Here is a knife that my boss asked me to build for his Dad as a Christmas gift. I didn't tell him at the time, but everything about this knife was a first for me.....nothing like adding a bit of stress to the build
but I figured "what the h**l and went for it.
This was the first time I used antler for a handle, built a guard, used spacers, built a butt cap, or built a hidden tang knife. Even the sheath had a new welt construction method.
Knife is 8" oal with a 3 3/4" blade . The blade blank came from a US maker as a full tang with finger grooves which I modified to a hidden tang and filed in the shoulders for the guard. The elk antler came from an elk his Dad had shot a couple years prior. The guard is nickel silver and the spacer & butt cap are ivory paper micarta.
Tremendous appreciation and my heartfelt thanks go out to those of you on this forum who so freely give of your time and knowledge to post advice and how-to info, without you this knife would never have been built.