[TRADE??] Knife wood

[Dave Barker]

I've got Sh*tloads of wood. Barlind burl, some sallow ( or goatwillow), a huge plank of wenge, some spalted birch, som brazilian kingwood and more. I'm also going to get som Coolibar burl in the next couple of days.

Anyone want to trade?

Wood, hidden tang blades, mosaic pins, bolster material, general knife making stuff?

Please.............. :boldred:

[keith_beef]

See my post offering some thunderforge Damscus for sale or trade... I'm looking for a small bit of sallow, for puukko handles, and a fist-sized chunk of birch burl to make a kuksa.

I also have a bit of Nickel Silver (silver colour, not the pinkish alloy), but at around 6mm, maybe it's too thick for your needs...

Also, I have a bit of chunky brass bar.

[Dave Barker]

The sallow I can help you with and I have a few bits of second rate curly birch. Don't know how big you want it though.

I have no way of using the damascus though..... I havn't got space or equipment to do that stuff as yet.

Sounds interesting though.

Any ideas.

[keith_beef]

The sallow I can help you with and I have a few bits of second rate curly birch. Don't know how big you want it though.

I have no way of using the damascus though..... I havn't got space or equipment to do that stuff as yet.

Sounds interesting though.

Any ideas.

OK, I'll try to have a look at the brass and nickel silver tonight, and post the dimensions.

For a kuksa, I've been told "fist-sized"... I think I need a rough cube of 10 - 15 cm sides to start with, depending on the style of handle I want to do (simple finger loops, long handle + finger loop, etc.).

For puukko handles, you know better than me... I'm a real novice at this, so I bought some Kankaanpää blades and a couple of brass ferules from Brisa to get started... I guess a piece of sallow about 10cm x 3cm x 4cm is easily big enough.

Keith.

[Dave Barker]

The sallow I have is perfect for hiden tang knives ( why do people call them pukkos??? this is the name given by the LApps)

It is orange and is sligtly spalted in places. Don't colour it just oil it well and buff it.

The birch I have is about 120mm long bu 25-30mm thick and 35-40 mm high so I guess this is a little too small?

[keith_beef]

Mange tack før informasjøn ;-)

Both the sallow and the birch sound great. How much do you want for them? Or do you want to trade for some Tagua nuts?
Sorry, I forgot to look at teh nickel silver and brass :-(

I use the term puukko, because I bought the blades I'm using from Brisa; they *are* puukko blades, made by Kankaanpää.

I have it on sound authority (independently, from three Finns), that the word "puukko" is most probably derived from the Finnish word "puu", meaning "wood". But one Finn has mentioned a slang word meaning "to stab", though this is probably derived from the word for the knife, rather like saying "I got knifed" in English...

Anyway, I use this word only for Finnish or Finnish-ish knives. I wouldn't describe my little Brusletto as being a puukko :-þ

Admittedly, I don't know a great deal about the Lapps (do you use this word to describe the Saami?), but I doubt that the word in their language is the same as the Finnish word. Maybe you can find out more easily than me.

Keith.

[Dave Barker]

Nice try at Norwegian. You actually said thank you before the information:!!

It is written mange takk for informasjonen.but that was not too bad :D

Do you have any horn\camel bone. That could be a good trade for me.

If not then let me know and I'll find out a price for you it shouldn't be too much.

Håper vi kan bli enig( work that one out) and yes the lapps and the saami are one and the same person!

[keith_beef]

Nice try at Norwegian. You actually said thank you before the information:!!

It is written mange takk for informasjonen.but that was not too bad :D

Do you have any horn\camel bone. That could be a good trade for me.

If not then let me know and I'll find out a price for you it shouldn't be too much.

Håper vi kan bli enig( work that one out) and yes the lapps and the saami are one and the same person!

"I hope that we can come to an agreement."?

Ja, jeg haaper ogsaa (at home, I can't type å characters yet).

I don't really speak Norwegian, just a muddled mix of Norwegian and Swedish (as you might have noticed from the Swedish spelling of 'tack'), with a smattering of Danish, Frisian and Old Norse thrown in for good measure ;-)

I don't have much in the way of horn or bone. I have a few small pieces of cow horn and ram's horn, but cut as scales, around 20mm x 80mm x 6mm (IIRR). I have some small cow horn points, if that's of any interest.
And some Polish stag horn, around 120mm long, 25 to 30mm diameter.

I bought a pair of stabilized giraffe bone scales, but I don't want to part with them. I could get you some, but at around 60 Euros a pair, I don't know if you're that interested... Take a look at www.mercorne.fr, but don't expect the prices on the web site to be up to date.

I bought most of this stuff at the Mercorne stand at the Nontron fair... I had previously bought from by mail order, but was diasspointed by the horn scales, so I think that now I would only buy wood from Mercorne by mail order (I got some lovely Snakewood and some 'Cade', a sort of Juniper with a very nice burl and nice smell).

My thuya burl and amboyna burl blocks came from Craft Supplies, near Buxton. Very good service, but transport to France was pricey.


Keith.

[Dave Barker]

Kjenner til craft supplies selv. Men vi burde ta dette bare på engelsk.!! :biggthump

Is it a feasable trade for you to grind out a blade from the damascus stocks you have and weld a tang to it. Heat tresting I can likely get done as I can probably get the etching done at a small cost.

Just let me know what temperatures are needed cos they laminate over here and stock removal is not done.

Other than that, maybe we can trade for some of the Stag horn ( it needs to be able to be used for bolsters) or for a piece of your snakewood or the cade thing you spoke about.

Let me know what you think ok?

[keith_beef]

Yes, I think we'd better stick to English, for my sake!

In Paris, I don't have much equipment, certainly not a grinding machine. I'd have to do the work by draw filing... and I really don't have the time for that king of work.

The composition and heat-treatment is descibed on Brisa's website www.brisa.fi.

I've *still* not got around to measuring the brass and nickel silver :-( so I'll try to do all that tonight, honest. But the snakewood and "cade" are not up for grabs. If you like, I'll order some more pieces, or try to get some next time I see Mercorne at a trade show.

I had a look in my dictionaries, and the English word is apparently "cade", too (according to Larousse), though it is more likely to be "prickly juniper". A French dictionary described it as being "genièvre oxycèdre", the botanical name being juniperus oxycedrus.

Have a look at www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/conifers/cu/ju/oxycedrus.htm for (a few) more details, or try googling.


Keith.

[Dave Barker]

Maybe we'll just stick to the horn then!

Please do try to get some of those other woods though if the are not too expensive.

[keith_beef]

<Voice="HAL">I'm sorry Dave but I'm afraid I can't let you have any brass...</Voice>

I've left it in the shed in the Dordogne :-(

I do have the piece of nickel silver, however. It's 6 mm thick, and if IIRC (I notred the dimensions last night, but forgot to bring the paper with me) 41mm wide, and around 350mm long. I could cut you pieces from this if you want, at 2 Euros per linear centimetre (I'll re-calculate this, from the price I paid for the whole bar, if the dimensions are not as I remember).

I bought this piece a little over a year ago, from a knife dealer in Paris who sells a very small range of materials (and he was winding down this side of things, I think).

There's a company called Tartaix in Paris, rue du Pont aux choux ("Cabbage-Bridge Street"!) that sells nickel silver, aluminium and brass. I'll be going back there in a week or two, to try to get some material for making washers, liners and inner scales. I'll let you know what I find in the 0.5mm to 2mm thickness range.

I'll find the Mercorne price list, too. Send me your postal address, and I'll send you a photocopy.

Keith.

[Dave Barker]

OK.

I'll send a pm later with the address.

In the meantime what are we doing with the trade?

Any suggestions. It'd probably best you Pm me or mail me so that we don't clog up the forum.