Can anyone help me with information on the tools and patterns used on jigged bone handles. I am hoping to learn exactly how the Sheffield knife makers picked or jigged bone during the heyday of Sheffield cutlery and knife making and particularly what tools they used.

wow, not a peep, nobody even looking, me and one other guy. this must be the best kepted secret in custom knife making. i figure bruce evans knows for sure. i been watching for a reply since you asked. if you find out from another sourse please post it here steelej. i am very interested also.

I don't know how it was done in Sheffield, but I know that it can be done with a Dremel or Foredom tool and carbide burrs.

Most custom makers using jigged bone buy it already cut from suppliers like Mother of Pearl Co. and the knife supply houses.

You might try asking the question of a couple of folks who are knowledgeable of Sheffield history. Some of the names that come to mind are Bruce Voyles, Bernard Levine, and Mark Zalesky. Good luck.

I only know to do it using a dremal tool.I would also like to know how they did them in the old days.
Bruce

I basically gave up on being given the information and took all the old jigged bone handled knives I have to a X50 stereo microscope and examined the "toolmarks" . I have formed a few plans for trials but have yet to try them. Some patterns appear to be chemically etched as they show an eroded cell-like form. Others appear to have been hand cut with slightly oversize engravers tools - i.e. sloping entry and sudden sheared off exit from variously shaped round, square or V shaped cutters. There are no obvious chatter marks so the tools were probably not hammered. This is the best I can offer at the moment but I shall post again if or when I do get the full story.

It seems to me that I remember reading a reference to jigging "machines" in use by the old shops. I envisioned some sort of fixture that held bone blanks and used thin steel templates perhaps, or tools guides to facilitate a geared traversing, hand turned rotary burr. Somewhat complex mechanically but still essentially an old fashioned hand powered machine. I may be all wet, but this is what I have in my minds eye. A photo of any surviving machines or templates would probably clear things up.

The template and hand tool sounds more like the double bit parser and template for fitting shields. I put overlay grids onto the patterns on the knives I hace with jigged handles and they all appear to be random patterns. Thanks for the suggestion it may yet prove to be the way to go.