Companion primal knife for retired SWAT officer

Stormcrow

Well-Known Member
Some time back I made a primal knife in my warfighter profile for a retired SWAT officer who teaches at a military school. It was an 8" long blade with a 1/4" spine forged from 5160 steel and a hemp over leather cord wrap. Upon recieving it he proceeded to use the heck out of it and was so happy with it he decided to order up a companion knife for doing smaller, finer work.

Here's the first knife he ordered:

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The second knife was forged from 3/16" x 1" 1084 plain high carbon steel from Aldo Bruno. Here's what it looked like after forging with the profile cleaned up but before the bevels were filed.

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After hardening in canola oil and tempering three times, I wrapped the handle. There is a slab of leather underneath the wrap on either side going the full length of the handle. They have holes so that the hemp wraps through the steel and the leather. The three-strand Turk's head know is in black cotton cord, and then whole handle is sealed in amber shellac.

After all of that had cured and the edge was sharpened to shaving sharp, it looked like this:

companionfinished.jpg


He's done a bang-up good job making a Kydex sheath with a firesteel loop for the big knife and has made a pair of sheaths for the companion. After I get pics of the companion sheahts, and with his permission, I'll post those up.
 
I love your work.
One question though, how well does the shellac hold up ? I didn't think shellac is weather-proof at all.
 
James,
I have said it before but it is worth saying again. I love your stories and your knives. Another great one. Wade
 
Thank y'all!

Firecog - It'll scuff, but it's an easy repair. As for weatherproof, it's been used as a wood finish for millennia. I wouldn't necessarily want to gut a critter with it, but for general use it should be fine.

Messerist - It's the naturl color of shellac.


Here are the sheaths that the customer made for his knife set:

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He commented that the companion knife throws sparks off a ferro rod better than anything he's used. He's very pleased with the set and is planning on getting a bush sword in the future to round it out. :)
 
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