254 x 54 52100 @63

Just starting the sanding on this one.
Grinding 3.5 hours, but couldn't be happier. Learned some new techniques and improved on the quality of the grind quite a bit. Funny when you learn the nuances of the grind you go back to square one on grinding speed, but it's worth it. I'm sure speed will improve with time, again...
TBTE convex grind, medium weight.
Starting at 3.1mm above the heel with full distal taper to a nice thin tip. Not quite the ghost tip C was talking about on that western, but it's nice.

There is no way I'll have this one finished by tomorrow, but I am going to try!

Rough sanding commencing...

 

Looking good.

 

Thanks Matt!
I've got the sanding done and am fitting up an Ironwood and copper handle for this one. Hope to post finished pics by the weekend.

 

Ironwood and copper sounds like a nice combination for the handle, looking forward to some more pics!

 

Ohhh, this looks good

 

Thanks Carlos. I have cracked to ferules now trying to get this one done. I think the Lord doesn't want me working today, so I'm taking the day off.
Tomorrow...

I am thinking about a western styled wa handle now, since I've already messed up the traditional one. Something like the one you got from me, but with hidden tang.

 

Iron wood can be a PITA for a ferrule, not only initially, but down the road as well. The ferrule takes the brunt of abuse with hitting the cutting board/block and any torque from the blade. I had a lot of iron wood/ebony etc. failures (likely because I was getting it too thin) but ultimately I switched to horn or stabilized wood for ferrule applications.

 

I've been messing with shaping wood on my mini-mill lately. It's a very cool thing, but I'm not sure how far I can take it yet.
I'm thinking some sort of octo-western fusion might be interesting. Anyway, that's what I'll be messing with tomorrow and see what I can do for this 250 blade to make it right.

 

Interesting Matt. I've never had one fail yet after mounting. I tend to fit the tang terribly tight, and the cracking is happening from trying to push in the tang when the slot is still just a bit too tight.
I found a really cool way to tell if wood has hairline cracks in it today. This can be difficult to see on hard woods.
But I found that pooling a little alcohol on the wood flat, let it sit, then wiping will reveal any cracks at all.
The crack holds the alcohol after you wipe it and takes a minute or more to evaporate from the crack, so the line becomes easily visible.
I'm going to be crack testing all my wood this way going forward.

 

that sounds very neat, I would love to check out how that western hidden tang comes out. Should be a nice one.

 

I also like the idea of a wa-western fusion a lot, keep us posted.

 

Just finished roughing the handle, so a couple of pics on the whole thing and how it's looking. Still hand sanding to be done.

 

that handle shape looks pretty cool Mark, I'm wondering about the handle dimensions (length, width and height).

 

Thanks C. It's a bit large currently, but I want to do the rest by hand. The belt grinder is too aggressive when I am working out the final shape and dimensions.

 

Looking very nice, Mark.

 

I think you might have something cool cooking there Mark.

 

That knife is looking slick! Nice edge profile and the handle is shaping up pretty darn awesome. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks for the kind comments all. It's almost done now. Just have to etch, mount the blade and buff.

 

Waiting for my Nikon to charge. A few cell pics of the finished knife.

 

Super clean Mark!
congratulations