All About Pocket Knives

This is the first hawkbill restoration I have attempted. They are not too much different than any other slipjoint, except getting the handles tapered that much was a bit different.

Here are the before pics- Here the pieces of the knife with the worst of the rust knocked off. I made the handles of cocobolo and it was a bit tougher to round off than I anticipated.
The handle is not as rounded as the original and it may be a bit thicker, but I believe it does give a better grip than the old handle.
I used steel pins to keep it all original. It was a bit of a challenge to peen the pivot pin in the rat tail grove.
Cleaning & polishing it afterward was a bit harder too.
I didn't try and polish the blades and remove all the character, I thought it looked better with a few battle scars.
I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Nice work Dale! You breathed new life into that old dog. Was it the shape of handle or was the cocobolo hard to work with? I have never used cocobolo before. Just curious. My only experience with hawkbills comes from the "kits" I bought from Kaleb last year. They were fairly flat with flat bolsters.

Randy

That looks factory! Great work as usual, Dale!

#goldpan wrote:Nice work Dale! You breathed new life into that old dog. Was it the shape of handle or was the cocobolo hard to work with? I have never used cocobolo before. Just curious.
Randy

It was a combination of things Randy. The taper was tricky and the cocobolo was a little harder than other cocobolo I have worked with. I was not able to achieve the same outside radius to the handle as was on the original. That disappointed me a little bit, but I think it fits the hand better than the original handle did.

Another nice knife, good job, I loe turning cocobolo, very nice piece of wood you chose there.

Thanks Keith. I like working with cocobolo too, though sometimes it will give me a runny nose when I start working with it after a long absence from working with it, some sort of a mild allergic reaction I guess.

Have you ever worked with camphor burl? That will open up your sinuses!
Camphor burl is pretty but softer than I am comfortable using for knife handles without stabilizing it.
I just can't find any that has been stabilized.

I picked up a cocobolo block recently that has the prettiest grain I have seen on cocobolo.
I will post a pic here when I find the block.

Here is that cocobolo block Keith.
I think the grain is really interesting in this piece.

This piece would look nice turned I think.
It is 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" X 5" so it is a bit large for a pen but if there was something that a guy could make by turning it, I think it would be eye popping!

I agree, Dale, that wood grain is outstanding. I too would hate to turn it down into a pen. The only thing that comes to mind to make out of that block would be bottle stoppers.

As far as Camphor Burl, have never turned any. When I do turn soft burl piece, I usually stabilize it with thin CA glue as I go, turn a little then soak it good, then turn some more, continue until I get it finished.

There is a website that has several members on it that stabilize woods, it is woodbarter.com, free to join, I am a member of it. I have some know out georgous buckeye burl pieces, but they would need stabilizing also.

Beautiful knife Dale. I love the look of those old pruners. And what you did with it has the right look for an old working knife. It just fits. Very nice job.

Good looking knife Dale. What of tool do you use to put your stamp on the blade? Very nice

0078 wrote:Good looking knife Dale. What of tool do you use to put your stamp on the blade? Very nice

Thank you. I use an Electro Chem Etch machine.
http://www.ecemmi.com/products.html
I use the Personalizer Plus model. Works great!