Photos The Gallery of Joakim Lööv

[Joakim Lööv]

Dear fellow knifemakers, I make knives as a hobby, based on blades made by others (still lacking both the tools and skills to make my own blades). This gallery will display my learning process starting back in 1999 when I made my first kit knife up till today. Sadly, my photo skills lack behind.

My aim is good fit and finish, together with a design true to the knife's intended purpose. Also, I want to learn something new when making each knife. Considering me being from Sweden, most of my knives will follow a minimalistic/scandinavian design pattern.

I'll add a post per knife below. Please comment so that I can get better quicker.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

This is the first knife I made, back in 1999, using only another, full sized knife to carve out the handle (curly birch). The form is to give a very low angle of the blade compared to my wrist - to put the blade in front of the hand when held. The sheath has a custom made, plastic inlay. At the time I was very happy about the end result.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

My second knife - a concept knife with the end of the handle in focus. The blade is a Mora 2000, and the handle is of rosewood. As I made a mistake when drilling the hole into the handle (the drill left wedges at the bottom of the hole) it took me some 15 years to complete it (every-now-and-then picking it up and trying to fix it but failed). I eventuallt drilled a bigger hole and fit a custom made fron plate of stainless steel (that wasn't the initial intention).

The end of the handle is fitted with a speaker spike, that is screwed into a threaded, metal cap, and can thus be removed/replaced. The knife can rest on the two wooden spikes at the front of the handle without the blade touching the table surface. I'm not happy with this one as the proportions and lines are not good. It does however lie nicely in the hand.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife #3 - a dagger to be used by my wife when we go fishing (to cut open the hot dog package as I'll fail to catch any fish ). It was also made for me to try out making a wooden sheath, and a split-made handle. It's a no-name, factory made stainless blade, with the handle and sheath made of a single piece of teak. The handle also has an internal, wooden pin to hold it in place (besides the glue). The leather of the sheath is made from a wrapped, single piece that is form-fitted and glued to the wooden sheath.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

The fourth knife - my fishing knife. The design and material selection is to be suitable for use in wet conditions (kirinite, kydex and vulcanic fiber), to be easily seen if dropped in the woods, and for when actually catching a fish but also to be a general purpose bushcraft knife (for when not catching a fish and having to cut sticks to hold the hot dogs). The blade is a 1095/15n20, 4mm thick damascus steel that I won on an auction (not that suitable for wet conditions though). I made my own kydex press in order to complete this one. The Ka-bar clip is attached up-side-down for when put onto a backpack strap.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife 5 - a learning knife. This was the first time I combined different materials into a handle (birch and mahogny). The front-most mahogny piece of also cut to make the spine of the blade visible in the handle. This was also the first time I put decorative lines into the sheath. The blade is another auction won one from the same maker as knife #4. I think it in total came out OK and became a very light-weight, easy to carry knife.

I decided I needed a drill press after making this one, to be able to drill the pin holes more accurately.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife #6 - a stacked leather puukko with an alternate ending. Another damascus blade I won on an auction, but from a different maker than the others. It had a too long tang but instead of cutting it shorter I made a hole in it for a pin that holds the handle together. The handle itself is made of stacked leather that I cut out from an old pistol holster. Two pieces of brass is keeping the leather tightly pressed together (not polished in the pictures below). The sheath is my first dangler.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife #7 - a winter knife. I made this to function well during the cold winter. The blade is yet another auction piece. The finger grooves are large to fit a glove. The ricasso is fairly long to also not have parts of the glove slip onto the sharp edge. The handle is also fairly flat to hinder my frozen fingers to let the knife turn when cutting. I let the pointed backend of the blade remain naked so it can be used to crush ice or to open bottles/cans. The sheath and handle are is made of kydex, polyester and vulcanic fiber that isn't sensitive to variations i temperature. A simple paracord dangler. I made a fire steel to go along with it, made out of synthetic ivory.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

No. 8 - a fancy, small warehouse knife. I needed something small to carry horizontally on my belt at christmas and birthday parties, to be used to open gifts and not to get in the way in a cramped sofa. Yes, made with a blade won on an auction, from yet another maker. The blade is damascus laminated and only 2mm thick and 70mm long (+a 70mm tang). The handle is made of birch, teak and brass and with a Mora-inspired shape. The sheath is my first sandwich-styled.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife 9 - a concept knife. I got a hold of this odd looking blade that feels surpisingly good to hold. I wanted a fantasy look to it and thus placed a raffir piece in the middle, seperated with white vulcanic fibre to the black/red kirinite. The paracord at the end can be folded into the handle for better grip if necessary. The sheath is my most advanced till this point, with a dangler that opens via its red push snap-fasteners, and a paracord slipknot for a more safe carry.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife 10 - a big camper. Why? ...it's big! 5mm thick 1095/15n20 damascus some 350mm long in total. The handle is oversized and made of unknown types of wood, vulcanic fiber spacers and liners, brass spacer, and brass pins and corby screws.

 

[olymon]

Nice profession in your fit and finish. You've got some good looking knives.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Nice profession in your fit and finish. You've got some good looking knives.

Thanks olymon for your kind words. In a forum like this, with so many high end makers and photographers, I have a hard time feeling worthy. I do my best, try to improve and be happy about both the process and the end results.

 

[Joakim Lööv]

- DELETED -

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife no. 11 is now done - a post-apocalyptic, zombie slayer ...just in case. It makes a nice "schling" sound when pulled.

Blade: 1095/15n20 damascus, made by Dzomba, 18cm edge length and 32cm OAL
Handle: red/black jute micarta with bronze pins, red vulcanic fiber liner and a paracorde wrist wrap
Sheath: takedown aluminium bottom and inside-out leather fastened with stainless screws

 

[GooberBoober]

Cool to see the progress in your work, I really like nr. 8.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[john april]

nice progression !

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife #12 finished - a small and stubby. I had started another more complex knife but went ahead and did this fast one instead.

Blade:400 layered 5mm thick damascus of 15n20/1095, 8,5cm edge and 17cm OAL, made by Dzomba
Handle: red/white raffir with red and white vulcanic fiber liners, 2,5mm brass pins and a white paracord strap
Sheath: white kydex (kryptek yeti), white eyelets and white paracord

 

[Joakim Lööv]

Knife #13 - a buffalo puukko. I made this as a first attempt in working with buffalo horn (went well) and placing the sheath's seam on its backside (went ok - the leather was a bit too thick for this application). The design is a classic puukko or Mora, but also inspired by other makers such as Tudor Hristov, jelio and thetopicala.

Blade: Lauri Carbon 95 in 80CrV2 - 3mm thick, 95mm long and 20mm high hidden tang
Handle: buffalo horn and curly birch, with 1mm brass spacers, and 2 brass pins at the butt
Sheath: 3mm thick Argentinian leather, with a pine inlay, and a dangler

 

[Craig Daniel]

Nice to see your progress, #11 is my favorite.