specialtywoodsjames
#5, Filet
These knives were made for a friend. The handles are made from off-cuts from the counter of his music store, Metropolitan Music in Seattle, WA. The wood is sycamore which, as it turns out, is not nearly as easy to polish as it's close relative, maple. The blades are Helle stainless from Norway. The sheaths are made of vegetable tanned, 5/6, tooling shoulder, stainless wire and waxed poly thread. My favorite of this run is #5 (third of the filet knives.)
The handles were done this time by grinding a copy of the Helle blade tang from mild steel. I drilled a rough slot in the handle blanks with a 1/16"x6" drill and then burned out the recess for the tang to size by heating the faux tang to cherry red and driving it into the drilled slot. This technique seems to make a much tighter fit to the tang without the disadvantage of the weakness of a glue joint in the handle. It brings the disadvantage of leaving a burn discoloration in the handle around the knife blade.
The handles and sheathes were finished with a combination of linseed oil and Beeswax thinned with turpentine.
#5, Filet
These knives were made for a friend. The handles are made from off-cuts from the counter of his music store, Metropolitan Music in Seattle, WA. The wood is sycamore which, as it turns out, is not nearly as easy to polish as it's close relative, maple. The blades are Helle stainless from Norway. The sheaths are made of vegetable tanned, 5/6, tooling shoulder, stainless wire and waxed poly thread. My favorite of this run is #5 (third of the filet knives.)
The handles were done this time by grinding a copy of the Helle blade tang from mild steel. I drilled a rough slot in the handle blanks with a 1/16"x6" drill and then burned out the recess for the tang to size by heating the faux tang to cherry red and driving it into the drilled slot. This technique seems to make a much tighter fit to the tang without the disadvantage of the weakness of a glue joint in the handle. It brings the disadvantage of leaving a burn discoloration in the handle around the knife blade.
The handles and sheathes were finished with a combination of linseed oil and Beeswax thinned with turpentine.