Work in Progress (now with finished photo)

[Fallguy]

Lin that is amazing. You are a artist with a hammer and file.

[Lin Rhea]

Thank you. I enjoy seeing it come together myself. The knife is a by product of the process. To my way of thinking, the process is the real point of interest.

[gables]

Lin, many thanks for sharing the process and answering questions. One of my biggest struggles when doing guards, spacer, ferrules and handles is the sequencing for rough grinding, final grinding and assembly. Can you share some of your process? How much did you rough grind and finish grind before glue up? Is everything final ground before you start the handle? Did you glue on the guard and then grind the spacers and ferrule, pull apart and notch then final glue before starting the handle? It appeared your handle was rough ground before the corby bolts were added. Do you use temporary corbies?

[madness522]

Lin do you cut off the tops of the corbys or use a belt sander to bring them down?  It looks like that sit flush the scales and yet I don't see sanding marks around them.  Fantastic knife!!

[Lin Rhea]

Barry,
       I grind them off, but have to be easy with the heat. You can burn the horn. Then sand with 1000 and a hard backing stick. If you scratch the horn, you just have to re sand and lightly buff. I said lightly because that will also burn it.

Gabriel,
         When I put the horn on, the guard and ferrule was completely finished and I made the mortise in the horn tight with no slop. Then I just had to lightly draw the back of the ferrule onto the end of the horn and start shaping. A lot is riding on this so you just have to be very careful. At some point I resorted to hand sanding allowing material to finalize at a very small grit.

[akaboomer]

Looks great Lin. The perfect amount of refinment and brute. The Damascus of the Blade, Guard and Spacers with file work with the roughness of the Sheep horn makes this one of my all time favorites. Balance in form and function as well as perfect fit and finish. Outstanding Sir.

Chris

[Lamey]

great stuff as always!

[Roughcountry]

Lin, thanks so much for letting us come along during the process. The knife is indeed proof that it's all about the process.

[amar911]

That is an absolutely gorgeous knife, Lin! Your skills never cease to amaze me.

Allan

[Lin Rhea]

Thank you guys. I honestly feel like I am just beginning.

[Trinity Outfitters]

Nicest knife i've seen.  Wow!