not another knife thread...

[canid]

unfortunately, it's going to darken, and loose distinction in the figure quite a bit. i have not yet found anything in a clear finish that blocks UV quite well enough for Padauk.

it'll settle out somewhere in the neighborhood of a nice burgundy eventually.

[crashdive123]

Outstanding. Looking forward to the finished product.

[canid]

i just cut out the blank for the santoku:

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its 8" overall, 4" blade by 1 3/8" wide.

[canid]

here's a rough view of the handle for the hunter:

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[Ted]

Sweet! Really like the blade too! Can't wait to see the finished product!

[canid]

here's how the handle on the hunter is comming along:

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and the blade of the santoku. i'm working on the taper:

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[crashdive123]

Looking really great.

[canid]

i've got the santoku much further along. the taper is dramatically improved, and the weight is now approaching something reasonable. filing notches by hand is harder than it looks. i'm going to have to spend a while evening them out:

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[welderguy]

Thats looking good.

[crashdive123]

Nice work. I've found that doing anything on these old saw mill blades by hand is pretty tough.

[canid]

i sealed the handles yesterday with some polyurethane sealant, and i'm annoyed that it's still tacky. i can understand it taking longer to dry on the purpleheart, but the hunter should be dry now.

i'm tempted to apply gentle heat. maybe i'm just impatient.

speaking of the L-6, i think it would be the perfect material, and thickness for a kukri like the one i've been working on. have you ever tried one crash?

[standingbear]

nice looking blades there, keep up the work.
I need to get my belt grinder finished so i also dabble in making a few blades i have drawn up, iuts been a few years since my last one.

[Rick]

Make certain you use an outdoor polyurethane. I've found thin coats with light sanding in between to build up the sealer is much better than one heavy coat. It generally dries in well under 24 hours, too.

[canid]

i've just been using a cheap ryobi 4x36" bench top belt sander; one of those combo deals with the 6" disk as well.

so far, it works great, though the drive belt it came with saw a piece of junk, the replacement was only a couple bucks.

[canid]

the stuff i'm using is poly shades. you have to do it in one heavy coat.

so far, it works great, though i've been putting on a top coat or 6 of varathane.

[crashdive123]

i sealed the handles yesterday with some polyurethane sealant, and i'm annoyed that it's still tacky. i can understand it taking longer to dry on the purpleheart, but the hunter should be dry now.

i'm tempted to apply gentle heat. maybe i'm just impatient.

speaking of the L-6, i think it would be the perfect material, and thickness for a kukri like the one i've been working on. have you ever tried one crash?

I'm working on a couple of bigger blades now, but not a kukri style. Do you use the 6" wheel for much ginding -I'll bet you can do a nice flat grind on it.

[canid]

i mostly save the 6" disks for wood. steel wears abrasive paper/cloth so quickly that i don't find it worth while, considering that belts are cheaper than disks in terms of surface area.

[canid]

i think tomorrow's project will be making a wooden mold to press a sheath for the hunter.

i'm on the verge of tears as we speak; i decided to canibalize my saddlebags for knife sheaths.

i got them on sale, and at today's prices, there's just about $50 worth of leather in them anyway.

[canid]

you know, i tried it, and the 6" disk is great for flat grinds if you keep the blade side at the top of the disk. because the disk moves faster at the outside, it grinds faster toward the blade side. it also gets hot fast, and the blade has to be cooled very often.

[crashdive123]

I'm going to build a circular flat grinder. I've tried a couple of homemade jobs and they were fantastic. One had a rheostat to control speed a switch to change direction, the other had two discs that rotated in opposite directions.