FA+
Shop
281
Views
Views
2
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Artwork (Traditional) / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1024 x 1024
File Size 1010.1 kB
Report this content
More from lupus_sicarius
This is what I've been up to with my spare time - making myself a knife to take hunting or to carry at work for the various miscellaneous tasks I do that require a blade on hand.
The name of this knife is two-fold. The literal transaltion of the name would mean woodsman, or forester. However in Icelandic tradition, criminals were often exiled into the forests, and became a sort of wild-men; living off the land, hunting and generally being kinda wood-craftsy. I've always liked the word and its meaning so I decided that would be the name of my first custom knifehandle.
The material is cocobolo, a rich dark hardwood from central America. Over here in the middle of nowhere it doesn't come cheap and is pretty tough to come by so when I saw some I picked it up in a heartbeat.
Numbers:
1 - Drilling holes in either end of the raw material for the tang.
2 - Glueing the tang in place with epoxy resin
3 - Shaping the handle with a rasp, and gluing a section of wood over end of the tang.
4 - Shaping the sides of the handle, again with a rasp, to get the overall shape down.
5 - Checking the chosen shape for feel, weight, grip and manouverability of the knife.
6 - The knife after sanding down - coming in at 230mm
7 - Applying many, many coats of Danish Oil for a deep, smooth finish.
8 - The final blade, perfectly shaped to my hand, uneven on both sides for an exact fit to my grip. The quillons are slightly further apart than usual as I'll be using this knife when out hunting. At 4am. In Iceland. It's bloody cold, I'll be wearing gloves.
For those interested, the blade is a "Hallingen" from the Norwegian company Brusletto.
The name of this knife is two-fold. The literal transaltion of the name would mean woodsman, or forester. However in Icelandic tradition, criminals were often exiled into the forests, and became a sort of wild-men; living off the land, hunting and generally being kinda wood-craftsy. I've always liked the word and its meaning so I decided that would be the name of my first custom knifehandle.
The material is cocobolo, a rich dark hardwood from central America. Over here in the middle of nowhere it doesn't come cheap and is pretty tough to come by so when I saw some I picked it up in a heartbeat.
Numbers:
1 - Drilling holes in either end of the raw material for the tang.
2 - Glueing the tang in place with epoxy resin
3 - Shaping the handle with a rasp, and gluing a section of wood over end of the tang.
4 - Shaping the sides of the handle, again with a rasp, to get the overall shape down.
5 - Checking the chosen shape for feel, weight, grip and manouverability of the knife.
6 - The knife after sanding down - coming in at 230mm
7 - Applying many, many coats of Danish Oil for a deep, smooth finish.
8 - The final blade, perfectly shaped to my hand, uneven on both sides for an exact fit to my grip. The quillons are slightly further apart than usual as I'll be using this knife when out hunting. At 4am. In Iceland. It's bloody cold, I'll be wearing gloves.
For those interested, the blade is a "Hallingen" from the Norwegian company Brusletto.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1024 x 1024px
File Size 1010.1 kB
Hehe, thanks man... if you're wondering why I've been so out of touch, this is the reason. My every spare hour has been spent at the workshop or down at Byko or Húsasmiðjan buying all the crap I needed for this. Now it's done I've got some spare time on my hands... I think I'm gonna go nuts! But you should be able to catch me on YIM or skype now.
do you just do handles of have you thought of forging your own blades? my boyfriend makes knives, he makes his blades from toolsteel files that he heats and grinds down, he hasnt perfected it yet, theyre still kind of rustic looking, but still very cool... your handles are beautiful and i hope to see more posted!
I have seriously considered it, but to effectively do that I'd need to get myself a lot more equipment than I can currently afford. It's on the cards, just not yet. All my blades are by a norwegian company called brusletto, they are perfect for quality tools, made of good hardwaring steel or carbon-steel, so they're always suited to the purpose I make them for.
I've got another 2 handles I've made, I'm just thinking up some names for them before I throw the pictures up on here.
Thanks for the watch and your comment! ^^
I've got another 2 handles I've made, I'm just thinking up some names for them before I throw the pictures up on here.
Thanks for the watch and your comment! ^^
I've used a lot of walnut in my time, it's a good timber. Made a table and a couple of dining chairs for a private customer. As for my knifework though, I always use handtools, never machines, with the exception of a specialised drill bit I use for sinking the blades into the handles.
I prefer the feel of hand-worked timber, it's much more organic and personal.
I prefer the feel of hand-worked timber, it's much more organic and personal.
I'm a (currently out of work thanks to the shitty winter) forester too, but all hardwoods need to be imported, at least the stable ones suitable for shaftworking or turning. Price depends on the amount you buy, and in what size.
Pre-cut blanks for handcarving into knife handles vary greatly in price depending on rarity. Average is about $20 to $40, the cheapest being stabilised birch, the most expensive being something like lignum vitae, which is HELL to work on.
Pre-cut blanks for handcarving into knife handles vary greatly in price depending on rarity. Average is about $20 to $40, the cheapest being stabilised birch, the most expensive being something like lignum vitae, which is HELL to work on.
Aye, there's a lot of forest here. Most common types are birch, willow, pine, larch, and spruce. We've also got some ash and some aspen around, if you know where to look. The forests are everywhere really. If you're staying entirely in the Rekyavik area you won't see any, but there's a large government scheme that's been running for the last 100 years to reforest as much of the country as possible. Every summer I end up in a planting team putting down about 10,000 new trees a day for 2 months straight, and we're not the only team operating in the country either.
Comments