Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades I don't have a nice knife

I made myself a knife six years ago and I have carried it on every hunt since. The knife has been named the Pig Zipper because it gets wild hogs naked in a hurry. The original Pig Zipper was made in one day and there was very little attention to detail and no attempt was made at elegance. I don't take good care of my knife and when it gets really tarnished, I throw it in a blast cabinet. I love my knife but the problem is people will find out that I make knives and they want to see my knife. ( I stopped typing, went to my truck, pulled my knife from my pack, and snapped a picture)

This is it. People act like I handed them a turd even when it's clean.

I don't want people to look at my knife as an example of the knives I make so I decided to make a nice Pig Zipper.

The original Pig Zipper has an O1 tool steel blade which I like for field chores but it is carbon steel and can tarnish. A little tarnish or rust on the blade is not a problem but tarnish and rust around the tang is more difficult to deal with. I decided to make a frame handle knife. The blade is O1 but the frame, guard, and pins are stainless.



The scales are spalted maple burl with red G10 liners. I file worked the frame all the way around after getting everything fit.


Fitting all the parts is the most time consuming process when making a frame handle knife by hand. I wore out several files.



The glue up is never fun when dealing with a dozen pieces but it went pretty smooth and everything pulled together nicely. Here's a pic of the roughed out handle. I like this part of knifemaking most. Finding the handle in that big block of material is where the art comes into play.


The knife finished at 9 1/4" OAL. It's a large field knife but feels good in the hand.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/alb...finishmagzipper004_zps491d58d9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/alb...finishmagzipper010_zps912c2862.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/alb...finishmagzipper013_zps14b4a73e.jpg[/img]

It turned out just the way I pictured it in my head. When people find out that I make knives and want to see my knife, I will hand them this bad boy and..............I sold it. I still don't have a nice knife.

Very Nice!!!

Good one.

awesome blade...love the file work.......

Indeed... that's funny!

Nicely done. You do fine work. I really like O-1 when heat treated by a pro.......

Enjoyed this post! Very pretty work there.

Thats a beautiful knife

WOW great job and finished knife. Very interesting, I have never seen a frame handle knife before, pretty cool, looks like a ton work to be hidden under the handles though, but neat.

One question.....what is the black material around the file work on the tang? Looks from the photo like some kind of fill in material.

41Gunner

That's one sexy blade!

man that is nice

It is a really nice knife, but I think I like your "user" pic better.
I like to see knives that work for a living.
jmho
Tim

I agree, the new one is gorgeous but I like the old one too.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words.

The black material around the filework is the epoxy used to glue the knife together. It looks black but it is actually a very dark blue.

this but i want a knife that works more than one that looks pretty......the fact the original pic looks hard used and still ticking is appealing to me......course lots of people seem to be concerned that their knife looks pretty more than how it holds an edge ect....

That's a beautiful knife.
I have a question - What is the purpose for a frame handle knife...? I mean, what is the purpose of two pieces (excluding the guard) instead of one...? Are there some benefits to that design as opposed to the one piece design (where the blade and handle/tang are all one piece...?
Thanks.
And again, that is a beautiful knife that you made.

Alright, that made me LOL. Carry some pics on your phone instead.

Nice!

There is no functional or practical benefit to a frame handle over a full tang knife. The full tang will obviously be stronger and easier to make. From a user only point of view, making a frame handle knife is silly. I look at knives as tools but a tool can be beautiful and elegant. A frame handle while not as strong as a full tang is still plenty strong.

Yeah, I gotta agree.

If you decide to make some more down the road, I might be interested...