Chicken or the egg?

wmhammond

wmhammond

Well-Known Member
I am just completing my first knife (See my WIP in this Forum) and I have come up against a real dilemma. I chose to build this knife out of Damascus because I felt the finish of the Damascus steel would hide some minor mistakes that I knew I would make and, generally, that has proven to be true. However, as I approach the completion of the knife I am in somewhat of a quandary. With most steel knives I believe you finish the blade and Bolsters, if any, first. Then you glue on the handle scales and finish the wood to the steel, being careful not to damage the steel finish in the process. But if you do nick up the steel it can be repaired easily with sandpaper and buffing - no problem. With Damascus, it must be etched before the handle scales are put on (I guess). My question is is it possible to finish the wood to the Damascus steel without nicking it up? And if you do nick it up how do you get back the nice patina that etching left on the knife without damaging the handle scales finish? Chicken or the egg? I just can't figure this out. Thanks for the help,

Wallace
 
Actually, I think I can stay away from the blade. It is the bolsters and particularly the full tang that I'm worried about. thanks for your response,

wALLACE
 
Some cut, fit & finish the scales before they etch the blade & tang on the Damascus.

That leaves you with just the pin or mechanical bolt area to finish after you mount the scales.
 
It is possible. It just takes some care and some thought. What Laurence said, I've done.

I also will use hidden pins and/or screws to finish the scales prior to etching. Then etch the blade and glue/screw on the scales, finish spot areas if necessary. I've even built a dummy handle, EXACTLY the size and shape of my real handle and finished the scales to the dummy handle then installed them on the actual handle. Not necessary in your case here.

You could pin and tack your scales with a couple drops of superglue and finish them out then etch the blade and glue the scales on first and just finish the area your pins are in after.

A lot to think about when finishing knives, especially where damascus is concerned. But at least your thinking about it.

Some glue the knife up, then think about. They end up with a knife with a damascus blade with a polished bright tang. That look is one of my personal pet peeves and in my opinion, is one of the tackiest and most aesthetically unappealing things you can do to a knife.

Good for you for thinking about it ahead of time.
 
J. Doyle said:
You could pin and tack your scales with a couple drops of superglue and finish them out then etch the blade and glue the scales on first and just finish the area your pins are in after...

Good for you for thinking about it ahead of time.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much my methodology, though I also included dummy pins to do all of my shaping and fit up (the bolsters were stainless in this case), then etched the blade after everything else, scales included, were fully finished but for the pins. I then peened on the bolsters as usual, and only had to finish the pin area after I ground it flush. I agree with John that you could do the same with the scale pins, though in my case I domed the pins so it wasn't an issue. I also agree that it looks tacky to have a polished tang, though I have done it a few times (and regretted it later). I've seen several people apply cold blue to the tang after cleanup (I've done this too, and regretted it later), and while it certainly looks better than leaving it bright, it isn't the same as doing it the right way.
 
Well, here's the rest of the story - The longer I chew it the bigger it gets. I can't finish this thing. I spoke above about my dilemma of how to finish the handle scales with out messing up the Damascus etch. The decision I made was to pin up the scales to the knife and finish the handle scales to 95% then do the Damascus etch and glue up the knife and finish it. Didn't work out.

When I glued up the knife the scales slipped just ever so slightly so I had wood proud of metal in one place and metal proud of wood in another. I also had pins to peen and grind of. When I saw it had slipped I just sat down and thought about it for about an hour. The decision I had to make was could I stand to have the scales mismatched with the tang on my first knife or not. The difference was minuscule and I mean minuscule but I knew it was there. Also I knew that once I peened the pins that I would have to grind them smooth and then touch up the wood around the pins. In the end I just couldn't leave a mistake that I knew I could fix so I peened and ground the pins and refinished the entire knife scales back flush with the steel. In the process I ended just where I thought I would - with the tang shining brightly next to the bolster and blade that were so nicely etched. So now what do I do?

I first taped off all the wood on the knife and then I got out my concentrated Ferric Chloride solution and painted it on the tang with a small brush. After about 30 minutes I washed it off and, guess what, it seemed to be working! The tang was noticeably darker and there was even evidence of the steel layers in the tang could be seen. So I reapplied the Ferric Chloride solution and I'm just going to leave it on over night. Don't know what I'll get but I know I'm going to sleep better tonight knowing I fixed the mistake that I knew I made and knew I could fix. By doing that I believe I stayed true to myself. I must say that I never contemplated the many places that knife making would take me mentally - what fun. Stay tuned.

Wallace
 
Neutralize the ferric with some straight amonia on a damp rag. If you don't, sooner or later you'll see some rust creeping all along the tang and scales joint.

Rudy
 
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