My own personal hunter...raised clip w/ claro walnut

J. Doyle

J. Doyle

Dealer - Purveyor
I have never used one of my own knives on any of the deer, elk, bear, or antelope I've killed over the years. Sad, I know. :) Our firearm deer season opens tomorrow and I told my wife this year, I'm field dressing my deer with one of my own knives.

So I took a couple days and and finished one for myself to use. It's kind of surprising, this knife isn't the steel or the wood that I thought I'd use for my own hunter but I love it just the same. I will use this knife as research and practice.
I used 1095 for the steel because I wanted to give it a real world test and see how it holds up with my heat treat on it. I chose curly claro walnut for the handle because it is a really nice piece and walnut just seems to be classically associated with hunting (on fine rifles and such). Plus, after the season, I will use this knife to practice some checkering on and I think the bold curly figure will look really cool showing through the checkering. I put some of my .45-70 rounds in the picture because it's my favorite rifle cartridge and I've killed a lot of things with that rifle. The damascus collar looks a lot better in person. I had a hard time getting good photos of that.

Specs:
Hand forged from 1095 steel, clay quenched and etched dark
7 7/8" overall, 3 5/8" blade, 3 1/4" actual sharp edge, .195 thick at the ricasso with sharp distal taper
False edge not sharp
Heavily rounded spine and ricasso edge
My own damascus collar
Curly claro walnut handle with oil finish
Stainless steel checkered finial (I am NOT going to be making a matching damascus finial :D, It's for my own knife and I really didn't have the extra time and recessed like that, I don't see much point, especially checkered)

All comments, discussion and critique welcome.









 
As usual, looks awesome. I have become a big fan of your work, our taste in knives is right in sync. Sure is nice the way it is, not sure if I would want to checker that or not, you'll need to post some before/after pics when you do it.

I want to try a hidden tang, but so far I've only made full tang. On this knife, for example, is the handle glued on permanently or is it a take-down setup? Is there an advantage to using a finial vs. a completely hidden and pinned tang? Sorry, just more newbie questions.....

Oh, and do you have a sheath for it yet? I'm studying sheath pics too since I'm starting my first leather work this weekend.
 
J. Doyle

I have said it before and I will say it again. When you make a knife for yourself, it should have a flaw in it. Otherwise, someone will see it and want to buy it. And, you go back to the drawing board. I do not see any flaw. Perhaps a big scratch on the blade or a void in the handle. If you want to keep it, go drop it on the floor a couple of times. :3:


Secondly, it is way to pretty to get all bloody. Nice walnut! It seems to be the right size/shape blade for cleaning up a deer. The handle shape is right for cutting/holding the blade both upside and downside. It should work great for field dressing.

Our season starts tomorrow also. I am waiting to go next weekend. Good luck with your hunt.

If you are like me, you look through the scope and always ask yourself, "How many knives can I make out of those antlers??" Knife makers are a little off, at times.

DeMo
 
Looks good. You're definiately part of the elitist knifemaking aristocracy alright ;)

I've skinned a mess load of critters with my own knives, but they're all the early and junked up ones that I can't sell. Not sure I could convince myself to keep one as nice as this one you're keeping. Hope your hunt goes well.
 
Mr Doyle, you are the master of the beauty of understated elegance. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but even your 'users' are jewels.

If it's not a trade secret, I'm interested in your handle construction as well.
 
Nice work, you sure make some good lookin knives. I'm headed out in the morning to try a stick a deer too. I have the very first knife I made and a more recent one in my pack...this is about the first time I'm chomping at the bit to gut a deer.
Good luck
 
Excellent craftsmanship . I never dare take close ups of my knives like that, to many flaws. But your attention to the finest details is......WOW!!
 
Thanks for the comments guys. I really appreciate it.

DeMo- I appreciate your sense of humor. Your posts never fail to put a smile on my face. Thank you. :)

Jason- Your post put a smile on my face too. ;)

Self Made Knives said:
As usual, looks awesome. I have become a big fan of your work, our taste in knives is right in sync. Sure is nice the way it is, not sure if I would want to checker that or not, you'll need to post some before/after pics when you do it.

I want to try a hidden tang, but so far I've only made full tang. On this knife, for example, is the handle glued on permanently or is it a take-down setup? Is there an advantage to using a finial vs. a completely hidden and pinned tang? Sorry, just more newbie questions.....

Oh, and do you have a sheath for it yet? I'm studying sheath pics too since I'm starting my first leather work this weekend.
Click to expand...

Anthony, I did make a sheath for it, pretty simple and plain. My sheaths are okay. Well made and finished/tooled/stamped decent. They're not as good as the knives have become of late so I often work with a professional sheath maker these days. Just couldn't justify it for my own knife.

As for the knife, this is a take-down model and probably will stay that way. I don't think either way has any advantage really that would be noticeable in real use. If you want to get right down to absolutes, a properly made take down is probably stronger because of the hidden pins and finial nut/bolt fastening.

The one place the take down has an advantage for me is there isn't that looming sense of finality. You can work on the knife as a whole or any of the parts individually. That feature is nice but it comes at a price and that price is extra time and precision. Things must be made to tight specs and there isn't a lot of room for your hidden fasteners and stuff must be carefully placed.

This knife for example has 4 hidden pins that run through the back side of the collar and into the end of the wood handle, two on each side of the knife. One on each side is probably enough but I like to overbuild everything. Those pins eliminate any chance of handle twist. The guard collar is fit so carefully that it has no choice but to go on in only one spot, exactly the same spot every time. There is no room for it to slide up and down at all. And of course it is press fit VERY tight to the sides of the ricasso. Then the handle cavity for the tang has also been very carefully hollowed out and hand broached and filed to the exact size as the tang so that when I slip it up to the guard all the hidden pins engage and there is no room for the handle to rattle around on the tang. It can't twist hardly at all. That is without the finial. Then the end of my tang is turned down by hand and made into a bolt essentially. 8-32 threads one solid piece with the tang. I don't weld or braze a piece of all thread in there. I actually turn the threads on the tang itself. Then the finial nut tightens down providing force through the handle against the guard and up tight against the guard shoulders.

So the tight precise fit of the guard and handle eliminate slide and slop, the hidden pins eliminate twist, and the finial nut eliminates pull apart or separation. It is VERY strong. There is hardly room for any epoxy any way, although most times in the end, I will put it in there anyway. Usually my finished knives for collectors are not take downs. This one will be a takedown for it's whole life probably. So that I can take it apart and clean it up restore it if need be.

I want to be clear that this is only MY way. It is not right or wrong and the way anybody else does it is also not right or wrong. This is just how I do it.

Thanks again for all the comments.
 
Thanks for the great explanation! I knew there was more to this than I could see. I like the idea of the takedown, but it does sound like a lot more work.
 
Here's a couple quick pics I just took on my shop bench with knife and sheath. I think my Dad has some pics of it in use while I was dressing the deer.

A little stained from the blood but other than that, none the worse for wear.



 
Id have a hard time doing anything else to that knife. Sure is purdy. Should make a fine hunter.
 
I think my Dad took some pics of the deer and me dressing it. I didn't think too much of it because I dressed the deer in the dark while my brother held the flashlight. I normally don't get too excited about getting the camera out for a doe. :D

But I'll ask my Dad and see what he's got.
 
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