First knife build

[Davey Boy]

This is my first knife build. I haven't been working on it as I had to have it all made in my head first. My daughter hunts and fishes and she mailed me an antler horn. Said she wanted a good skinning knife and the horn fit her hand well. She said to leave the hairs on it too. She included the shape of the blade traced out on paper. When I was out in Arizona around Show Low I went lawn saling with my friend Al. I found some good Japanese Maxam steel knifes and mailed them home. I used one of them to make the blade from. Boring out the antler horn I slipped my hand into the cutter and that took a while to heal. The brass came from a retired gunsmith auction in Pensacola. The piece that meets the horn was real old brass as the zinc(?) in it left the brass with a hard outside coating of copper. It was big enough for this work after getting machined down into the center a bit. The guard is 0.1" thick by 1.6" long and I didn't have any flat stock that thickness so I cut it out of 1/2" brass rod. Today I got the tang partially through the guard and the adapter ring and propped it up for a picture. Sent the picture to my daughter and she said it's looking good. My plan is to seat the blade well into the guard. machine the guard to the final thickness so it is flush with the adapter ring. I will radius cut the guard corners, silver solder the brass together, fit the adapter ring to the antler to close up the gap, JB Weld the tang into the handle.

 

[deermanok]

Looks great.

 

[1BadDart]

Nice looking knife.

 

[user 48679]

She's gonna love it as much as I do !

 

[JohnnieT]

That’s a very pretty knife. You picked a great looking antler to handle that one!

 

[Davey Boy]

Today I cut the pocket for the blade to fit into. Thank you, Bill Raby, for your awesome videos which taught me how to begin to do inletting. If the blade was made from scratch it would not need to be inlet into the guard the way I did it. Next I am going to put it in the rock tumbler and see if some of the edges will smooth out. The guard has been silver soldered to the adapter ring and I cut the square corners off the guard. I used a flycutter to machine the guard flush to the adapter ring.

 

[Davey Boy]

Broke the edges on the brass, 220 wet and dry paper sand, Dremel to remove fine scratches. Clamp in a vise blade tip down, clamp blade square to guard. Apply JB Weld with a toothpick and use a heat gun to warm the JB Weld so it flows down around the blade and into the pocketed area. After an overnight cure it will be ready to fit to the handle.

 

[Davey Boy]

Yesterday I trimmed the epoxy at the blade and blade pocket interface. Then filed some notches in the tang for the handle epoxy to grab onto.


Then I ground the adapter ring with a 1/16" ball endmill using a Dremel to make it fit better to the high spots on the antler handle.


I put the knife pieces together with JB Weld and let it cure overnight.


This morning I removed a little epoxy that squished out. I boxed it up and mailed it to my daughter this morning. It is supposed to arrive on the 16th. Hunting season starts in Florida on the 17th. She said to not sharpen it, she would take care of it. Yay! It was nice to be able to do this for her.

 

[necchi]

Nice indeed, hope it fit's her hand well.

Why the JB Weld, instead of a different epoxy?
(just curious)

 

[Rifleman1776]

Nice knife and a great keepsake gift for your daughter.

 

[Polecat_Tom]

It is nice that your daughter is interested in this and the two of you can participate together. Great looking knife.

 

[Davey Boy]

Nice indeed, hope it fit's her hand well.

Why the JB Weld, instead of a different epoxy?
(just curious)

I use several kinds of epoxy in my trade and the JB Weld gives lots of time to fiddle with final assembly. After an overnight cure of 15 hours it is quite stable. When fully cured I have had it remain tough and in use for days at a time at 300 degree F. When used in the antler to blade tang interface it should be durable for years to come. Giving the scores and irregular surface to the steel tang will make it hold like it was welded. If it ever needs to be taken apart. the epoxy will begin to loose its strength at temperatures above 450F. So slowly heating the blade and guard section to a raised temperature will allow the parts to come apart for any repair work without damage to the antler. This type of epoxy also endures exposure to many common chemicals including water.

She selected the antler horn for her hand to fit and gave me a cardboard cutout of the exact blade shape which I followed precisely. The brass guard and tang were my concoction especially the guard with hands and fingers protected.

Thanks for your question and interest.

 

[Polecat_Tom]

Thank you for the information on the JB Weld. I will try that on my next knife build.

 

[Red Owl]

That's very creative, took a lot of thought to build it. In the future you could try soldering the guard to the blade.
I love Show Low. Been there, done that

 

[Davey Boy]

There has been no updates to this as Hurricane Ian has flooded the hunting area my daughter uses near her home. I am anxious to hear how the knife performs it's intended duty.

 

[Davey Boy]

On October 30 she got her first buck. She used the knife for skinning and said that it worked terrific and did not damage to the hide and was comfortable in her hand.

Yay !

 

[TDM]

That’s great! Congratulations to both of you.

 

[Bobo Greybeard]

Beautiful work Sir, your daughter will enjoy that knife decades to come. She may even pass it down to your grandkids some day. I will become one of those tools that everytime she uses it she will smile. At least on the inside if not on the outside and think of you.

You Sir have not only completed your first knife build, you have created a. Heirloom that will be passed down to the generations that will follow ours.

Stay safe and seek happiness,
Bobo Greybeard

 

[Trapper Scott]

Awesome knife and she is going to treasure it forever.

 

[LRB]

I use several kinds of epoxy in my trade and the JB Weld gives lots of time to fiddle with final assembly. After an overnight cure of 15 hours it is quite stable. When fully cured I have had it remain tough and in use for days at a time at 300 degree F. When used in the antler to blade tang interface it should be durable for years to come. Giving the scores and irregular surface to the steel tang will make it hold like it was welded. If it ever needs to be taken apart. the epoxy will begin to loose its strength at temperatures above 450F. So slowly heating the blade and guard section to a raised temperature will allow the parts to come apart for any repair work without damage to the antler. This type of epoxy also endures exposure to many common chemicals including water.

She selected the antler horn for her hand to fit and gave me a cardboard cutout of the exact blade shape which I followed precisely. The brass guard and tang were my concoction especially the guard with hands and fingers protected.

Thanks for your question and interest.

J&B WELD can resist 600°f temperature for short terms. It is a little too thick for many knife making applications, but great for some. Brownells Accraglas is one of the best but takes a longer time to cure. DEVCON 2 TON original is very good for most all applications and is optically clear.