All About Pocket Knives

I sort of blundered into this project by asking a local guy I have known for years "what do I owe you for this?" after getting several sets of stag knife scales and some nice ironwood pieces from him. He said "can you rehandle a folding knife for me?" I answered "sure what have you got?". Then he pulled out this Case folding hunter lock blade and the two slabs of wooly mammoth tooth that he wanted installed. I figured what the heck I will do it for some practice in case I ever get some wooly mammoth tooth scales for myself. The first thing I did was to check on AAPK if any of you knife mechanics had done this material before and had posted any tips. After reading up on the material and techniques, I got going and got it done. I was very careful with the material when cutting and drilling, but didn't have any problems with it and it turned out decent. Any of you who have worked wooly mammoth tooth before, does this material need to have a topcoat to seal it when the sanding and polishing are completed.? It kind of blows you away when you think to your self that the animal that this material came from has been dead at least 10,000 years, but still lives on in the form of this knife.

I can't help with your question but that knife is absolutely STUNNING!! Your friend is going to be dancin' in the streets!

Very nice!!
Great work with the product. I have read some horror stories about working with this medium. What would you compare it to? Is is brittle? Does it chip easily?

Absolutely gorgeous!

The darker lines in the material are softer and tend to break apart from the harder light areas. I cut the material with a fiberglass cutoff wheel in the Dremel tool while clamping it between two pieces of plywood. It drilled easily with no chipping with a titanium coated bit. When working it on the power sander it gives off a smell like bone. I used Acraglas to bond it to the brass liners of the knife.

Cutting the wooly mammoth tooth. Clamping between plywood scrap keeps it from flexing and possibly breaking.

Nice work. no topcost needed.

Main thing is going slow with this stuff tryo to rush it and it'll end up chipping or separating

Wow, that is awesome! What a handle to have on your knife. And a great job as well. Wow!!

Wow, love it! The color variations really make that stand out.

Really nice OC

That is absolutely beautiful!

Fantastic looking handle, on an increasingly hard to find Case Lockback Folding Hunter. Nice!

Very Nice work!
The finished knife is awesome!

Great lookin knife O.C.

I must say, that’s one of the most interesting handle materials I’ve seen. Your work is very impressive!

Very nice work, Olde Cutler. The tooth is certainly an unusual and striking material.

All I can say is , wow!

Thanks for the comments left on the wooly mammoth tooth knife. Wish it was mine, but isn't. Might have to make one for myself!!

WOW... LOVE that pattern. Great work!
Makes me want to go find a woolly mammoth and yank his teefies out for scale material.

Mike

Meridian_Mike wrote:WOW... LOVE that pattern. Great work!
Makes me want to go find a woolly mammoth and yank his teefies out for scale material.

Mike

YOU hold him down and I will pull out his teefies!!

OLDE CUTLER wrote:

Meridian_Mike wrote:WOW... LOVE that pattern. Great work!
Makes me want to go find a woolly mammoth and yank his teefies out for scale material.

Mike

YOU hold him down and I will pull out his teefies!!

Sounds like a deal.....

Some of you may have noticed that in the picture above, I used a Dremel cut off wheel to cut a strip of excess material from the rehandle project. I did this instead of just using the sander to remove this extra material. Reason; to have two strips left over to make some extra projects from the wooly mammoth tooth. It is too valuable to be wasted. Pictured below, ear rings made from the extra pieces. The wife loves them, but said "Oh, great, now I have to carry a wooly mammoth around from each ear lobe"

Great job O.C. knife and earrings, absolutely stunning.

Wonderful job OC. Very thoughtful on your part. You must value that pretty lady.

Fantastic work on the earrings!
I made my wife some earrings out of some mammoth ivory scraps as well as and matching necklace. The necklace is actually one of her favorites.
I do have some mammoth tooth scales, and I will definitely save the scraps for a project like this.
Thanks for the awesome idea!