I tried to stay period correct as much as possible with this knife as I wanted to do a Rendesvous sometime.
The blade is Aldos 1095 flat ground, guard to tip is 12 3/8th, sent to Peters for HT @59RC. The guard was hand worked out of 1"x1" brass bar stock. The handle is California curly Redwood, the pins are 16 penny nails. I left the blade at 600 grit as this will be working bowie, and it is going to get scratches.

Thats a nice job, the red wood is beautiful, I don't think I would've gone that hard, but it sure should hold a edge.

Peter's is a couple miles from here, Doug, Brad and the gang are friends, good guys.

I gave them a range of 58-60 on 4 blanks so I am guessing they hit somewhere in the middle.

Beautiful knife. I'm all about edge holding blades so I think your choice of hardness was a good one. With the sharpening tools available today even big knives with hard blades aren't much of a problem. What period are you interested in a rendezvous? I was always interested in mountain men and the fur trade. Some incredible craftsmanship to be seen there.

Congratulations on a fine piece.

Frank

j2dogs that is really,really nice. Nice work and hope to see more too.

fshaw: Thanks, yes mountain man period. I guess the movie Jeremiah Johnson may have influenced me some.

VinceM: Thank-you, a compliment like that from you means alot to me.

Well done, sir!

I like the sculpted scales for grip on
a large knife. Nice!!

Looks nice. You did a very good job. The only thing I can say to help is don't be afraid to thin down and narrow the handle and guard area on the next one.

Thanks guys for all your kind words.
I know my handle was a little on the "Fat side". Had a problem when drilling the tang hole. My drill press was not large enough so I had to drill by hand, I got the hole straight side to side but there was a slight cant of the blade as it went into the block. I am sure it was not a problem as there was plenty of wood all around the guard before I started working it down. I just got scaaaared of sanding into the tang, looking back I know it would not happen. But you know what they say about hind site. lol I think I am done with hidden tangs for now, got a couple of full tangs I need to get slabs on. Thanks again guys for your kind words, they give me encouragement.

The only reason I said anything is because my first few had fat handles. You did good.

No I really do appreciate your comments. It's when people do not comment I'm kind thinking "There is no hope" lol.

looks great

Did you build the rifle. It looks slim.

Thanks Rick. No the rifle was put together by Steve Zihn, out in Wyoming.

man thats a pretty blade you made there