Beyond Custom

[Lin Rhea]

This next project is just that. Beyond being a custom knife. It has become a very important object that represents some things that cant be defined by the name or, more importantly, by a dollar amount. I have gotten some important assigned  projects before, but this was different. I'll try to explain.

The gentleman that wanted me to make the knife is well known to tradgang. His gorgeous photos depicting hunting scenes are viewed and appreciated by most of us. They speak of times when plaid wool was the preferred camo and the fedora was in style as headgear. In other words, tradition goes much farther with him than perhaps with most. This sensibility was no doubt instilled in him by two parents who left him with some precious memories. Fortunately I can relate very much.

It was his idea to use, as a handle, a Whitetail deer antler. A small one at that. But then I learned that it was the last deer his father had taken with a bow before he passed away. OK, I knew that, come what may, I was going to use this antler. What was first reluctance turned to determination.

We corresponded some more and talked of other important materials that might could be used in the knife's construction. Rifle casings from a bear hunt, wooden material from an antique wooden trunk, and a penny. Every one of these items had significant meaning to my friend, by now. What that is, he can tell us, if he so chooses. It became apparent that this was not just a knife anymore. It was going to be a vehicle to carry memories along into the future. I'm not one to attach too much meaning on material things but this was putting a lot of pressure on me. I knew that it was going to end up important to me too in spite of my resistance.

So how was I to decide how to use these materials to make a knife that I knew would never be sold, never be left behind, and never be held without remembering someone's love?  

I will say that it took me a few days to come up with something. I fretted over this one. Be patient with me while I gather the photos and post the progress.

[tomsm44]

You have my attention.    

[Lin Rhea]

The first bit of material I received was the antler. Based on the antler alone, I forged the blade, but I was pretty worried how to make a comfortable handle.
   
 
 While  wringing my hands for a few more days worrying how to do justice to this, a few more materials came in the mail.

[gudspelr]

Can't think of a better maker to bring this to life. Looking forward to this.

   


Jeremy

[Lin Rhea]

Here are the other materials to incorporate into the knife. The wood was about 1/4 inch thick.
   

I'm sorry but I have to wait till tomorrow for some more. Well,... one more.

   

[Sockrsblur]

O Brother where art thou?
Who is building this knife? I would love to hear more of the back story... I love the heavy sentimental projects, it strikes a chord with me. Great idea but yet still very very challenging, I'm watching and listening  
 

[Gary Logsdon]

The knife is for me. I lost both of my parents last year, Mom as a result of an accident while taking care of my Dad, and he exactly five months later after a six year bout with dementia.

Lin was sent one side of an antler from Dad's last archery buck taken while hunting with me, casings from his bear rifle, a 1953 wheat penny (year they were married), and pieces of wood taken from a 100+ year old trunk that belonged to my Mom. She kept things in it that were given to her when she was a child. We still have that trunk and its contents. The wood I sent to Lin came from a previously damaged trunk shelf. The only stipulation I gave Lin was to create a "Damascus" steel, drop point, blade. I'm sure that he will explain how the knife evolved after that. While this will obviously be an important family heirloom, it will also be proudly carried each time I go afield.

[Alexander13]

Wow looking forward to it watching this project.

Thanks
 Joel

[Lin Rhea]

The first thing I needed was a plan. The materials and the theme of this knife all lead me to one conclusion, a Scagel style knife. While there were some of Mr Scagel's knives that I did not find attractive, some were truly beautiful.

The light and thin material of the wood required that I cut it into small squares and stack them to create volume. I decided to cross the grain within the stack to strengthen it and offer character. Of course stacking material was just what Mr Scagel did so I think I'm on the right track.

As for the brass 06 casing, I figured to saw and roll them flat, however they were work hardened in the loading dies till they were very stiff. So I annealed them and rolled them easily out to flatten them.  
 

The annealing of brass and other non ferrous materials call for it to be heated to red and quenched, in this case, water.
   

I then unrolled them and flattened them and was able to determine just how much material I had to work with.
   

I was able to cut two spacers from each casing.
   

So now I have my spacers, my wood cut and stacked (glued), antler, ............   Now what?
 
 

[gudspelr]

Oh, man...this is great. I'm really enjoying this project-very different and fun. Great planning, Lin (as always). And what a neat thing for the owner to have with all those pieces put into one knife.


Jeremy

[Lin Rhea]

Thanks Jeremy.

I was having fears of messing up these materials and perhaps not being able to replace them. That is where the pressure was for me. There was no longer any doubts about my determination, I just had to do it justice.

I wanted to set the penny into the pommel of the handle so I bored a pocket into the burr of the antler for it to rest in below surface. This required some tricky drilling which was a critical point in the process. If I went too deep, it would cut out the antler. But it had to be deep enough to allow for the finial not to stick out too much. It turns out that this coin and this antler were made to be fit together. It was a good fit. Here is a picture just after the boring was done.
   

Just looking at the above picture you can understand why my confidence level fluctuated a lot, but I have seen this before many times. When you think that it is getting pretty ugly, you just have to press on having faith in the outcome.

[Lin Rhea]

Naturally I was to provide the basic framework of this knife. The blade, as Gary mentioned, is a small Damascus drop point and the tang will form the spine of the handle. This will give all of the parts some stiffness. That, along with the compression applied to the stack as it is being assembled and glued, will be ample.

But I would like to point out a couple more things that Mr Scagel used to his advantage in this design. Periodically through the stack he would insert metal spacers, presumably to add color and a pleasing look. I believe there is more to it than that. The small stacks of metal spacers interspersed throughout the stack, while indeed looking good, will serve to divide the handle into sections, thus reducing the likelihood of over torqueing of any given spot along the handle. If these metal spacers are fit to the tang snugly, they support the otherwise spongy materials he used, which was leather in his case.

In the case of this knife, The tang was long enough to extend back into the antler for a bit where a machine screw was soldered to the tang to pass out the pommel end. Of course the antler is a durable material on it's own. To make sure of the good connection between the antler and the forward sections of the handle material, I drilled two alignment holes and placed pins, one on each side of the tang, from into the antler, forward through a set of metal spacers and into the wood.

I also made the finger guard from stainless steel and some of the spacer materials from stainless steel. This would "frame" the softer brass and provide color contrast.

At this point it was time to start stacking material into place, including the antler. For that I cut some of the forward part of the antler off and preserved the crown and about 1-1/2 inches of the main beam. This removed most of the curve from the antler and left me with the desired aspects for the handle. I waited till late in the process to cut the antler in case there was any plan changes, but as it turns out the longer antler was much easier to hold in the drill vise while boring the penny pocket.

Also at this point, I needed to drill the penny for the machine screw to come through it and I had to make a finial to hold it all together.

My methods might seem draconian by some standards but I get the job done most of the time. I drilled an appropriate hole and tapped it to match the machine screw. Then I drilled the perpendicular hole for the ring after which I cut the small section from the bar and screwed in a section of machine screw. I then put it into a battery drill and turned it from square to round and then stepped the part going through the penny.
   

By spinning the drill while working the piece you can usually come up with something usable.    
Here I am holding the safe edge (no teeth) of the file down and truing up the seat of the finial.
   

[Ray Hammond]

   

[Lin Rhea]

 

The ring for the finial is made in a very simple way as you might guess. I just take a rod and start shaping it into a circle and let the ends lap so the hacksaw cut takes care of both.
   
   

The ring has to remain open so it can fit onto the finial after which it is lined up and soldered. Then some final shaping and cleaning is done.  

After a dry run of assembling and adjusting the machine screw length, etc. it is time to start gluing it all up. I use acraglas for most of my epoxy. The next picture is where it is all together for the last time and I was very anxious to make it look better by grinding off the ugly.
       

See what I mean?

[Lin Rhea]

Again it took faith to believe that the unsightly handle would look better, but it did. This is the first shaping.
   

[Lin Rhea]

As the above picture shows, the wood is a very light color. Gary and I decided that it needed some darkening so I stained and sealed it.

I think it turned out well. This picture shows the layering of the materials.

       

Here are some more of different angles.

     

The next picture has some saw marks from the time the antlers were sawn from the skull. I assumed Gary's Dad did that so I left the marks on it.

       

     

     

Thanks for bearing with me. This knife has left an impression on me that I cant really explain sufficiently. I just know that the materials represent something for Gary that is very precious. I really feel grateful to him for allowing me to make this one of a kind hunting knife.

[akaboomer]

Wow! I love the back story and the sentimental connection here. The quality of the work is a given, outstanding.  It turned out beautiful. I appreciate you sharing your work here with us.
Gary, I appreciate you having this one made.  What an heirloom.

Chris

[Stump Buster]

Excellent Work! Thank You BOTH for the build details and the back story.

[ChuckC]

Lin, you done good.  That was an incredible job and the "vehicle" is one anybody can be proud to own.

CHuckC

[Stump73]

Theres a lot of detail in that knife.  Very nice.