British Blades :: Custom Knife Making

Australian Myrtle Burl and Walnut Skinners

Frankallen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:55:56 GMT

Here are two I made that are Identical just different Scales. Hope y'all like them...Thanks for looking!!:)

Frank

Overall Length.....8 3/4"

Blade Length.....4" to scales

Steel.....3/32" 1095 (HT by me)

Pins..... 1/8" Brass

Elk Hide Colouring

Tack — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:48:43 GMT

Hi, been a while.
A lady here in BC recently completed a fantastic elk hide vest for me but unfotunately the colour is a rather garish yellow, a result of the tanning process I understand.
Anyway I want to darken the vest either to a dark maroon or a mid tan. I tried mink oil with no change to the colour. Someone else suggested neetsfoot oil but all the cans I have seen say not to use it on nubuck or suede type leathers. The vest has a nubuck texture.
Any suggestions?
Tack

Return Rant

burntrice — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:48:14 GMT

I'm not a big fan of generous return policies, having recieved a knife that someone else has obviously bought, opened, messed about with then sent back.

I recently saw a post where someone ordered 3 knifes to see which one they liked with the intention of sending the other two back, i disagree strongly with this. If you want a knife then read up, look at pictures, watch video's and make your purchase. If there isnt anything wrong with it then dont send it back.

No offence ment, i'm just mighty pissed off at spending over �100 on a knife that someone else has bought, cut open the little bag, done god knows what with and then send back because they wern't really sure if they wanted it in the first place.

My latest bushcraft sheath

Raga — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:31:54 GMT

Hi All !

One of my friend made this Bayley replica for himself, and asked me to make a sheath for it.
I hope you like it !
Comments and criticisms are always welcome !

Regards, Raga

Mini manix rescale in CF

russell white — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:32:57 GMT

Hi folks, a fellow member recently asked if i would re-scale a mini manix for him with CF scales, i agreed to give it a go. It was a new challenge for me as it is not the kind of knife i normally work with but nothing ventured... etc. Anyway heres the result.

As some of you know i am not a lover of Spyderco knives but having held this one for a while and witnessed the precision engineering that has been involved in the production i am beginning to be turned:O It was a joy to just put a knife together and know that all the parts fitted precisely where they should without (as in my normal work) having to glaze/file a bit off here there and everywhere to get joints etc right:rolleyes:

Hats off to Sal.

Thanks for looking

Russell:)

150mm grinder - have I bought the wrong one?!?

bushmeister — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:47:06 GMT

Hi all,

I have been have fun with a cheapo 1inch belt sander, and making some ok knives. Well my birthday is coming up and my missus asked if I wanted a better grinder. I said 'YES!' and promptly got her to buy me the AWEBDS610 150x1220 belt sander from axminster. It was �200 quid and got great reviews. However, I am now thinking I have made a stupid mistake as the belt is too wide....

What do you guys think? I still have my 1 inch grinder for curves I guess. Buying belts isn't too expensive so I'm not worried about that. I am more worried I will find the 150mm belt harder to use for grinding bevels/shaping knives - what is your experience? Can I modify it to make it easier?

Please help! :C

150mm grinder - have I bought the wrong one?!?

bushmeister — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:46:43 GMT

Posted twice - please delete!

Wakasashi queries part 2

Captain — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:16:31 GMT

Here is the second offering from a friends late father in law

This appears to have a scabbard and handle of ray skin with a silver fitting
the Tsuba looks like a quality item not original though I think.
nice sharp signiture not that I can read it
The blade is clean but not in good polish
again all information would be appreciated to be passed onto him as no info came with either of these wakasashi's
many thanks for all your info in the past I hope I can be of help

One last little item

This is from the same source He was told that this was a sweetheart gift given to girlfriends by their men when they went off to war.
I have not seen these or heard of the practice
Old wives tale?
Kind regards
Captain

Micarta blocks?

diavoli — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:15:25 GMT

Just looking for suppliers of good bowie sized ( 5"x2"x1" min.) micarta blocks. The shipping seems hefty from some of the US stores.

Makers Mark Etching Machine

Stew — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:53:47 GMT

Is anyone interested in purchasing an etcher for marking their blades?

Recently my brother successfully made me an etcher and is prepared to make some more but in order to keep the costs down, he would like to make a number at once.

This is a step up from using a 9v battery, saltwater and a cotton bud.

Personally, I still use the salt water and cotton bud, but using this machine it not only consistantly removes the metal quickly:

but unlike using a salt water set-up, it also blackens the bottom of the etch:

The machine will come ready to use with a crocodile clip on one wire but the wire that is actually doing the etching will be left bare for you to fit out yourself. I use a cotton bud but other systems use a stainless steel plate and felt pad. Leaving it bare means you can make a pad that suits your stencil and also keeps initial costs down.

Cost for one machine is �55 each if five people are interested.

That doesn't include postage.

Royal Mail is �4.41 for up to 2kg and �7.06 for up to
4kg. The transformer itself is 1.6kg so the whole thing including
packaging could well go beyond the 2kg mark. It could be worth trying out MyHermes for postage.

Lead time would be a couple of weeks once we have five names.

I will provisionally reserve the number 1 slot for Steve George as it was his request that instigated it.

Legalise your Opinel

cockroach — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:42:02 GMT

Stop me if this has been done before.........
Had a bright idea for de-commissioning the locking ring on an Opinel.
Now I know you can remove the ring, but they don't look right without it.
I also thought of drilling & pinning through the ring to stop it turning.
My final idea, which seems to have worked perfectly, was to carefully dribble some araldite down the holes in each side of the locking ring, once it sets, the ring won't turn, so it's not a lock knife any more.
The picture is an Opinel no.8, so I have also ground away about 1/4" of the upswept tip, to make it more of a spear point, also bringing the cutting edge under 3".
Also a bit of handle re-shaping & finished with wax shoe polish!
Now it doesn't lock, I also thought about grinding away the last 1/2" of cutting edge nearest the handle to make a choil, but this particular knife has a fairly stiff pivot, so I think I'll leave that for now.
A nice cheap non-threatening EDC.

M.S. Primitive Knife

mick spain — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:58:15 GMT

I started this one because I had a piece of 3mm thick Damascus from the side of a billet that I had cut a lot of different shapes from that was shaped almost as I have made, it so I just followed the form so to speak :) I decided to make it from stuff in my shop that was at hand,
Twine, leather some small pieces of mosaic pins & some buffalo horn, the tang was narrow for a full tang, I didn't want to make a stick tang so I let a piece of leather between the scales on the underside so it was a bit fuller in the hand, there are some things I would have done different like a shorter blade & longer handle but it's too late now:|
This is how it came out not a user I know which is a little bit awkward to except for me although it is very sharp :)
Blade length =120mm Handle =105mm

Thanks for Looking :)

EKA Nordic, W11 vs S11 ?

Trojan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:32:12 GMT

Hi All,

Thinking of purchasing one of the two above knives, and was wondering if anyone had used the gutting hook on the S11 ? Does it actually improve efficiency over the standard W11 ? or is it just some fancy extra ?

Is the extra width of the S11 a help or a hindrance ?

The knife is going to be used as a general fixed blade camp knife, small cutting tasks plus gutting and skinning coneys / woodies and the occasional jointing of larger four legged mammals.

Was maybe interested in getting one second hand if anyone has seen one about on any of the "usual suspect" forums,

Cheers, and thanks in advance for any info, T :)

Bushfire Bearded Axe

TomfromtheState — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:26:08 GMT

So I started a bearded axe during my time at owens, which we had many discussion on tool usage and the ways certain things are welded, so this was a bit of an experiment. so its a heinz denig style wrap, or at least what I can remember of it, a U welded to a square, so the front of the eye is square, but I need to look at his book again, because his finished axes are slightly rounded in the front and I cant remember if they're forged that way or what.

So the wrap is wrought iron, 3 layers, wrought, 3 layers, wrought. Then the square block collar part is 1200 layers, then the bit is 250 layer turkish twist damascus, 4 bar. Its not done yet, and parts just have a light etch on them so they're bit hard to see and the lines still need some cleaning up, but its almost there.

Medieval event this weekend- north of Montreal

Darksword Armor — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:16:22 GMT

Hi Everyone,

This upcoming weekend, September 4, 5, and 6, there will be a medieval event north of Montreal. I attended the last couple of shows. Last year, this event gathered 10,000 people over the course of 3 days. Last year's theme was a reenactment of the battle of Agincourt. This year, apparently, will include other fighters from Germany and switzerland.

The link is below for those interested in attending. The show is about 60 minutes north of Montreal. I'm not an organizer, but I'm sure you can find answers to most of your questions on their website.

http://fetemedievalesaintcolomban.com/

Eyal Azerad
Darksword Armory Inc.