Drop Point Hunter - loveless-esq

[H1tman7]

This is actually a practice knife - building a similar knife for my father but in Damascus, and nickel silver hardware.  I wanted to run a trial as I had never hollow ground - easy enough, nor tapered a tang or fit a finger guard.
All went decently well.   But good lord is that antique ivory paper micarta a pain to work with. Seems to be constantly getting dirty from sanding with the metal from the corby bolts embedding in the micarta. And forget about buffing it what a disaster that is - even with a brand new buff.  I fussed with hand sanding it for 2 days from 100 to 3k. Wet it would sand cleaner but the paper in the micarta would be soft / seemingly peeling edges of the outer  layers.
I finally said the heck with it and used some Norton hoining oil i use for my ark stones and hey what do ya know keeps the pores from plugging. Took it to 1k stopped added some caranuba wax and hand buffed. Looks decent.

Any tips on working paper micarta and I’m all ears.

[Matt flint]

Beautiful.
Always wanted a drop point hunter.

[Bladepeek]

Bob Loveless would like that copy.

[H1tman7]

Finished up this one for my father. The paper micarta was easy to work with this time so not sure what was with the last piece. 

Though getting a guard on and soldered to a finished Damascus blade poses it’s own set of challenges.

[Matt flint]

What are you using in your damascus ? That looks really nice

[H1tman7]

I bought the billet from Alabama Damascus, it’s supposed to have 5160, 15n20 and ni200 in it. It’s on the list to make my own but I do not have a press or a power hammer 

[Matt flint]

Great looking knife. Looks real similar to damasteel billet but did not want to assume and offend. Aint no shame in working from a good ordered damascus billet imo.
Once I find a bow Im ready to settle down with I want another custom fixed.
Doziers loveless are too rich for my blood, as is an actual loveless.

[H1tman7]

I also looked at damasteel, but didn’t feel my HT, quenching, and tempering equipment is sophisticated enough to deal with their combos quite yet… on the list to get is a proper HT oven.