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I tapered all the way to the front of the bolsters, because I couldn't figure out how to get the angles to match between bolster and scale. How is that done? I'm not sure I'm following you Carey (I'm a little dense sometimes!). What do you mean when you say by rounding the front of the...

Josh, I trolled Craigslist daily for a couple of months before I found my anvil. It's a 100 lb. Vulcan, for which I paid $100. It took some patience and diligence wading through the $3-4/lb anvils before finding this one, but it was worth the time and something to consider if you haven't...

Thanks for the help, guys. The tang is already tapered to forward of the bolsters (I thought this would be far easier than trying to get the angles right where the bolsters and scales meet if done the other way) and the bolsters are drilled perpendicular to the center axis of the knife. I'll...

I'm working on my first tapered tang knife which I've also decided to add dovetailed bolsters to. I've done 2 sets of bolsters before (one stainless and one micarta), but they were on flat tangs so I just pinned them together to shape them and finish the fronts before installing them (the same...

Great job, Josh! The overall package looks great together, and the carved eagle is amazing. Congrats!

Thanks for the additional suggestions. Leather would certainly help with getting the fit just right, thanks for that idea. As far as using the contact wheel, I guess you are doing this with a belt installed rather than sandpaper? I could give that a try first before buying/making anything...

Thanks for the tips, guys! I know this buffer is not ideal but it's what I could afford and justify for now. The wheels did not come with the buffer from HF per the original owner, but I don't know any more than that the ordered them "online somewhere." The sewn wheel looks 'soft' so I assume...

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll see what I can come up with!

Looks good Mike; as the others mentioned, each one shows improvements from the previous. The wood looks great too. I just sent away some spalted maple for stabilization, and I'm excited to use it on a knife as I think it's really cool stuff.

At the risk of embarrassing myself with an incredibly dumb question here....is there any easy way to identify a sisal wheel (or any other kind) by sight/feel? I bought a used cheap Harbor Freight buffer recently that came with wheels but I don't know what they are. One has sewn concentric...

Hmm, I checked AKS and managed to miss them there somehow. Those are even more expensive than I remembered, so I guess I will think about making one. How do you get a perfectly matching radius on them like that? Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it!

I would swear some time ago I saw where hollow grind hand sanding blocks in various radii were available for purchase, but I can't seem to find them searching via Google, a few knife supply houses, or on forums. Does anyone happen to know if/where they are available for purchase? Thanks in...

I've ordered from them a couple of times, and gotten excellent service with fast and inexpensive shipping. I have a bar of 5160 from them that I've made a few knives from which has worked fine for me, although I've had some trouble drilling it. It's the only bar of 5160 I've ever worked with...

Welcome Mike; it's good to see you signed up here! Paul

I have what I was told when purchased to be some curly hickory. Would this acid finish work well for curly hickory (and is that indeed what I have, if you can tell from the picture?) Also, the scale on the left side is un-sanded while the one on the right is sanded to 120x. I would have...

Wow, thanks for all the awesome tips and advice everyone! I think it sounds like practice (and patience, which isn't always in large supply with me!) are the big things but some of these little tips I will put to use right away. I do have a flat surface for hand sanding, but no real disc and...

Nick, I have extremely limited experience with this so far (not to mention even more limited skills ;) ), but that finish in your last pic looks a little bit like when I tried this and I didn't have the blade wet enough with oil (ie, I would put a good amount of oil on to start, sand for a...

After many tries using as many different tools and methods I can think of and have available to me, I'm at a real frustration point with trying to get things flat. This includes bolster materials (stainless bar stock, etc.), wood handle scales, etc., etc. The tools I have tried are belt...

I'm just a newbie, but I had terrible results with the EcoFlo dye that Tandy sold me during my first visit to the store. I had problems with poor saturation, bleeding, strange & bizarre colors, etc. I understand it's water based and therefore quite sensitive to moisture. I had better luck...

Yes, it's analogous to the 2" line from the grinder but as you describe it's a line of swirls from the edge of the sanding block (micarta in my case as well.) Something that I've done on my last couple of knives that seemed to really help me is to sand back and forth the whole length of the...