GeneK's KITH WIP

On to the gut hook.

First, a little on design of the gut hook. The main thing is to design it in a place on the knife so that the point of the knife can't poke the insides while using it. This usually means having the gut hook as close the the end of the knife as possible. I see a lot of new designs with the gut hook 2" - 3" from the point and at an angle that will put the point 1" - 2" inside the animal when using the gut hook. Promise not to laugh at this drawing, I'm not an artist. This shows a little of what I described.



Here are the tools I use to cut the gut hook in. A cheap dremel type tool and 1/4" drum sanders for it and 4 1/2" angle grinder with a cutting wheel. I use a medium grit drum to rough them in after the angle grinder and a fine grit after heat treat to finish it up. I have tried the drum sanders from Walmart and they don't hold up. The rubber drum gets hot and distorts. These from Jantz last a long time.




I grind the gut hook in a line parallel with the spine of the point of the knife. Here it is drawn on the knife.



It is easier to keep both sides in line if you mark a spot on the knife to line the grinder up with.




On the the grinding. First, I grind the rough shape with the angle grinder and cutting wheel.




Next, I use the drum sander to grind each side. I grind one side 1/2 way then the other side. It's important to check as you go to make sure you keep the cutting edge of the hook centered.





Here is a picture of the angle I grind the hook at.



With the gut hook ground in, I layout where I want the corby bolts.



Here I have the corby holes drilled and a line of holes that will allow epoxy to flow between the checkered inlay pieces.



Next I drill more epoxy holes for the main handle.



Now on to normalizing, grain refinement and heat treating.




I do all my grinding after heat treating, so I will start on that tomorrow. If anyone has questions on the process of the gut hook, ask away.
 
GeneK said:
On to the gut hook.

First, a little on design of the gut hook. The main thing is to design it in a place on the knife so that the point of the knife can't poke the insides while using it. This usually means having the gut hook as close the the end of the knife as possible. I see a lot of new designs with the gut hook 2" - 3" from the point and at an angle that will put the point 1" - 2" inside the animal when using the gut hook. Promise not to laugh at this drawing, I'm not an artist. This shows a little of what I described.



Here are the tools I use to cut the gut hook in. A cheap dremel type tool and 1/4" drum sanders for it and 4 1/2" angle grinder with a cutting wheel. I use a medium grit drum to rough them in after the angle grinder and a fine grit after heat treat to finish it up. I have tried the drum sanders from Walmart and they don't hold up. The rubber drum gets hot and distorts. These from Jantz last a long time.




I grind the gut hook in a line parallel with the spine of the point of the knife. Here it is drawn on the knife.



It is easier to keep both sides in line if you mark a spot on the knife to line the grinder up with.




On the the grinding. First, I grind the rough shape with the angle grinder and cutting wheel.




Next, I use the drum sander to grind each side. I grind one side 1/2 way then the other side. It's important to check as you go to make sure you keep the cutting edge of the hook centered.





Here is a picture of the angle I grind the hook at.



With the gut hook ground in, I layout where I want the corby bolts.



Here I have the corby holes drilled and a line of holes that will allow epoxy to flow between the checkered inlay pieces.



Next I drill more epoxy holes for the main handle.



Now on to normalizing, grain refinement and heat treating.




I do all my grinding after heat treating, so I will start on that tomorrow. If anyone has questions on the process of the gut hook, ask away.
Click to expand...
Dude this is awesome!
 
GeneK said:
You're talking about my art work, right? :)
Click to expand...
Lol... I have four unfinished gut hook knives laying around here because I couldn’t get it together. I think I can maybe finish a couple of them now. Great posts and a good looking knife to boot!
 
I always love WIP's. It's fun to see the different methods that people use to do the same process. Anxious to see how this one will turn out.
 
Here's a couple steps I do before 600 grit that I forgot about. I blunt the tip of the gut hook so there is no sharpness to it.

Before.


After.


Next, I switch to a 220 1" scalloped, slack belt to round over the spine and ricasso. I don't like to have any square edges on the blade. This takes about 1/2 hour to do with the hand sanding included, but I've had a lot of customers comment on how much they like the soft edges.





Something I did to make the removal and installing of the flat platen quicker. Once I had the platen adjusted to where I wanted it. I drilled 2 holes through the aluminum plate and the angle iron on the platen. When I put the platen back on, I use 2 brass pins in the holes to line it up, and tighten it up. I use a slack belt a lot so this makes changing back and forth much faster.



 
Update.

The blade has the spine and ricasso sanded and it's ready for 600 grit on the flats and bevels. Then on to hand sanding. Before I do that I decided to start on the checkered inlay handle. Since I will be handling the blade a lot doing this, I will save the finish sanding until the handle is ready to glue on.

I use a piece of 1/2" plywood for the handle template. Here I have the handle traced onto the plywood and have marked where I want the top and bottom of the scales to end at the ricasso.



Next, I trace the handle onto the handle block and mark the front of the scales. I like a rounded front to them, so I use a socket to mark them.



Here I am cutting a slot for the jigsaw blade in the mill since the endmill was already set up.



Then I cut the pattern out with the jigsaw and sand to final shape with a little drum sander in the mill.




There are few corners that I had to file to shape.



All done.



I have decided to use stabilized maple burl for the handle with stabilized, claro walnut for the inlays.

Before I cut the inlays into the handle block, I drill the holes for the corby bolts. This lets me use the holes to align everything so it's the same on both sides. I tape the blade to the block and drill through it to make sure the holes line up. Once I have the first hole drilled, I insert a corby bolt to make sure nothing shifts while I drill the second hole.




Lunchtime! I'll get back to it this afternoon. I'm hoping to get everything milled and the inlays fit today.
 
Back in the shop. I use a plunge router with a collar and an 1/8" bit to cut the inlay holes in the handle.



First, I run a scrap piece to make sure it was going to look right.



Then, I super glued the template to the handle block and set the depth of cut. I will cut these 1/4" deep and that will leave about an 1/8" of the handle material under the inlays.




The inlay holes are cut into the handle block.



Next, I super glue the template to the inlay block and cut a shallow outline of the inlay.



Here I have split the inlay block and cut the rough shape of the inlays out.



Now I will use a worn 400 grit belt to sand the inlays to fit. Cutting the shallow outline gives me a line to sand to. Once I have sanded to the edge of the groove, the outside wall of the groove falls away.




And the inlays are fit. A few slight gaps here and there, but these will disappear once I bevel the edges of the inlay hole and checker the inlay.




Here's a rough idea of what the handle will look like. At this point, I will finish sand the blade and get it to the engraver to put my mark on it. I won't split the handle block until I get the blade back in case it would warp.

 
Looking good, Gene. Can't wait to see these inlays complete. Learning how to do inlays is on my bucket list.
 
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