Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Maple hunter

I just finished this one. It's 8 1/2" OAL with a 5/32" 154CM blade. The handle scales are stabilized maple from Burl Source. I like that the stabilizing process did not darken the scales much. They are very blonde which is what I wanted for this project. 1/4" brass corby bolts hold everything together.

very nice

I like it.

Impressive!

Beautiful!

Very nice. Your work is always outstanding.

Nice filework and blade profile on that.......

Well done that is a beautiful little knife.

Very nice

You file work is outstanding!

...it's a beauty, nice work.

awesome as usual, Gary

beautiful knife, great job!!

Great looking knife for sure!

Very nice clean design. I've never done any file work. I always assumed it was filled with epoxy. Is there any brand you prefer or tricks to make sure there are no voids or bubbles that show up when finishing?

I load up the scales with epoxy, way too much epoxy, and press both of them home at the same time. It's messy. The epoxy will usually fill in the filework without any problem aside from air bubbles. I run a lighter over the epoxy on the filework and it brings all the air bubbles to the top. The air bubbles pop and go away. I use a slow set epoxy. It takes 18 hours to cure. I will use 5 minute epoxy on knives that have no filework and are pinned with corby or loveless bolts. All knives with filework or straight pins get to slow set epoxy, it's stronger. I have recently started using shafting epoxy for golf clubs.

http://www.golfsmith.com/product/30040217/clubmaker-shafting-epoxy-1-2-pint-black#BVRRWidgetID

It's good stuff.

Thanks for the info. Is it real thick and does it shrink much when curing?

Is it black only?

They have the amber colored shafting epoxy also. Thick? Not for epoxy. It is thicker than fiberglass resin but a little thinner than the common twin syringe type of epoxy. Shrink? Good question. I have no idea. I leave the epoxy proud when clamping the handle and allow it to cure that way. I can't see the filework or tang until I work the handle to shape. My handles are a big blob of hard glue when I start the shaping process. If it does shrink when curing, I wouldn't know it because of all the excess I leave. When I take the clamps off, my handles usually look like this.


There is epoxy all over everthing. I work the handle to shape and the excess epoxy goes away.

I finished the sheath for this knife. I wanted to try a different type of sheath. This one is a clam type sheath with deer skin lining. The knife is very snug and protected.

I do not carry a knife on my belt when I hunt. I know that it sounds strange for a knifemaker to say that but I never have. I throw my blade in a pack and pull it out when it's time to disassemble a critter. I sometimes have to set the knife down to flip the critter over or get a better hold on the skin. A couple times I thought it would be nice to have the sheath on my hip to hold to knife during this process but I didn't want to go through the trouble of threading the sheath on my belt. I put a metal belt clip on this sheath. It seems like to good solution. The clip is very positive but easy to get on and off.

I like your sheath clip, I too carry my knife in my pack and it only comes out when a critter is down. A great feature would be to be able to open the sheath to clean it out. That way you could stuff the nasty blade in the sheath while working. Don't know how to make such a sheath but would like one.