Takedown Damascus Bowie WIP

[weo]

Not much time.

Really???!!
Perhaps I need your definition of 'much'?

 

[J. Keeton]

Lol, maybe I'm just used to filming everything I do now days...

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I decided to go back with my file guide and carbide endmill and true up this shoulder a little... I used the mill on the flats. I carefully moved towards the file guide with the endmill in 0.001-0.002 increments... just up until I started taking sharpy off the face of the carbide file guide. This worked pretty good... got the idea by watching Kyle Royer on Youtube....

hard to see here... but the whole shoulder is recessed now on the flats:

I wish I had more tang to work with... but we'll make this work.... off to the 2x72 with a 320 grit belt to take it down to the guide on the shoulders.

This is how it turned out:

DIY etching machine based on Chris Crawford's plans:

12 one second passes on DC and 4 on AC:

Cleaned up with 600grit:

Edit... the tang being offset and a little short does "bother me".... guess that's the nature of this knife being a hail marry to salvage the project... I don't think it will negatively affect performance, but just something to note for anyone coming into this WIP late.... it's not by design!

 

[weo]

I wish I had more tang to work with...

Looks like you got plenty there.

the tang being offset...does "bother me"

That's one of the nice things about WA handles. This is easily hidden.

 

[FredyCro]

Cool WIP. If it's not too late I think a western style handle would aestheticaly work better with this profile, especially because of the wide neck and tip and curves on the blade.

 

[J. Keeton]

Cool WIP. If it's not too late I think a western style handle would aestheticaly work better with this profile, especially because of the wide neck and tip and curves on the blade.

Yep that ship has sailed

 

[FredyCro]

Yep that ship has sailed

Looking forward to what you come up with.

 

[J. Keeton]

I really need a DRO

Step one was getting the 1/2 hole drilled in the "bolster" I left 0.200'' for the slotting:

I used a dial indicator to nail my depth in the Z direction and one on the X- axis so I can re-locate center when I flip it.

Went 0.780'' into the block:

I used a 2mm end mill to mill in my slot. Starting with some through holes to remove material:

When I got to one side I put a stop on my mill... The Karl Anderson method:

Then went to the other side of the slot and did the same thing:

Fresh off the mill:

Just a little bit of filing to do:

When I put my guard jack on there the gaps disappear, so looks like a decent fit!

 

[J. Keeton]

1/2'' hole through spacer:

Squaring up this elder. Hole will be slightly offset to the bottom since my tang isn't centered:

Took a moment to face the block since this will make the face square to the hole:

Cutting dowel to length:

Slotting dowel to accept tang:

Mock up:

Little tool modification.... Slotting clamp for holding the handle together while I glue it up.... Simple Little Life style... If you don't know what this will be used for; just wait... it will make sense.

Cheers Yall

 

[J. Keeton]

Any advice on how long the handle should be?

 

[FredyCro]

Any advice on how long the handle should be?

Oval with a slight taper from the neck width to slightly larger towards back. Flat or 2" wheel at 15-25° on top of the handle for transition to the blade and making the pinch grip more comfortable.

Edit for pics:
2" wheel recess for thumb and pinch grip.

On the bottom knife is a d handle flat recess towards front.

 

[FredyCro]

Octagonal will look akward if you ask me.

 

[Ken H>]

Any advice on how long the handle should be?

I'd let this thread slip by since I last posted - Darn what a good thread!

A min of 5" total length on the handle depending on size of blade. I've never used anything but octagonal for a Wa handle. I find some folks prefer the Wa handle, other folks like the Western style.

Ole RedBeard, you did good on this thread with LOTS of good photos to follow along with.

 

[J. Keeton]

Octagonal will look akward if you ask me.

Thank you for the details sir. I'll give the oval a go. On your oval handles do you only oval the bottom or do you oval the top as well? Could you oval the bottom and 45 chamfer the top?

I'd let this thread slip by since I last posted - Darn what a good thread!

5" total length on the handle - I've never used anything but octagonal for a Wa handle. I find some folks prefer the Wa handle, other folks like the Western style.

Ole RedBeard, you did good on this thread with LOTS of good photos to follow along with.

Thank you sir!

 

[3fifty7]

The wa handle I made came out to be 5 3/4”. I made it irregular octagonal (cross section wise) with the side flats being the longest the top and bottom next and the corners the shortest. It is also tapered towards the blade.

 

[3fifty7]

Oval with a slight taper from the neck width to slightly larger towards back. Flat or 2" wheel at 15-25° on top of the handle for transition to the blade and making the pinch grip more comfortable.

Man those concave recesses look comfortable!

 

[FredyCro]

Thank you for the details sir. I'll give the oval a go. On your oval handles do you only oval the bottom or do you oval the top as well? Could you oval the bottom and 45 chamfer the top?




Thank you sir!

First of all I just misread your first question. 5" handle would be a starting point for a 7" blade, you could go a tad shorter or longer depending on how you transit the handle to the blade. I am quite a new maker, I just speak out of my experience in regard what feels good with production knifes I have and my own creations for the kitchen.

You could really go halfway (45s/oval). I find the shapes that you do by faceting on the grinder and then rounding off most interesting. The most interesting makers in my opinion do a combination of both and still produce handle that look comfortable. Straight lines help indexing, round lines make the knife comfortable. Combination of both brings the best out of both worlds IMHO. All straight lines should be held crisp during sculpting and then rounded off at leas with a 220 grit to no cause hot spots. Again just my opinion.

Edit: another pic, oval handle with 2" recesses

Man those concave recesses look comfortable!

Definetly not my credit, but it works good if not to steep. Its a combination of looks and functionality in my opinion. I have been using that gyuto a lot and those concaves just make the transition to blade more smooth and natural. No hot spots on the pinch grip.

 

[FredyCro]

Another thing you maybe saw with Simple Little Life in WA video, he keeps the handle in line with the spine and then tapers out the bottom part of the handle. This could work with your tang which is off center as well. Draw couple of handles out and see what works. As with your full tangs, the handle should "follow" the blade.

Edit: Sorry if I am overzealous, I just had 4 beers and want to help

 

[Skiller1nc]

^I agree with the above. I've done a fair few wa handles. Draw them out. They look better with the top of handle and spine parallel. The length, width, thickness also vary so much, it's really just about what looks proportional

 

[Hubert S.]

Any advice on how long the handle should be?

How long is the blade? For wa handles, I typically end up around 130-135mm handle length for knives around 160-175mm blade length, but I prefer skinnier longer handles. Your blade seems to be pretty sturdy with a tall neck, I think the handles Fredy showed would be a good match.

Not sure if I am imagining this, but the profile of the spine of your knife does not look smooth to me in the pictures you posted. There appear to be a couple of kinks with a flat section in between. It's really hard to tell from the lo-res pictures and I might well be imagining it, but I see it in every picture where the spine is visible. I tried to highlight the approximate location in the picture below.

 

[J. Keeton]

How long is the blade? For wa handles, I typically end up around 130-135mm handle length for knives around 160-175mm blade length, but I prefer skinnier longer handles. Your blade seems to be pretty sturdy with a tall neck, I think the handles Fredy showed would be a good match.

Not sure if I am imagining this, but the profile of the spine of your knife does not look smooth to me in the pictures you posted. There appear to be a couple of kinks with a flat section in between. It's really hard to tell from the lo-res pictures and I might well be imagining it, but I see it in every picture where the spine is visible. I tried to highlight the approximate location in the picture below.

Although it may not be the most traditional or attractive; that was by design... just playing around. It's not a single curve, rather 3 sections separated by two curves