Malice9610 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Been working on this blade for months, I recently added another child to my family so time to work on knives has been very limited. With this one I wanted to go for the best possible fit and finish I could do. I probably hand sanded this blade for a solid 20 hours. When I went to start the handle, I cut the main piece ( Lacewood ) in two. flipped the pieces and glued them back together with the spacer ( Rosewood ) and then drilled the tang hole. Did a bit of surface sanding after the glue had cured and there were no lines or gaps. I was elated. I then started to file in the groove in the tang hole to hold the tang, and thats where the problems started. the small bit of lacewood that is directly after the brass decided it did not want to be a part of the handle anymore and it popped off. So I sanded the glue off both of the mating surfaces and test fit the handle probably 100 times before final glue up and I could not detect any gaps at all. Glue it up and move on to handle shaping and sanding cant see any lines or gaps the whole time I am working on it. Get the handle up to 220g and decide I want to see what the handle looks like, so I give it a quick wipe with BLO, and thats when the faint epoxy line in the spacer reared its ugly head. Should have used Clear epoxy not the White.. I am also not exactly impressed with the Lacewood, The block had a beautiful texture, but once shaped it lost a lot of the patterning that appealed to me. Honestly this is probably my best work I have ever made. I just wanted to make it better then it is. Next up, is my first ever attempt at a leather sheath, so at least the knife will have fewer flaws then the sheath will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Still a very nice knife in my opinion. You'll always learn things to make the next one better. The faint little flaws you see, many others will not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice9610 Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 I think if I had not been so hung up on trying to get the finish " professional " looking, I would be very happy with it, Problem is I have about 10 knives floating around my house right now that I have made, that when I look at them after looking at other peoples work I think to myself " Man you really could have done that a LOT better ". I know its a learning curve and the only way to get better is to keep doing it. I just really wanted this one to be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 You said it probably is your best so far. Looks professional to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Malice9610 said: I think to myself " Man you really could have done that a LOT better ". Join the club Brother. If you can't see something to improve in your work you aren't as good as you think. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhitee93 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 17 hours ago, Frosty said: If you can't see something to improve in your work you aren't as good as you think. That is perhaps the best quote I have seen on this board... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME1149 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Personally, I really like the patterning of the lacewood and would'n't have noticed the slight glue line if you hadn't brought it up. Beautiful knife all around in my eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 3 hours ago, rhitee93 said: That is perhaps the best quote I have seen on this board... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I think it's nice work. Your comment about the lacewood texture has me thinking that maybe a single coat of linseed oil isn't revealing the true potential here. I've used tru-oil "gunstock finish" on a hardwood cane with impressive results but it took the better part of twenty applications to get there. After a dozen or so applications, it'd only take a drop or two on a clean cloth to coat the whole cane. When it was done, the finish gave the wood figure a depth that wasn't really visible at lower coat counts. On the other hand, that finish was pretty slick and shiny which might not suit a working knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice9610 Posted October 29, 2018 Author Share Posted October 29, 2018 I thought I posted this already, but it would seem I did not. I decided rather then grind the handle off, I would test out the CA glue treatment on it, Which I am glad I did as I really like how the handle turned out after doing so, Granted it took about 20+ coats of CA and I burned through a LOT of 1200g sandpaper, but I am quite happy how it turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.