Heikki’s KITH WIP for Nick Schreiber

Bruce McLeish said:
Tim, that looks terrific.
I think that you're correct about the files. I would recommend Valorbe files. Pricey, but good. Another one is Gesswein. Any of the quality jeweler files are expensive but, like any good tool , are worth it.
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Just ordered a couple Valorbe files. Thanks for the tip!
 
Bruce McLeish said:
Thanks. I just ordered a set. How do you keep the lettering straight?
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Yeah, that's the real trick. You pretty much need a third arm. I end up just eyeballing. You could lay out a line or clamp a straight edge to it. I use the anvil part of my vise, so have to hold the punch and blade with one hand, and hammer with the other.
 
Here is what I have used to keep the individual stamps straight and spaced. A buddy made this tool for me. The stamps fit in the open space in the middle of the tool. It fits 4 stamps. It turns tightens to a snug fit and allows you to hit each stamp independently. I had to make a few blank stamps that were shorter than the stamped set. I hope that makes some sense.

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The best part is it securely holds the stamps so they do not become projectiles. I hit my wife just below her eye with a stamp. It was scary. I cannot apologize to her enough for that stupid move...
 
Bruce McLeish said:
Thanks , Dennis. What are the approximate dimensions?
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I have the 1/4 inch stamps. The hole will change with each set. The tool is just short of 8 inches long. The dials on each side are tapped and hold the blade solidly in place. The stamps are held in place with the cut out.

I used to use my initials to mark my knives. The first ten knives that I made have DWM stamped on the ricasso on the right side. When I got a knife stamp, I stopped using this tool. If you have one of those knives - you are about $5.00 richer...
 
Dennis Morland said:
I have the 1/4 inch stamps. The hole will change with each set. The tool is just short of 8 inches long. The dials on each side are tapped and hold the blade solidly in place. The stamps are held in place with the cut out.

I used to use my initials to mark my knives. The first ten knives that I made have DWM stamped on the ricasso on the right side. When I got a knife stamp, I stopped using this tool. If you have one of those knives - you are about $5.00 richer...
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Thanks. Just another thing to build.
 
My KITH knife is basically finished, other than the sheath, which I should be starting on this weekend. There's a couple things I would have done differently, like make the file work cuts deeper so they didn't wash out so much on final sanding, and maybe not dyed the epoxy black so some of the depth of the file work would show up better. Overall I think it works though.

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The blade is 1084, 59-60 HRC. The handle is African Blackwood with nickel silver pins.
 
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