A little weekend BIG Bowie project.

Bawanna said:


Checkering virtually disappears on Zebra wood too. This can be good or bad I guess. At least the contrasting colors of the wood show through in this case. Sometimes it flattens out that contrast look too which I do not like. Looks good this time.
Click to expand...

The zebrawood handle looks good as it is, but if you want the checkering to be more visible you could apply a very thin layer of stain (just a little darker color than the wood) and then rub off all the stain except what remains inside the checkering.

I have a few HI horn handled knives with that effect, perhaps unintentional. There's checkering on part of the handle and some of the red rouge used for polishing remained inside the checker lines, give a nice visual effect. Like this Kumar Karda by Sher Kami:

KumarKarda15.5in-Sher20oz-04.jpg
 
Dang Bawanna, that K9 is somethin else! Way above my skill level. Now y'all got me thinkin about stabilized wood...can't believe I forgot about that stuff! Oh well, next knife :D

David, that's a really great idea. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try it though.. I more wanted the checkering for the grip anyways, and actually like that it's practically invisible. I'd definitely be going for it if there was less grain "character" to the wood!
 
Ok guys, so Bawanna secretly sent the knife back to me, and it was waiting when I got home from my weekend at the cabin. I honestly don't think I can quite put into words how I feel about this knife. In summary, it is absolutely perfect. I mean if I could have magically created the handle in my hand, it would be no different. I'm actually not convinced that magic was not used. It takes a good bit to make me speechless, but I was trying to talk about the knife to my roommate and I was stumbling all on my words as the drool flowed over the blade and onto the counter. So, not really sure what to say about this. Before it was a gorgeous hunk of steel to hold and gaze upon, but something felt off, and I didn't like to or want to use it. Now I just want to go out in the woods with it on my hip and play. Joe, I think you just topped my M-43, which was previously my favorite big blade. The word I can't get out of my head is "perfect." Absolutely perfect. I don't know how I can properly thank you, but for now I do so from the bottom of my heart.

Pix to come of course
 
He's a magician when it comes to grip works. In my case, the colloberation with his work on the Anil IBBB with Elk Antler, gaurd and Pug's beaver tail sheath work come no finer. A quinisential piece of working art.
 
Perfect is very good. I'm so happy your pleased SG. Sometimes its difficult to picture another persons perfection.
Glad we came close to pulling it off this time.

Next I'm working on some Osage Orange. No where big enough to make a bow which I've never done and probably couldn't anyhow but should turn out nice. So far so good anyhow.

I'll let the suspense linger a bit.

PS- might want to oil er up a little bit. Sometimes drool can play havoc on steel. Been there many times myself on HI knives.
 
Bawanna, close to pulling it off? No need to be modest man, it IS perfect. Don't think I could have made it better if it came to me in a dream.

As promised, some pics



With my IBBB


Of course I made some new pants for it. This is bare but I'll be adding a drop-leg attachment and a utility pouch.


And in case anyone wants a side-by-side, here's new and old


More pix to come
 
Man what a difference the new handle makes, looks amazing and the pants looks great as well. Killer set up for sure.
 
Beautiful work! I love the way you hid the pins on the scales, it really shows off the beauty of the wood that way.
 
Dang! Thats just downtown sweet! Great job with that Zebra! That tang looks great covered like that!
 
The lines on the zebrawood are so nice that it's better for the checkering to be less visible.

I don't think anyone has commented on how the new handle is actually larger than the original because the zebrawood covers the "skullbreaker" extension of the tang, providing more "meat" for the hand to grip. I like it.
 
Actually it worked out pretty cool. You can choke up on it for good control and for stabby kind of applications or you can grab it far back, the knob on the end keeps it in your hand much like the bell on a khukri and you can do pretty good chopping motions like that.

It's obviously not going to compete with a khukri in the chopping department but around a camp or trail a little bush whacking would be easy enough.

A person with great big hands could accomplish both probably without changing their grip.
 
Bawanna said:
Actually it worked out pretty cool. You can choke up on it for good control and for stabby kind of applications or you can grab it far back, the knob on the end keeps it in your hand much like the bell on a khukri and you can do pretty good chopping motions like that.

It's obviously not going to compete with a khukri in the chopping department but around a camp or trail a little bush whacking would be easy enough.

A person with great big hands could accomplish both probably without changing their grip.
Click to expand...

Very nice! Love the knobby butt!
 
Last edited:
I had me a nice piece left over of Osage Orange. I pondered either an Itty Bitty bawanna bow or these.

Need to do a little more sanding I see, the polishing and picture show up all the little scratches.




 
Really some nice work, Bawanna. You have more patience than I've got for that fine detailed work. Those grips really set off that bird's head Colt revolver very well. Look comfortable, too.
 
I wouldn't go that far. I've seen some of your stuff and my attention to detail goes unnoticed compared to yours.

Nice to see a post from ya. Must be semi vertical again. Hope your feeling better.
 
Yeah Welcome back Doc! Aint the same around here with out you. Hope your up to Butterfinger and Guinness soon!

What a sweet pistol! Are my eyes reading that correctly? Is that a 45?
 
I picked up an old Mossberg 22 auto rifle yesterday at the gun show. I have 3 bolts, one a military training rifle sent to the British on a lend / lease deal. Pretty cool. Kind of fond of them. I got it pretty cheap and over all it's in real good shape.

The wood grain looked pretty durn nice and it had a boo boo at the pistol grip so I decided since it was raining today I'd sand the whole thing down and refinish it. Found some nice wood under the finish. Spent the whole day sanding but I'm happy with the results so far.

Here's what it looked like when I brought it home.


New one on the left. New in the 40's that is.

After a day of sanding, grain raising etc.



Couldn't ask for straighter grain, all in the right direction. I'm pretty tickled.


Tonight we work on another auction blade. Coming soon, aw wait, I have to go back to the sweat shop tomorrow.......do I look sick to you?
 
LOVE the target .22's! That mannlicher stock is the cat's meow.
I vote they pay you to stay at home and work on projects full time!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top