2nd knife done!

[Matt Bufford]

just finished this one up today. It's only my second knife completed so far, and I'm loving the results. flat ground D2 steel, bocote handle, brass guard and pommel. HT by texasknife

[Ray Rogers]

That looks good and I'm impressed with how neat those rivets are in your kydex sheath, mine never look that good.

Now, what are you willing to do to test that knife and see if it works as good as it looks?

[Matt Bufford]

Originally Posted by Ray Rogers

That looks good and I'm impressed with how neat those rivets are in your kydex sheath, mine never look that good.

Now, what are you willing to do to test that knife and see if it works as good as it looks?

well it has already shreaded a sheet of paper into tons of tiny curley q's, then I had to go have drinks. Tomorrow is cardboard and firewood... but I did already drop it tip down in the garage and it is still fine.

[metal99]

Looks good man, What did you do to finish the bocote? I have some bocote sitting in my tool box watiting for a new life as a knife handle but I'm un decided what to finish it with.

[Matt Bufford]

I just sanded down to 600 grit. I thought about putting a laquer finish, but I like the dull shine it has

[ckluftinger]

You're just pumping them out! Didn't you just finish one?? Nice work. I like the three-section handle made from the same wood. You can see the difference and yet it is the same. Was that intentional or did you just have small pieces of wood available? Really looks good!

[Matt Bufford]

Yeah, i've finished two in the past few days, mostly because I sent them to HT at the same time and just got them back. Unfortunately, finishing any more will take me a while, because I'm still working on my next batch of blades to send out. I can't wait to sell enough of these things to buy my own oven!

about the wood patterning- it was intentional. I originally started with one chuck of wood cut in three pieces, but I didn't like the continued grain pattern - wanted it mixed up a bit, so I cut another section from the other end of my stick of bocote. Only thing I'm wishing I had done different is use thicker brass spacers, but I'm still happy with it!

I've been buying wood from woodcraft since I'm lucky enough to have one 5 minutes from my house. The great part is, you can buy turning blanks of almost any exotic wood for the price of a couple pairs of scales from any other source. From one blank I can cut out 8-10 sets of scales easily. That stick of bocote only cost me 8 bucks, and at 1.5x1.5x10", thats a lot of handles!

[metal99]

Originally Posted by TheSlacker

I just sanded down to 600 grit. I thought about putting a laquer finish, but I like the dull shine it has

I dont know for sure or from experiance but I have read that bocote is a bit tougher to get finishes to stick to. I think I am going to try teak oil on mine.

[Matt Bufford]

It's already a pretty oily wood, but I would think teak would give it more of a glimmer. The guys at woodcraft tells me Bocote can be finished with laquer, but I have my reservations about trying it - I would think it wouldn't last long on a knife that sees any real use. Of course I could be way off here.

[metal99]

only one way to find out Thats why I really want to get some stabilized wood but the prices scare me! lol Or I guess g-10 or micarta would be alright too but they dont suit nice classy knives like this one.

[Ray Rogers]

If you want to try stabilized wood but keep the price way down try some Dymondwood. Some of it looks pretty good, some might be more colorful than you care for but it's cheap and it finishes just like more expensive pieces of stabilized wood and is almost as durable ....

[metal99]

I agree that Diamondwood is very durable stuff and finished nice. I just prefer the look of natural wood.

[Ray Rogers]

So do I but I thought it was mostly a price issue. OK, alternative #2 then, buy some nice wood of whatever type you think looks good and then send it off to K&G to have it stabilized. You can save quite a bit on stabilized wood that way. Don't buy oily tropical wood like cocobolo or dense wood like ironwood or ebony - those can't be stabilized very well. Dry, light weight woods like maple, myrtle, box elder, thuya, amboyna, and a million others work great though ....

[metal99]

My Dad and I took the chainsaw out about 2 months ago and got a trailer load of spalted maple burl and some weird wood that also has some spalting in it. Its all fairly punky so it will need to get sent out. I just have to wait the year or two to let it dry out nice and slow.

(Sorry slacker to highjack the thread)

[Matt Bufford]

Originally Posted by metal99

(Sorry slacker to highjack the thread)

Ha ha, it's all good. I think the original thread served its purpose. So if I were to go chop some burls off trees on my property, they would need to be set out for a couple years to dry? I'm waaaaayyyy too impatient for that. Couldn't you cut it down to smaller billets and kiln dry them? If that would work, I may have to make a cabin trip soon!