Sneezin and Coffin

J

jkf96a

Well-Known Member
The ragweed these days is kicking my butt. Spent the better part of the long weekend sneezing and working on these two blades, both custom orders. One is a 99 layer multi-bar opposing twist Damascus with a fine piece of mesquite burl. The other is a more utilitarian forged 1084 with natural canvas micarta. I've done six or seven coffin handles and finally feel like I have the process down. Lots of measurements involved in keeping things symmetrical and in making the pin placement look right.
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Really nice work Jason! I checked out your website. That Mother of Pearl Dagger is amazing! Best of Show honors was well deserved.
 
Love the whole package on the damascus model but in particular the mesquite handle makes me want to have that one in hand just to feel the really nice shaped contours.
 
jkf96a said:
........Lots of measurements involved in keeping things symmetrical and in making the pin placement look right.
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I'm not sure I totally understand your thought process on the pin placement. They look off to my eye and I keep getting visually distracted by it.

Would you mind sharing how you determined where to place the pins?
 
The outer pins are all .3" from the edge of the handle. The back four are centered off the coffin corners. The back middle pin is equilateral off of the two rear corner pins. The front middle pin is 1/2 the distance to the guard from the back middle pin on the micarta, 1/3 the distance on the mesquite. Front outer pins are equilateral off of the front center pin, along the .3 line from the edge. I don't doubt your judgment at all, John. I do like the placement on the micarta one better than the mesquite. It's all trial and error, but I do measure some proportionality to every one.
 
Thanks for some insight into your method. I figured there was some reason you chose that way.

I agree that the micarta handle is less visually distracting than the wood handle.
 
I just try to approach it somewhat systematically, with a caliper. This knife, all the edge pins are .3 off the edge. The edge pins are on the lines 1/4 of the distance between the back pins and the guard. The center pins are the point of the X between the corresponding edge pins.
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I really don't know if that's good or not. I wish I could find a way that was more consistent, but so far keeping the edge pins referenced and using them to set the centers has worked OK. Certainly open to suggestions.
 
I think on all the pics you posted, my eye is drawn to the larger open area between the guard/spacer and the first(front) pin(s). In other words, the area between the front of the handle and first pins is much larger than the area between the butt end of the handle and the rear most pins.

I think the eye has a tendency to look at the entire length of the wood or micarta as a whole single piece and is seeking balance.

So in that regard, if the forward-most pins were the same distance from the guard/spacer as the rear-most pins were from the butt of the handle, it would appear more visually balanced.

As it sits, IN MY OPINION, it appears that there is an odd larger space at the front of the handle, then all the other pins are crammed too close together in an off balance space.

If the front most and rear most pins are balanced in the handle, that would than allow you to evenly balance any and all other pins evenly between the front and rear pin groups. If adding two center pins, as you've done, they could then be equally balanced between the front and rear pin groups, which is the other issue my eye is having in the two coffin handled knives.

I'm just lending my perspective. It doesn't necessarily make me right.
 
Good considerations. That big open spot is the worst to me on the mesquite handled one. On the osage, at least it's balanced by the hole in the center, since I don't have a third pin on the center line.

I can say, one reason I haven't put the front pins up so close is because of the way the tang sits. That's the thinnest part of the handle material. I try not to put a ton of pins through the tang either.
 
I've done it before with dummy pins in the scales.....with only one actually going all the way through the tang and into the other side.
 
Same here. On a few of them, the only pins all the way through are the center ones. These two, I put all of them all the way through without any trouble.
 
@jkf96a, I really like the guard and black stripe detail on the darker handle Bowie, very nice.

I noticed on the same that the grind stops maybe a sixteenth before blowing through the ricasso. I’m still very much a noob so I know I’m not explaining it correctly. At any rate, I was wondering if this is done to give the edge support near the ricasso, or is it done on certain types/styles of fighting knives? Or is there another reason. Thanks
 
Honestly there's no real reason. I had the plunges even and symmetrical, so I stopped. On the other one, it all lined up where the ricasso started. I've looked at this exact spot on quite a few JS and MS knives and haven't noticed a standard, although the error is probably in my noticing. I do prefer the look of the plunge ending right as the ricasso ends.
 
jkf96a said:
Honestly there's no real reason. I had the plunges even and symmetrical, so I stopped. On the other one, it all lined up where the ricasso started. I've looked at this exact spot on quite a few JS and MS knives and haven't noticed a standard, although the error is probably in my noticing. I do prefer the look of the plunge ending right as the ricasso ends.
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Gotcha and thanks for the reply. I guess that’s one of the very few advantages of being a noob like myself... I’m still working on plain old grinding. I still have to use a file guide to get the plunges right. Freehand plunges would be tough for me lol.
 
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