Stick tang hunter w.i.p.

[t cudworth]

This is my first w.i.p. with pics so give it to me with both barrels! Hope the pics are adequate with resizing. This is one of 2 knives I produced for a couple. A stick tang hunter closely resembling their sketch which i tweaked a bit with their permission. It is to be a family gift for 1 of 6 brothers. (4 more knives after these 2, ill get pics of the other one later). I first consulted with the couple to determine use, hand size and etc. It is built from a leaf spring, i normalized twice before quench, and i rolled the dice and used furnace cement to try for my first hamon, ill be dipt in shit, it worked. Not sure if it should have been etched in ferric, but i didnt have any. I do have vinegar? Then, 2 hrs in the stove at 400, and a nice straw color. I sanded my way up to 2000, then some buffing on a muslin with white rouge. I ran the primary bevel up to about quarter of an inch from the spine with a small choil. The handle is antler, copper spacers, wood from the owners grandfathers barn (tamarack i think) guard and pommel are farriers file (normalized and polished ), blade radiused, ca glue everywhere, and peened tang. Formed and sanded handle to 1000 grit, then 3 successive coats of urethane, and a slight 2000 after that. Lastly i should note in the final pic, it just has to be sharpened with a secondary bevel. This bugger took me about 25 hours.

Thanks for looking everyone and happy holidays!!

Tom

[Garry Keown]

A commendable effort Tom. The one comment I might make concerns the handle which has a "blocky rectangular" look to it. Dont often see a handle with a waist on it so that is an area I would revisit. Have a look at numerous other hunting knives, or knives in  general (apart from daggers etc) to see that is style is quite unusual.The natural hand hold for this type of handle shape does not really have a hunting, skinning application. Still, this is just my opinion and if it is what they want then that is a that matters.

[t cudworth]

Thanks Garry, i have had blockyitis in the past, and on this one i guess i was scared to get so close to the tang and have a weak handle. Looking back now, i dont think it would have been an issue. Learning curve i guess. His hands are as big as mine, but yea, more curve and less meat!