My sons knife. A joint projectsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #craft7 years ago

http://evilhippie.dk/Misc/Steemit/2017_07/scaled_full_3532adb9c4833c00c45f.jpg
My youngest son shares my passion and fascination with metal working. He is also a boyscout and so he uses a knife frequently.
Therefore I invited him to design and make his own knife. He was just turned 12 at the time so obviously I would have to help him alot, but he set about designing it and quickly came up with some pretty well thought out ideas. First he wanted the handle to be secure, so it wouldnt slide when used. he chose a design very similar to many modern kitchen knives, and while this is a bit unorthodox, I think it turned out nice. he also wanted a beefy blade with a broad back and something between a droppoint and a sheepsfoot blade. Again it makes the knife really unique and is great for something which will be used for both wittling and chopping. Originally he wanted the metal fittings on the scabbard to be made out of steel, but at the time i didnt have any steelplate and it is anyways very hard to work into something a detailed, so we opted for brass and copper instead. For the wood he wanted Zebrano, A tropical wood with a beatiful contrast. I had no idea where to get something like that at a reasonable price so I talked him into going to the local wood-yard(is that the word?) As it happened they had just on plank of Zebrano standing around which they where happy to sell to us, so now we have enough for the next 100 knives :-)
http://evilhippie.dk/Misc/Steemit/2017_07/scaled_full_bbaaf37339359e7a3ae0.jpg
We forged the knife together. I did the roughgrinding and heattreating, he did the hand-polishing. Then I made the scabbard since it is very important that this fits perfectly. otherwise the knife will either get stuck or fall out.
Finally all the wood was polished and given a good coating of oil. I use linseed. and thats it. Its been used for over a year now and its not as shiny anymore , but its still not rusty and just looks nicely aged. What do you think.

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Excellent knife and an experience he'll remember forever. My father would help us with projects similar to this and I still have some of the results. The skills I learned during those times are still used today and I can't walk into a leather workshop or a wood shop without getting all nostalgic and inspired to start another project.

Thank you. Yes I had similar memories from my childhood. there is no better way to be together, kids and adults, than by working on a project together.

Amazing, what a nice project!

Beautiful, really impressive especially for a child. I love the natural look of the wood as well. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful knife. It will age well with nice patina

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