Hi All,
This one is 95% done. It is just held together with a drop or two of superglue so I can see final fit/finish.
So, I have this book called "500 Knives." It's awesome. I decided to get really masochistic and I asked my wife to go through and pick a knife she liked out of it, and I'd see if I could make something similar.
She chose a beautiful dagger by Peter Mason. Here's a link to his website and a photo of the original blade. [url="http://www.petermasonknives.com/Gallery.htm"]http://www.petermasonknives.com/Gallery.htm[/url]
So, she set the bar pretty darn high. This knife isn't anywhere near as nice as Mr. Mason's, but I'm still mostly pleased with how it turned out.
In this knife I attempted to copy the pattern Uli used in his [url="http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=16372"]eardagger interpretation[/url]. According to JD Smith, it's called a "Gordian's Knot" pattern. Uli also gave me some advice on how he did it. It turned out okay, but I drew the billet out too far and didn't twist the bars tight enough, so the lines are pretty horizontal. I'll know better next time.
Also, the fittings are carved, textured brass with a patina. Carving the brass of the crossguard was tough. I have a long way to go before I can get it as nice as I want. The guard is my least favorite part of this knife, because I couldn't achieve the precision I wanted in the carving. Next time . .
Here are some photos of the making of the blade, and some additional photos of the nearly finished knife. Click on them for larger versions.
Thanks for looking guys!
--Dave
My whiteboard diagram of the layout of the billet.
The billet ready to weld up.
Getting ready for the final weld. Sorry, I didn't take photos of several of the steps in this billet, but it was essentially the same process that Uli used in his Eardagger thread. You can see them there.
I love my milling machine. Here's I'm slightly under cutting the ricasso so there is no gap in the bolster/blade fit.
Carving
More Carving
Still more carving
