Zeb Camper

I realize I'm kind of a "far out dude"... I was thinking earlier about knives. I've been tinkering around with carving and inlay, designs, fit, finishes, and overall form. I used to think what made a great looking knife was utilizing textures and stylized lines, figured woods, and metalurcical special effects in the steel. Sort of letting the material tell it's own tale while keeping the lines clean and flowing. I think that's what I thought anyway. Now I'm not so sure... clean and crisp lines show craftsmanship, but lack of a story. Like freckles, grey hairs, or laugh lines; a stray chisel mark, etch flaw, or just minor asymmetry might add character to an otherwise mastered, or seemingly captive, terribly modern, and finely machined piece. I work on construction jobs from time to time and notice little things. A short piece of trim spliced where it should have been one piece, but they ran out of material, or how they had to get creative with a fix for a situation. When you look at old work, there is a lot of this evident. It reminds you that this object was handmade, and all its slight flaws amongst the beautiful bigger picture somehow speak volumes about the piece. Just a thought.

Hopefully not a turn for the worst.

More progress. Handle roughed out and added the antler to the back end with an alignment peg made of that old black oak root I found. So it has antler on each end now.

Oh yeah, that's all it needed.

More progress. Got a hamon in the little guy.

Ok. I guess it's done then. The rest of my family and best friend said the same. I think I'm mostly concerned about scratches on the handle. Its poplar. OTOH, it's an art knife and no one will seriously use it. Thanks guys!

We try to protect our vital organs from anything hot or sharp. Its necessary...

Thanks for your service, and happy late birthday!

I didnt do this today, but I requested advice earlier here about this knife... does it need a buttcap? Made of silver, wrought, or damascus? I added silver wire btw.

Looking great!

You went for a pretty wild buttcap there. I think what you see is "missing" might be the very artistic butt clashing with the more utilitarian style of the rest of the knife. It warrants extra handle ornamentation. But I do like it!

Cool!

I like the shape!

Pretty friggin cool!

What Joshua said! Welcome aboard!