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I put this gnarly thing together for a trade with a group of other makers - a KITH, actually. The theme was "throw me a bone".

Nice primitive, man. What is the guard bolster made from? Is your name laser etched on there?

ah, this knife has style.
can you stain the bones too?
have you done knives for pipemaking too?
i mean knives with small blades, easy to controll etc.?

Sweet work, Kurt. It all fits together thematically really nicely. Even the sheath fits the overall aesthetic.

Really cool.

That's really awesome Kurt. The guy who get's it will definitely be very happy.

Great knife Kurt! Is that a real bone or just carved to look like one? The big question I have though is, how do you get the stitches on your sheath so nice and even?

Thank you all for the compliments!

Frank wrote:Nice primitive, man. What is the guard bolster made from? Is your name laser etched on there?

It's actually electro-etched. I built my etcher using schematics (and then correcting the mistakes in them) from K-Net's documents library. After building it and throwing a meter on it, I found the polarity was reversed in the schematics.

daniel wrote:can you stain the bones too?
have you done knives for pipemaking too?
i mean knives with small blades, easy to controll etc.?

Yes, the bone is stained. When they come to me they're anywhere from cream colored to stark white. This one has several coats of Fiebings medium brown rubbed into it with a rag.

I've not made a knife specifically for pipe making, no. I don't actually use a knife when making pipes, interestingly enough. I know some folks use one to scrape the stem prior to sanding, but I learned to make stems without that process.

But small, quick knives - yes. There's this one that is used in my kitchen almost daily for boning chickens and other small animals:

Anvil wrote:Is that a real bone or just carved to look like one? The big question I have though is, how do you get the stitches on your sheath so nice and even?

That's deer leg bone. It might just be an ideal knife handle material. It's shape is perfect, it takes stain very well, it's hard as...bone, and it's conveniently hollow for inserting the tang of the blade.

Speaking of blade, I forgot to give details. The blade is 1095, edge quenched to give the spine some toughness. The bolster is cast pewter, and the other fittings are copper.

In order to keep the stitching straight and even, I used a stitching wheel. I got mine at a fabric store I think. After the sheath is glued up and the edge sanded to shape, I mark the stitch line and drill the holes with an awl held in the drill press. Since my stitching wheel was designed for fabric, I only drill every other or every third dimple. After that it's just a matter of threading through the holes.

KurtHuhn wrote:I built my etcher using schematics (and then correcting the mistakes in them) from K-Net's documents library. After building it and throwing a meter on it, I found the polarity was reversed in the schematics.

Buggrit! Why didn't I think of building one of those wossnames. Did the document tell how to make the stencils?

A buddy bought one of these, but cheapskate here wasn't prepared to shell out: http://jantzsupply.com/cartease/item-de ... m?ID=EC302
The one from K & G is twice as expensive.

Pretty darned sweet, Kurt!

I really like the way you did the bolster.

Did you sign your name in the Papyrus font?

Oh man. Stay away from those things. They're ungodly expensive, and making one only takes an afternoon - if that. You don't even need the crazy transformer that the Internet schematics call for. Mine has a 25V 450mA transformer, and works like a charm. Every part I needed, I picked up in one trip to the local Radio Shack (after calling to confirm they had the transformer in stock first) including the project box it's all housed in.






That knife in the OP was etched with 3 DC etchings of a 10-count each (probably 7 seconds), then switched to AC to deposit oxides for a 5-count. Technically speaking, a single DC 10-count might have been sufficient along with a 5-count AC - but I wanted the etch very deep on this one.

The stencils are a collection of trial and error, as well as lots and lots of research. I make my stencils using silkscreen resist from Circuit Bridge, and the sun as my exposure unit. I just print the design onto a transparency, create a sandwich with piece of G10, the silkscreen resist, the design/transparency, and a piece of borosilicate glass. I expose it to direct sunlight for 30-45 seconds, and develop the film, periodically rubbing it with a soft sponge to help get the unexposed gel off the screen. It sure beats paying through the nose to have someone else do it....

Frank wrote:

KurtHuhn wrote:I built my etcher using schematics (and then correcting the mistakes in them) from K-Net's documents library. After building it and throwing a meter on it, I found the polarity was reversed in the schematics.

Buggrit! Why didn't I think of building one of those wossnames. Did the document tell how to make the stencils?

Back in the day (30 years ago) I used an etcher that used regular carbon paper as a stencil. Don't know what Kurts is like.

Kurt - The colors of the copper, stained bone & sheath look perfect togather. Nicely done.

edit - Kurt & I were posting at the same time. I now see that his etcher is an electrical unit whereas the one I used to use was an electro-chemical device. Obviously, carbon paper wont's work for his.

TreverT wrote:Did you sign your name in the Papyrus font?

Seems like he did Trever and rahter permanently so...that knife just has your name on it

geigerpipes wrote:

TreverT wrote:Did you sign your name in the Papyrus font?

Seems like he did Trever and rahter permanently so...that knife just has your name on it

TreverT wrote:Did you sign your name in the Papyrus font?

I *think* this is one of the Neutra-ish fonts. If memory serves, it's a bastardization that I squashed, stretched, and condensed to get the look I wanted.

The papyrus font might be a little too detailed from electro-chem etching. I think it would just go all muddy. Besides, using papyrus might smack of someone more into designing fantasy pieces for manufacture in China from mystery metal.

TreverT wrote:

geigerpipes wrote:

TreverT wrote:Did you sign your name in the Papyrus font?

Seems like he did Trever and rahter permanently so...that knife just has your name on it

Trever, the fact you just posted an XKCD comic makes me like you even more than I did before! Fantastic!

KurtHuhn wrote:...might smack of someone more into designing fantasy pieces for manufacture in China from mystery metal.

Ohh... just poke me in the eye with a sharp stick, whydontcha!

SimeonTurner wrote:
Trever, the fact you just posted an XKCD comic makes me like you even more than I did before! Fantastic!

XKCD is probably my favorite web comic thus far. It really resonates with my outlook, for some reason - often even when I have NO idea what the comic is about! (Like all the ones on math, for instance) It's the only web comic that I check regularly.

Some faves:

Trever, I swear you MIGHT be as big a geek as I am.

The second one is one of my all-time favorite cartoons, and I have a printout of it on the wall of the study over my desk. It's there as a constant reminder of why I should never, ever make any changes to the computer at all. I ignore it regularly, thus ensuring that I repeat its lesson over and over....

Hey, I wonder if I could dual-boot OSX and Ubuntu?