A quick look at one of my projects...

Thanks Rick. Glad you're okay with it. Cause there's a lot of work in this blackwood now. :) The grain flows perfectly as the handle widens. Like these scales were made for this knife.

We're getting close to being able to bend those shells now.

Not too much to report because I was almost all day carving and sculpting the handle.




 
And just for the record, I don't have a bench full of miniature scissors, pens, cell phone, hammer etc. The knife really IS that big. :D
 
John, I have been watching this one closely and have learned a few new techniques. One thing I learned myself a long time ago is never make it a fixture of the knife till you are a 100% satiated with the result. As I watch along on this one I am reminded of how many times one assembles and dis-assembles a knife's components when fitting everything up! I have never used pins in assembly because, well.................frankly I wasn't sure how to. I am seeing an easier way than the few times I tried it!

I got to ask about this pic!

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In the upper left corner is a tool with a brown wooden handle. I first thought this was an awl but, after looking at the pic a couple of times I rather think it maybe for tightening the pommel nut. Did you make the tool? The nut itself is that something you made or bought. I don't recall ever seeing one in a supply catalog like it!
 
The tool is the 'wrench' for tightening the finial nut. I made the wrench and the finial from scratch. The finial nut matches the rest of the fittings.
 
I like a lot the sculpted handle, very elegant!!
I'm a little worried about the bending of the shells...Sometimes with "s" guards i don't visually appreciate when the lower lug looks like starting at acute angle with the handle. It is likely that i'm getting used to like the knife as is too much to be able to visualize any further modification ;)
 
This is coming together real nice. This is going to be real top shelf material when you get it finished! John do you always have a final vision before you start? I find sometimes I have a real good idea of what I want but sometimes I have to let the piece talk to me!

No I ain't krazy, I just play one from time to time, as they say,!!! :what!: :happy:
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Okay, I've been working away at this. And down to the last few pics. I've really pretty much covered what I set out to do in the first post which is just to give a little view into how I put handles together. It turned into a bit more than I anticipated, though it still fell short of a full blown WIP.

I also want to mention that I have no idea why photobucket won't load all my pics properly. They are loaded right when I first post them, then a few days later, half of some of the pics are not showing right. But a few days later, they will be loaded properly again. So it will correct itself. Sorry for any inconvenience.

I've cleaned up, polished and rounded all the sharp edges of the guard, as well as all the others surfaces of it prior to bending the shells.


Here, the shells are bent to where I think I want them:


And finally a group shot of all 41 pieces, kind of in the order they go on. All the pieces lock up tight and solid and function as one solid piece. If they didn't, it would never leave my shop. If I was not 100% confident in the strength and integrity of this build, I would find a different way.


The knife is now assembled and headed off to the sheathmaker for leather. When it gets back, I'll do the final clean up, polish, fit and assembly. It will go for professional photos after that before going to it's new home. There will probably not be any more photos now until the pro pics.

Thanks for viewing this and I'll still do my best to answer any questions if there are any.
 
Kind of a weird question but what kind of paper towel are you using under the electrical tape for the blade protection? Awesome knife!!
 
John, a few quick questions. The first is this. I often see a piece as I want it in my mind. Occasionally I do drawings but even with drawings sometimes I see something that I am not liking the look of and make changes in progress. You drew out this one pretty much completely and it pretty much to drawing as best as I can tell. So here is the question!

Is this the way you normally work, (by drawing) and do most of them follow as closely to the drawing as this one???

Next question, and I went back twice and looked for something I missed but didn't see it!

Did you bend the guard cold or heat it up???

Oh, by the way this one is going into my own personal file for reference, while you stopped short of calling it a tutorial, it has been a very informative WIP. I have enjoyed the follow along! My compliments to the maker!!
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Your killing us John! Can't wait to see the pro pics.......that ended up with more pieces then I thought, excellent work.
 
I like the shape of the "s" guard...very pleasing progressive curvature....complete success!!! Do you have some sort of gig for bending?
 
C Craft said:
John, a few quick questions. The first is this. I often see a piece as I want it in my mind. Occasionally I do drawings but even with drawings sometimes I see something that I am not liking the look of and make changes in progress. You drew out this one pretty much completely and it pretty much to drawing as best as I can tell. So here is the question!

Is this the way you normally work, (by drawing) and do most of them follow as closely to the drawing as this one???
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I usually have a drawing for every knife once the blade is shaped. Usually I forge the blade, profile it, then do a drawing so I know what the handle and fittings will look like. This eliminates things like weird curves and angles, unsightly handle profiles and such. I try to stick to the drawing, at least as far as proportions, lines and angles. Fittings, materials and embellishments sometimes change on thy fly but that doesn't affect the final outcome of the blade.

If you are following a drawing and don't like the look of something as it progresses, you are probably either not following your drawing or you need to do a better job drawing in the first place. :D The purpose of the drawing is to know that I can make a knife with visually pleasing lines and proportions. I think one of the worst things a maker, especially a newer maker, can do is just wing the handle shape, angle and proportions. That usually leads to a not pleasing profile.


C Craft said:
Did you bend the guard cold or heat it up???
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I heated the area I wanted to bend with a torch.
 
stezann said:
I like the shape of the "s" guard...very pleasing progressive curvature....complete success!!! Do you have some sort of gig for bending?
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I used to spend time making a jig for bending but no matter what I tried, the guard still came out looking 'kinked'. It lacked the nice smooth flowing curve. After talking the issue over with a couple of my good friends, we all came to the same conclusion. So now, I just bend them free form, apply a little heat here and there and bend a little here and there, twist and tweak if needed. The result is much more natural and flowing.
 
J. Doyle said:
If you are following a drawing and don't like the look of something as it progresses, you are probably either not following your drawing or you need to do a better job drawing in the first place. :D The purpose of the drawing is to know that I can make a knife with visually pleasing lines and proportions.
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John, my problem is I can't draw exactly too proportion by eye what I am seeing in my mind! So I get close and then when I see it actually coming together that is usually where I see what was wrong with my drawing. Sometimes I correct on the fly and it works well. And then there are times where I stopped and say OK this is a fine corner you painted yourself into!! Usually it can be fixed but there has been times when that one went aside and I re-started the whole process with an en-lighted eye, so to speak!
 
The nice thing about a drawing, is that the knife CAN be made exactly to the drawing. People do it in all kinds of different fields everyday. It's a blue print.....of a knife. I take my lines, measurements, everything off the drawing. If you're careful, it HAS to come out like the drawing.

My point is, especially on a project like this one with so many parts, don't even start it if you're drawing isn't right. There have been times where I've left a drawing sit on the table for days and days because something didn't look 'right'. Everytime I walked by it, I'd stop, stare, turn it end for end and upside down. Looking at it from every angle until I figured out was was throwing my eye. More often than not, it's a VERY subtle change that makes all the difference in the world.

I'm not the best drawer in the world. Not even close. In fact I'd say it's more difficult and takes longer for me to draw something than it takes me to forge and grind the blade or shape the handle. Blades are pretty easy for most people. I don't see too many blades that are badly misshapen. It's handle angles and shapes where a lot of people get off track. I can forge and grind a blade to shape pretty easily, really. After I have that, I need to know that the handle will flow with the blade shape and be properly proportioned.

Once you have your blade to shape and exact size, trace it out and then fit a handle that's pleasing visually to it. Then it pretty much has to turn out like your drawing, if you're careful. For drawing, get a set of french curves. If you get a handle that you like and want to use again, make a pattern and save it. I have a whole drawer full of blade and handle patterns, and patterns for guards and fittings. They can really help lock a design in.

If it doesn't look right on paper, it most likely won't look right on a finished knife. If it looks good on paper, nice flow and proportions and lines, then chances are, it will look right when the knife is finished. Of course, small subtle tweaks are often possible and even necessary but the general lines and proportions can stay the same as your drawing.
 
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