Big Slab of Maple Burl

[Don Robertson]

This past week, I did a woodworking for a friend, for payment, he gave me a couple bottles of Tuscan wine, and a huge slab of maple Burl. The wood is like 2" thick and 18" wide by 30" long. It looks kind of like a big figure 8. Anyway, I'd like to take a wack at making a knife handle, something not too awfully complicated. So my question is, whats a good source for blade blanks, preferably pre-sharpened ? I remember one of the pictures on the forum here of a half Damascus blade, which would be cool.

 

[RickD]

Half a damascus blade?

 

[Don Robertson]

"tsk" A half Damascus blade. I think Claude had one ?!? yes/no ?

Rick, umm, that dog in your Avatar is one ugly dude. Don't tell him I said that though.
:wink:

 

[Claude Mathis]

"tsk" A half Damascus blade. I think Claude had one ?!? yes/no ?

Not me. I have a couple acid etched blades, but no damascus

 

[RC]

I'd settle fer 1/2 damascus! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: specially with burl oak handles! :haha:

 

[RickD]

Ok what the heck is half a damascus blade??

 

[RC]

Ok what the heck is half a damascus blade??

only one side shows??? like a car with only 2 hubcaps? :thumbsup: ........... I don't know...... :redface: but it sounds good and unique! :grin:

 

[RickD]

Be kind of tricky to acid etch only one side..

 

[Don Robertson]

*sigh* I looked everywhere and I can't find the picture "I thought" was a knife blade with a caption, or the maker, saying it was a "half Damascus" blade. The top part of the knife was Damascus steel, and the sharpened part was plain steel. Maybe, I was dreaming :hmm: or, more than likely misunderstood someone else's description. Sorry, anyway, blades, where's a good place to get blades?
:surrender:

 

[Rogue River]

Try www.trackofthewolf.com

 

[RickD]

Ahh ok now I see..John has forged damascus like that,he`ll sometimes add a piece of tool steel to the edge of the blade..Now I see what you mean..

 

[RC]

IXOYE,coulda seen one that looked half damascus,some pics are hard to see..that's no biggie,,glad to see ya makin yer own! wish I could!...gees if I tried, it'd probably would be a "ascus" :shocked2: :haha:

 

[Bubba45]

Jantz supply , Texas Knifemakers supply are a couple .

 

[jtmattison]

I know nothing about wood. Can you make a rifle stock out of maple burl?

HD

 

[Nifeman]

That would be known as a San Mai type blade.Its a piece of steel sandwiched between two pieces of damascus.
That would be a heckava knife with a piece of wood that size on it :rotf: . seriously tho, I've used it in the past and it makes for a beautiful handle. Also it could be used for a stock (might want to consider it)...Bud

 

[Don Robertson]

Thanks, Bud, looks like the price for a San Mai blade is a bit steeper than I thought. Ill stick with a nice blade from Track of the Wolf for my first blade. To answer Huntin Dawg, yes Maple Burl would be a real nice gun stock. However, burl wood can be a disappointing thing to work with on some larger items like stocks. Depending on how big the burl was originally, the wood could contain a lot of voids, some times even rocks, and bark inclusions. The piece I have has some voids and bark in it so I've decided to cut it down to smaller pieces.

 

[Birdman]

if ya got a piece big enough n tight that burl would make a real nice noggin for drinking out of, just carve out a bowl shape n fancy up the handle some n it ought to be right purty

 

[Walks Alone]

Huntin Dawg -

You could probably make one, although the wood is much harder to work and heavy. But you'd only want it for a wall hanger. The wood can have brittle areas, and can be full of inclusions (bark, stone, spalt/decay, etc depending on if an aerial or root burl). I still have some of it on hand, exhibition grade, that I used to make custom predator calls and other projects from for decades. Better choice with maple for gunstocks is fiddleback or pillow. Have 3 fiddleback rifle blanks, all 100% coverage exhibition grade, but just never got around to making stocks out of them. These can be worked much easier and are nearly as pretty as burl if done right.

WA

 

[omarick1948]

if ya got a piece big enough n tight that burl would make a real nice noggin for drinking out of, just carve out a bowl shape n fancy up the handle some n it ought to be right purty

Just don't try to flatten the Noggin, as it won't hold as much!....Sorry Birdman!...Couldn't resist!... :rotf: :haha: :blah: