"Damascus" and bamboo

fast14riot

fast14riot

Joined
Oct 27, 2010
Messages
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Well some others here said they wanted to see this one when I got it done, so here it is. I say damascus because that is what is etched on the blade as an advertising gimick. The blade is made by H. Böker & Co in Germany and to the best I can find no later than 1924. The handle was poorly done with some soft wood, no wedge, and nails for pins. It worked but wasn't pretty. I cleaned up the blade, but left some minor pitting and patina staining to show the age. Still needs to be sent out for honing to be shave ready. The new scales are made from bamboo hardwood flooring. I cut a slab bookmatched and trimmed it down to 3/16" thick. Finish is 2500# with a light buff. Nice thing about the flooring material is it is made from many strips compressed and glued so no real finish is needed. 3/32" pins were left domed and hammer finished. Wedge is walnut from an old broken rifle stock.

This is how it looked when I got it...
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And this is how it looks now...
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Let me know what you guys think, and what you think I could do better on.


-Xander
 
Looks good. Your wedge could be slightly shorter front to back/ pivot to wedge pin direction. That's kind of personal opinion though.

I shoot for a bit less gap between the tip of the razor and beginning of the wedge.

Contours look great. What's the finish?

Polish your pins with Maas or Mothers polish on a rag to make them smooth and shine up.

Let's see a couple pictures of the wedge end face on and top down with the blade closed and opened.
 
Hey thanx Daniel!

Medicevans - thanx! And yes, the wedge was a bit of a bear. I actually had it a bit closer to the blade, but that gave it more taper and the bamboo is extremely stiff and doesn't bend very much so I had to take some off the thin side. It still has a slight gap, because I did it backwards and peened the pivot first. Being a french point it is going to have a bit more gap when closed than a spike or notch point.

The scales are not actually finished other that sanding to 2500# and followed with a light buff by hand. The flooring is essentially stabilized and pressed like micarta would be made. As for the pins, they are actually brightly finished from peening with a polished hammer. I liked the facets left on them for a more textured feel.

I think these are the pics you were looking for...

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-Xander
 
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I think you did a great restore. Still think your a brave man if you shave with it. I attempted once just once. It wasn't pretty. I do like the bamboo.
Dan
 
Hey thanx Dan! Maybe ill send you one of my other straights and you can give it a try again! Or practice on the dog or something... :D


-Xander
 
Great idea on using the bamboo flooring! I bet there are a lot of flooring choices like that, that would be awesome for knife making! Thanks for the idea!
 
Looks great! I've used bamboo flooring for a number of things including knife handles. I also have some maple and ipe flooring that I have used for handles.

Ric
 
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