Oh my my Oh yes gonna put on my party dress

[OLDE CUTLER]

rexstubbins

That Kabar looks GREAT!!! I bought one at a garage sale that had no handles on it at all. Will rehandle in rosewood. Havent got to the bone/stag proficiency level yet. Will get some pics when done.

[rexstubbins]

Thanks Ken & Olde Cutler

Olde Cutler - Looking forward to seeing yours finished. I actually find it easier to work with bone. Always splitting wood when I work with it.

[glennbad]

Wow, that came out great!

[OLDE CUTLER]

rexstubbins
A photo of my recently finished KABAR folding hunter as you requested. I did not completely disassemble this one as it was good and tight, just rehandled in rosewood.Doesn't look bad for a $5 knife?

[Bill DeShivs]

Great rehandle job, but you ruined it by burning that nice stag.
I never understood the "burning the stag" thing. It doesn't look natural and it damages the material.
If you want darker stag, dye it.

[orvet]

I never understood the "burning the stag" thing. It doesn't look natural and it damages the material.

I have to agree with Bill on this, you did a real nice job of rehandling the knife,
However, I have personally never been a fan of "torched" or "toasted" stag.
That's just my personal taste. I've tried it once or twice and didn't like how little control I had of the coloring and the lighter colored stag that I wanted to add more color to didn't take much color and the high spots turned dark. I like the control I have with potassium permanganate as I can apply it where I wanted and skip spots that I don’t want to color. It’s easy to apply with a little paintbrush, rag or Q-tip. The other thing I appreciate about it is that it doesn’t buff off. I can apply a coat or two of carnauba wax with a loose buff and it helped seal the stag and gives a little sheen to the handle.

It’s personal preference on the finish of the stag; I think everybody can agree you did a fine job of putting on the handle!

[rexstubbins]

Looks good Olde Cutler

Bill & Dale - I can certainly appreciate that everyone has their own likes & dislikes regarding the burnt stag. The only reason that I did this was because I used blue permanent marker to rough trace the handles and I could not remove the blue with chemicals. My option was to burn it and hide the blue ink.

Although I personally like the look of it after I torched it.

[americanedgetech]

I just bought two Parker (made in Japan) knives. One is burnt bone, and the other is BURNT bone. The BURNT bone one is charred too far, and kind of ugly so I plan to wheel down into it, and try to remove most of the overcooked part.
The other was heated slowly, and evenly, and is actually more attractive but it is also too far "cooked" on the stamp side.

I guess my point is it depends on How it was done. High heat, and overly charred is ugly but mellow heat, and even application can be quite nice.

Rex, I also like your results. Very distinct, and attractive.

Olde Cutler... Love it!
You fellas make this look too rewarding to not want to re-handle an old beater.

[orvet]

Doug,
I just want to be sure you understand I’m not being critical of your work (in a negative way), it’s just a matter of artistic preference with me. Your fit and finish was impeccable and that’s really the most difficult part.

As an alternate way of dealing with the blue marks, have you ever thought of accentuating them? Several years ago at an OKCA dinner I was talking to a custom maker who had the most remarkable blue highlights in his stag handle. It was actually quite stunning! I asked him if he would share with me how he got those blue highlights and he said he used a blue dye and then used a brown dye. The results he achieved were quite remarkable! I don’t know if you could’ve done that with the marks you were dealing with or not, but I think it’s always worthwhile to think out-of-the-box and sometimes the results are spectacular.

Occasionally I find myself in the same sort of situation where something I have done or something I have overlooked has taken the handle in a direction other than what I intended. Sometimes by thinking outside the box and emphasizing the mistake, I cannot only save the handle material but come up with a unique look in the process.
You used much the same process when you chose to torch the stag. You saved your work and your handle material and you obviously pleased a number of people in the process. In the bottom line is, that it doesn’t matter what I think or what Bill thinks, it only matters what the owner of the knife thanks. If the owner, or the buyer, of the knife is happy then it is a win-win for everyone! You can’t please everyone every time, but as long as your customer is happy you did your job!
Outstanding work!

[rexstubbins]

Doug,
I just want to be sure you understand I’m not being critical of your work (in a negative way), it’s just a matter of artistic preference with me. Your fit and finish was impeccable and that’s really the most difficult part.

As an alternate way of dealing with the blue marks, have you ever thought of accentuating them? Several years ago at an OKCA dinner I was talking to a custom maker who had the most remarkable blue highlights in his stag handle. It was actually quite stunning! I asked him if he would share with me how he got those blue highlights and he said he used a blue dye and then used a brown dye. The results he achieved were quite remarkable! I don’t know if you could’ve done that with the marks you were dealing with or not, but I think it’s always worthwhile to think out-of-the-box and sometimes the results are spectacular.

Occasionally I find myself in the same sort of situation where something I have done or something I have overlooked has taken the handle in a direction other than what I intended. Sometimes by thinking outside the box and emphasizing the mistake, I cannot only save the handle material but come up with a unique look in the process.
You used much the same process when you chose to torch the stag. You saved your work and your handle material and you obviously pleased a number of people in the process. In the bottom line is, that it doesn’t matter what I think or what Bill thinks, it only matters what the owner of the knife thanks. If the owner, or the buyer, of the knife is happy then it is a win-win for everyone! You can’t please everyone every time, but as long as your customer is happy you did your job!
Outstanding work!

Dale - Don't worry - I didn't think that you were being critical at all - you are right - everyone has their own preference just like I don't like certain patterns or handle materials (barlows, warncliff, peanuts, micarta )

I would sure like to have seen the knife with the blue highlights. It may have influenced me to take a different direction.

[OLDE CUTLER]

americanedgetech

Now that bone is WELL done (as in overcooked).

[americanedgetech]

It was a limited run of "Super Ugly" or as the pros say... "SU" Bone.
I'm sticking with that story!