a thai attempt

[toddhill]

Here is my first try at the Thai style. I fell in love with the e-nep that Tai's Thai friend sent him. Those curves are irresistible. The handle is mesquite.







I was having some problems with my heat treating and finishing so I went up to Tai's for another lesson this past week. I learned a ton. Thanks, Tai!

Todd

[Chuck Bussey]

Super cool Todd! That would be a cool KITH Knife...

[EdgarFigaro]

I like it Todd.
I'd love to make it out some day to take some lessons from Tai. Would be very cool.
I really like these E-nep as well.
Might have to add it to my list of things to try.

[Blaine Whitney]

Beautiful work Todd. You nailed it. How long is that blade? It looks like about 8"???
How'd you do the copper bolster?

BTW Todd, great tutorial on the integral!

[toddhill]

Thanks guys. Blaine, this one is pretty small. The blade is 6 1/4 inches long. I have some longer ones I forged out that are ready for heat treating. I'll get around to them eventually. Thanks for the feedback on the tutorial. I was wondering what you guys thought. Todd

Oops sorry Blaine. The copper ferrule is just a copper pipe fitting. Tai showed me how to taper it and I will try that on a future one.

[Doug Lester]

That's a great tutorial. I have some questions about the heading plate. How square does the plate make the transition between the tang and the bulster? Is it sharp enough to cause a stress riser?

Doug Lester

___________

If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying hard enough.

[toddhill]

Thanks, Doug. It's a pretty sharp transition. I wasn't worried about a stress riser, but maybe I should be. Maybe somebody else with more experience can share. Todd

[Martin Brandt]

Hi Todd, That's a great looking knife! I know what you mean, those curves are really eye catching. The mesquite makes a nice looking handle. It goes well with the copper pin and ferrrule. How does it age/oxidize? Does it darken up much? Up here in the northwest, (Oregon) we don't have any mesquite that I know of, but we have mountain mohogany, mountain juniper, and lotsa maple, madrone, and also the firs and pines. The last two aren't any good for knife handles. Also have black locust, (a very hard yellowish wood that loses the yellow as it ages), and english walnut, and black walnut, and white oak. I just have been cutting some holly, black locust, and mulberry today to dry for knife handles. The mulberry is not a native to Oregon. It looks a lot like osage orange, but is not quite as dense. The holly has the finest grain of any wood I've ever seen, almost pure white. I'm hoping to use some for carved handles at some point. It should do well with fine carving like celtic knot work I think. It is a medium hardness hardwood that carves like butter.

[Martin Brandt]

What a space case I am. I was going to mention the heading plate you're using, and the query regarding stress risers, and I got lost talking about woods. Oooooooozone! Anyway, I would recommend at least a smooth radius on the leading corners of your heading plate to minimize the possibility of creating stress risers, if you haven't already done that. You can file the corners sharper after heat treating if necessary, but some minimal curvature there would be the strongest construction.

[toddhill]

Thanks, Martin. I've just started using mesquite so I don't know how it will age. The stuff is pretty amazing. It seems to come in a variety of colors. I have some that's real red, others more tan, some real brown, and some that's yellow.

I was thinking about the stress riser thing and what you suggest sounds like the best insurance. Easy to do too. Fortunately that part doesn't get stressed in the heat treating.

Todd

[Tai Google]

That came out real nice Todd.

I like your new mark.

[sgrater]

That looks great! Good job Todd!
Steve

[AndradeArtWorks]

That looks real sweet Todd!
I too was totally taken by these E-nep knives, and could not resist and made one up! They are fun and challenging to create, especially the handle.....which is interesting as it seemed that this was such a basic construct......but it took a bit of time for me to get mine how I wanted it. Drilling a deep hole for the long tang I did on mine was acctually sort of the hard part, and the ferrule too was interesting to create, fit and get all lined-up.

I will have it when I come out, and am looking foward to meeting you and some of the other folks too. Be sure and bring your little-nep with you.

See Ya, Don Carlos

P.S. I too like the look of your makers mark! I still have to figure out what I will be doing for this on my knives.

[Coutel]

Thats great work Todd......I am inspired.

[toddhill]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

Don, I'll bring it to the party. For the tang I drilled a pilot hole and burned it in. Worked well.

Kevin, I'd love to see some of your work. Didn't you post some integrals over at britishblades a little while ago?

Todd