St. Jude Knife... New Sheath...

[just_a_hunter]

Link to Auction.  

I been a member here for a lot of years and this is the first knife I have built in that time. I've threatened to a few times but I finally got my equipment and time to do it.

Anyhow, I'm going to donate this one to the St. Jude auction and thought I'd do a small build along pictorial.

I'm not near as good as some of you and I wish I knew how to forge.

Until I learn I'll have to stick with the L6, 440c and rasps..

First is design and template.
     

Then plasma cut, annealed, profiled and drilled to the template.
     

Slack belted..
     
     

Heat treated..
     

Lots more sanding to a mirror finish.
     
     

Todd

[just_a_hunter]

I was going to use a piece of Doug's Koa but it will have to go on a little smaller knife.

It's hard to beat brown elk antler for a good backup though.
 

Scales cut.
 

Glued with stainless pins.
 

Sanded and shaped.
 

Hopefully I'll get it finished up tomorrow. More sanding and buffing to go then on to the sheath.

Once again, I feel awful small and mediocre posting this here among the talent this forum holds but I appreciate you reading.

More to come..

Todd

[D.Ellis]

Nice looking blade so far........I might have tried to keep a bit more of the bark on the antler personally, but that's personal preference. Nice design.      
Darcy

[just_a_hunter]

Thanks!

Yep... That's my being out of practice shining through. The scales were a bit thick out of fear of making them too thin. I do not like dyeing the antler. The bone part really shines after a good buffing session so I think it will turn out alright but yeah, I would have liked a lot more of the bark myself.

Todd

[Bobby Urban]

Very nice.  I find/found antler to turn out too thick when I started working with it and ended up removing a lot of the character getting it down to something in size that didn't resemble a table leg.  I now go rather thin and add liner material if needed.  I like the blades with the differing rasp patterns showing through like that.  

Nice plas cut by the way.  Steady hands.

[Lin Rhea]

Great job. It's good to see you here and showing your work.    

[Doug Campbell]

Looks good Todd, and nice tutorial. Looking forward to seeing that piece of Koa on a knife.

[gudspelr]

That looks great. Looks like you spent some good time thinking things out (which I think I still struggle with at times...). The front of the scales are contoured nicely which can help keep down on the "blocky" look for a handle. You appear to have good grinding skills, too. If you wanted to add another technique in on the next one, you can taper the tang. It can be a preference thing as for looks, but a distal taper also serves a meaningful purpose, too.

If you try it, just make sure the taper starts in front of the front most portion of where the scales will be. If you try to start the taper right at the front of the scales, you run the risk of there being a small gap between the front edge of the scale material and the tang where they keep going on the same angled plane away from the metal...and it sucks...

Anyway, great job and thanks for posting your progress pics. And don't think of yourself as "less than". Looks lots better than stuff I've come up with   .

Jeremy

[just_a_hunter]

Thanks, all..

I've finished up the knife...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Todd

[just_a_hunter]

and the leather work..

 
 
 
   

And it's off to the St. Jude auction.

Thanks again for looking and the comments.

Todd

[JMR]

Very nicely done!

[KSCATTRAPR]

Great looking knife and sheath. Good work sir.

[Over&Under]

I'd be proud to own that one Todd...well done!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Nice work Todd.  Great Cause also!  

[Missouri CK]

Awesome Todd!  Something cool about a guy who is a great hunter, good craftsman, and a humble cool dude. Hats off brother!
Chris K

[ksbowman]

Great Job! I had no idea you were making knives!

[steadman]

Great job buddy  

[Gatekeeper]

Very nice!

[just_a_hunter]

I wasn't happy with the first sheath (or the second    ) I made for this knife. I think with a lot more study later, I have a little better handle on the leather work even though I need a lot of improvement still.

Please feel free to comment good or bad.

 
 
 
 

Thanks,

Todd

[D.Ellis]

The leather work looks pretty good     . The leather, at least from the pics, looks like a cut from a poor area of the hide, or just from a lower quality piece. Looks more loose and fibrous than the better stuff. If so, you will have trouble getting really clean nice edges and all sorts of other problems. I suppose what I'm saying is, from what I see, you are a better leather worker than you may think.   :D  
Darcy