All About Pocket Knives

The scales I installed previously cracked so I had to tear it all off and make new. Decided to try some leopard skin recon and see what it looked like. Sanded all down w/2000 grit, buffer, and simi polish, slick but no knock out.

I don't know Mike.....
Looks like a kickin' salvage job to me!

Nice looking knife!

Dale

I don't see anything wrong with that. Good lookin' knife.

Greg

only thing wrong with that knife is it is not mine...
wonderful looking knife.

Hey Mike,
When I read the title of this thread I thought of the old joke about what happened to the stewardess who backed up into the planes propeller..............

I think that knife looks great. Wish I could do that.

Phil

Phil, don't really know what I had in mind when I thought of that title but,,, YOU CAN do it! Gotta start somewhere and when you do you will be hooked to keep on doing a little bit more difficult projects. This project was NOT very bad, just cutting pieces to fit. First I figured out what part I wanted to cover with wood, cut those and temp glued in place with a small drop of super glue, then cut the nickle silver pieces to fit, glued them in place temporarily, then all I had to do was fill the gap with a couple of pieces of recon to fit the holes that were left. After they were all cut out, break them all loose (super glue has enormous peel strength but very little shear strength) and epoxy the hell out of them, clamp, and wipe off all excess epoxy with alcohol soaked swabs. I'd say the toughest job was to file and fit the mass to the frame and clean it all up. Always use enough visual magnification to see exactly what is going on and go slow. MY biggest problem was when I first started my patience would only allow me to work at this degree of intensity for about 15 mins. Now I work for about an hour then take a break. Let me know if I can help in any way as all of the guys here would. Don't be afraid to make a mistake, I just learn from them all. Sometimes I learn from them lots of times.
Good luck
mike

good stuff mike!

looks nice , I really like the recon leopard.

looks mighty fine to me

It's not your everyday run of the mill job. I think it looks great. Something different.

I think you did a great job especially with the mix of materials for the scales that have differn hardness.

Thx for the generous comments and encouragement, couldn't have done it without you guys and your help here. I recently bought one of Mike Hoovers "throwaways" (read here; one from his personal collection) and it inspired me to new heights of quality. Still not there but am trying to get there. After looking at some of my old stuff I'm astounded how I was satisfied with substandard workmanship. Went back and fortunately I was able to improve some of the problems. Thx forever for showing me the way. I love showing off my things (EGO) and those who are more knowledgeable tell me I'm getting better with every knife. I may need some new parts soon and hope I can get to the level I want to achieve before I have to take a break. Meanwhile giving them away has been a tremendous exercise in "Santa Clausism". Also, Giving away all my old stuff gets the lessser quality out of my sight.
Great site, great guys
mike

Lookin good Mike! Keep up the good work........................

Very Nice - hardly a dis as ter. Being a hard core do-it-yourselfer I guess I know about a dozen wrong ways to do just about everything. These knives aren't any different. Each one I do shows me several things not only I don't know but I never even thought of needing to know. In my opinion the fit & finish and how they work is the art. The more accurate I try to get the more it trains my eye to see what I miss.... But they are still very nice- not perfect. I just wanted to say kudos to your file work and the fit on that knife is great. It's a SWEET knife.

As many knives as I have done, I still learn something new on each knife.

Dale

By the way, I bought some recon stone recently and got the wrong stuff. Called the company and they told me to just throw it away. Showed it to my daughter and she suggested a pendant made of the stuff and maybe some earrings and maybe a ring... Guess what? Now I have a way to give some of my efforts to girls.. All my crafstmanship has been selfishly devoted to guy stuff and now I can give something to the girls in my family. Just bought some Bloody Basin Jasper and made a Heart shaped pendant and a couple of smaller hearts for earrings which I know don't exactly fit into the knife profile of this site but gives us all a way to give to the girls. Would like to include pics but maybe not the thing to do here????? Waiting for the earring and ring mounts but have the stones cut and polished. they seem to be VERY well received by the ladies. The heart of bloody basin jasper is just beautiful and was not so hard to do. If moderators allow I will add pics to show off.

It is fine with this moderator.
You are using the same equipment and the same skills that you use in making knives.
I think it is good for us to branch out a little bit. You never know when some of the skills that you develop in these other projects will be of good use on your next knife. I think these are related projects when they use the same tools, materials and skills.
Look at all the nice things you can do to a knife with the skill sets a jeweler uses.

One of the related projects I did was to take some maple burl and mount a small clock and it. My wife uses it on her desk at her office. I made a similar clock for my daughter.

This Christmas I made about 10 kitchen knives, put new blades and bone handles on a Camillus muskrat and finished off a Camillus CQB (Close Quarter Battle) blank. These were all for women in my family. The CQB was for my daughter in the National Guard.

Let's face it though, not all women want a CQB!

Dale

orvet wrote:
Let's face it though, not all women want to CQB!

Dale

They are mysterious creatures, aren't they?

Hey Mike,
I'd love to see some of your other creations.

Phil

Attached see a pic of the pendant and earrings

Fine with this moderator also - I'm with Dale, same thoughts. Nice work - need to take care of the ladies who aren't into cutlery.

I need to make a knife for my son who is joining the Marines on March 23 - on my wife's and my anniversary (Outlook remembers for me - saves my butt ). I need to find out what they require in a knife - stainless I guess. I have some 3/16 inch CPM 154CM that I can use. I also have CPM D2 in the same thickness, not stainless but I know that one better. I go 50 degrees F over the standard D2 heat treat and get better results. If I can go Carbon Steel, that will give me a couple more options.

I need to call Dale on that for starts.

Love the pendant Mike, i love non-knife related crafts too

Nice work Mike!

I like these crafts that use many of the same materials & skills as knife making.
However after thinking about it, I think it might be best if we put it in it's own forum like the Whittling Forum.
That way guys who don’t want to see these peripheral projects won’t have to wade through them to see the knives in the thread.

It probably isn’t a big deal, but just an issue of courtesy for the other members.

Just my 2 cents,
Dale

Thx for the inputs and I agree this isn't a knife project so I have started posting these"girlie" items on the Off
Topics forum.

Thanks for understanding Mike.
I hope we will have a new forum for them before too long.

Dale