New Knife Project

[Gray Wolf]

Nice work Crash! (nice new tools too...)

[Rick]

Here is a picture link to one of the coffee can forge links I posted earlier. It might give ya'll some ideas.

http://www.zoellerforge.com/customers.html

[crashdive123]

Those are pretty slick.

[Rick]

For those that are thinking of making a forge or use one fired by propane take note.
I was reading an article today that said if you use the forge inside and you sit the propane take inside (such as your garage) then the tank can heat up even if it is sitting several feet away. If the tank heats up the pressure inside the tank increases. If that happens the safety valve could quickly release an abundance of propane with you standing next to it and the lit forge. Use your imagination of what the flash fire will look like.

The article said to always ensure the tank is outside, out of the sun and the safety valve pointed away from the garage.

Makes sense to me.

[welderguy]

So how is the progress coming on your knife project?

[crashdive123]

Making (hopefully) some micarta scales this weekend. Just waiting for the weather to clear up a bit before I go out and get the rest of the things on my list.

[welderguy]

Sounds like fun. looking forward to seeing it done.

[panch0]

I am looking forward to seeing the homeade micarta scales, and the finished knife as well.

[crashdive123]

Me too. Once all of this stops – or lightens up I’ll pick up the rest of what I need.

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[Rick]

Hey! The brother of that wind chime is in my garage getting an overhaul. We've had it for a number of years and the weather had played havoc on the strings. New paint and new tendons and he should be singing again shortly.

[crashdive123]

We've got a few of them of various sizes scattered around the yard. Pretty relaxing melody when there is a gentle breeze.

Guess I should've had a rain barrel or two huh?

[crashdive123]

The rain let up enough to finish gathering the materials. Here’s what was used. The denim is cut in 14” X 2” strips. This is probably about 3” longer than they need to be, but I figured better too long than too short (it’ll sand easy enough). I used a strip of red denim every 4th strip – just kind of curious of the effect it will give.

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Start out by laying the first strip on a piece of waxed paper. Poured the resin and then I worked it in with my fingers (gloved). I found that mixing the exact amount of hardener into the resin (maybe my drops were bigger than theirs) caused the resin to set up very quickly – less than four minutes. The good thing was that the now jelly like resin ball came out of the can very easily so that I could mix another batch.

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I used a total of 20 strips of denim.

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Folded the waxed paper over it all and clamped the boards up. It’ll sit this way for about 24 hours and then cure for a few days (or until I make a forge). After curing, cut it in half and hopefully I will have two very similar looking scales.

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[Rick]

Guess I should've had a rain barrel or two huh?

Only if you can find stable ones.

I was going to ask about the Heineken can but the pictures answered my question (I think).

I've never had resin balls but that can't be good.

I would never have thought of using cloth for scales. Now I'm anxious to see how it turns out. Is that something you dreamed up or did you run across it some where?

[crashdive123]

A while back somebody on here was talking about making their own. Might have been while you were out of town, and he hasn't been around since his first few posts. He got me curious, so I asked a few questions and did a few google searches. (See Hopeak - Google good --- well maybe - if they turn out).

[Rick]

Well, either way, I like the out of box thinking. Even a failure is a success if you learn from it.

[panch0]

Only if you can find stable ones.

I was going to ask about the Heineken can but the pictures answered my question (I think).

I've never had resin balls but that can't be good.

I would never have thought of using cloth for scales. Now I'm anxious to see how it turns out. Is that something you dreamed up or did you run across it some where?

Alot of very good knifemakers make their own scales in this way. I think the blue and red will look nice once the scales are contoured.

BTW nice work shop.

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

I learned something here! I have done alot with fiberglass and boats. I have a pocket knife with a busted grip might be a good replacement handle for it. Thanks for sharing!

[Ken]

I have a lot of respect for a man who drinks good beer.

[welderguy]

I wonder if you could use a heavy cordura or an old pair of carhart overalls for scales if the denim works, will have to see what these turn out to look like first. Thanks for the update and photos.

[panch0]

You can use denim, canvas, linen, and there is also paper micarta. Here is a pic of some made from burlap. It was made by a fella knifemaker in Texas.

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