl):

Those curtains are awesome. And so is the knife, nice work. 

Cool curtains, I like zany kids, good luck keeping ahead of her.

That's gotta be one of the best touchmark stories ever. You're a lucky guy.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 7/30/2017 at 2:03 PM, lanternnate said:

Then I printed that out and transferred it to electrical tape as a resist for the the electro etching. 

Could you elaborate on this? I've tried a variety of things for electroetching resists and not had much success.

12 hours ago, Gavin Rondeau said:

Could you elaborate on this? I've tried a variety of things for electroetching resists and not had much success.

It's not a perfect method, but it works until I have things refined enough to order proper stencils. I print out the image in the size I want (can't be taller than a piece of electrical tape is wide). Then I cut the image out of the paper, not right to the image just cut a square/rectangle somewhat close around the image. Then I put a piece of electrical tape down on some scrap metal or wood. Next use scotch tape to tape the image onto the electrical tape. I cut the image out carefully with an exacto knife. Take off the scotch tape and paper, and gently peel up the electrical tape and you have a stencil you can place on the blade. I've tried both q tips and wads of old cotton t shirt as my etching pads. Seems the q tips do a better job etching and the t shirt does a better mark.

Lanternnate, thanks!

Very nice knife. One lucky brother in law. 

I've made knives for my brothers in laws, and my son in law. Lots of fun to see the smile on their faces when they received them...

Made some of these for my sister' too!