Dagger (pro photo added pg 3)

[Lin Rhea]

I realize this type of knife could be construed in as entirely a weapon, but I know of some who use a dagger for boar hunting. This one probably wont, in all honesty but could be. The point for my showing it is that the design and construction would be similar for one that you might carry along with your other traditional equipment. I have not showed this here because the difficulty level, for me at least, was such that I did not want to show it till I was finished and sure it survived all of my screw ups. I got it done and should have some pro photos soon. But for now, here are some snap shots of the progress.

The blade is just shy of 8 inches. I failed to get a photo of it forged to shape. I hate that because I truely shaped it by hammer on the anvil instead of grinding it stock removal. Here it is rough ground.
   

[Lin Rhea]

I saw the possibilities for it so I did some drawing.
   

The handle is drawn around the rough ground tang. It would be up to me to add the tang screw section and line it up to match the drawing.
   

[srtben]

Very nice Lin, I like where this on is going!
A dagger is next on my "to make" list, thanks for the pics.

[SveinD]

This one will be great! Can't wait!    

[Lin Rhea]

The first stage that is dangerous is the heat treat. It made it through safely. I took some precautions to insure that it most likely would not warp or crack, such as to clay the center ridge and ricasso before I full quenched it. Here is the blade just after the thermo cycle, but before I clayed and quenched it. The oxidation shows the pattern of the damascus.
 

This about midway of the hand sanding. It has already been heat treated completely at this point.
 
 

[Lin Rhea]

This gives an idea of the pattern in the blade.
 

[jonathan creason]

Whoa........... that's gonna be a beauty.

[Doug Campbell]

Is that "w"ed then twisted Lin? I like it!

[Lin Rhea]

I have the materials laid out to give you an idea of the form it is in when I start. The blade is there along with the pre ban elephant scales, the 14K gold, and the guard, which is damascus but not etched.

 

[Lin Rhea]

Yes Doug. It's no more trouble this way as the plain twist and I have more options with the billet.

[wissler]

Lin,
Did you use Ferric Chloride to etch the blade after hand sanding? What temp is the etch?
How fine of grit do you go before etch? 600?

Thanks,
By the way, it looks SWEET so far!
Can't wait to see the final product

[Lin Rhea]

Wissler, 600-1000 depends. The ferric is room temperature.

[Lin Rhea]

Here I'm just holding the guard and oval onto the blade and not real tight at that. The gap between the ricasso and gold is not there now, trust me.

 

This shot shows the tang extension and the hard solder joint. I split the tang and inserted the machine screw after grinding it to fit. I used high temp silver solder.
 

[kbaknife]

Lin, what's the oval made of?
And, is that twisted Ws?

[2treks]

Gold, Ivory and Damascus! Does it get much better?
This would look at home on my belt when sporting my English Longbow.
Real nice Lin. Can't wait to see the finished knife

[Lin Rhea]

Karl, it's 14K gold and yes, it's twisted W's. Kind of has a look, dont it?

Here are the scales after I got a good start on carving them. There's still some crud here and there.
   

Here are the scales assemble with the damascus liners/frame. Just loosely pinned. The lighting sure makes things look different. The ivory is light butter colored to the eye.
 

[Rusty Snuffers]

Just sayin'...

Rusty

[Arrowest]

Absolutely stunning. I just can't get over the skill and craftsmanship you display Lin.  Well done.  

[JohnHV]

This is gonna be a true master piece!

[Lin Rhea]

Here it is with the handle pins in and slid on the tang. I also have the ferrule and pommel made and etched. The finial ball will be next.

 

Here is the ball un etched and on the handle. This picture shows some of the grain in the elephant ivory.