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Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:58 pm
by dlr110
Here is my latest Kit Knife. A liner lock with a stainless steel blade and liners.
At first look the scales might look like Rosewood, but that is Bubinga Wood or nicknamed "African Rosewood."
It's a hard and heavy wood that is grown in Cameroon, Gabon and the Ivory Coast of Africa.
The knife is 3.75 inches with a 2.6 inch blade. The only real work I had to do on this one was shape,
sand and finish the wood handles, put an edge on the blade, then assemble.

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:02 pm
by doglegg
Your skills are growing. ::tu:: ::tu::

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:14 pm
by Paladin
Good job! And a nice looking knife.

Ray

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:18 pm
by cody6268
That looks great! I love the wood and the finish. Not to mention, a perfect size closed. Is this a Jantz kit knife?

I noticed SMKW had a handle-less Solingen-made carbon steel German Boker Trapper for less than $30. My only problem is that when knives are made in the factory, the handles are assembled completely (liner, scale, bolsters, shield) before they go on the knife, and I'm not sure how to put a handle pin in when it's already assembled. Just gluing them on won't hold.

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:49 pm
by dlr110
cody6268 wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:18 pm That looks great! I love the wood and the finish. Not to mention, a perfect size closed. Is this a Jantz kit knife?

I noticed SMKW had a handle-less Solingen-made carbon steel German Boker Trapper for less than $30. My only problem is that when knives are made in the factory, the handles are assembled completely (liner, scale, bolsters, shield) before they go on the knife, and I'm not sure how to put a handle pin in when it's already assembled. Just gluing them on won't hold.
The kit is sold by Knifekits.com online or through Amazon. The picture I'm showing you below, is this what you're talking about on the Trapper. This is they way mine came and I haven't decided what scales I want to put on it yet. But I have the same question you do about the handle pin. I'll figure it out and show my results or maybe one of our expert AAPK members will give us some good instructions.

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:40 pm
by Old Folder
Looking good David.
::tu::

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:53 pm
by Steve Warden
Yer showin' off some skills, there, Sir!!

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:36 pm
by jmh58
Looks Good David!!! Congratulations 🎉
John 🥸

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:44 pm
by KLJ77
Another GREAT looking 'kit' knife, David. Very impressive.

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:26 pm
by dlr110
Here is one I've been working on for about a week. Just couldn't get the wood to
look the way I wanted. It's Olive wood and I will brag on myself, I did a much
better job with the pins this time and I was able to get a really sharp edge on
the blade. These kit knives are really helping me learn and practice better
techniques just about every step of the way. I really admire the big boys that
can start from raw materials and end up with a classic knife.

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:34 pm
by cudgee
::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu:: ::nod:: . Love the Bubinga Wood, looks fantastic, and olive wood always looks good. Keep practicing my friend, everyone starts slow and learns as they go, you will be able to make a folder from scratch one day. Then you will be one of the big boys. :lol: ::handshake::

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:19 am
by dlr110
Thank you everyone for you compliments and encouragement. I'm having fun and I
enjoy sharing with all of you. On the the next one. :D

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:51 am
by Reverand
I am really glad that you are having fun with these kit knives!
You do some really good work, too.

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 5:16 am
by cudgee
dlr110 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:19 am Thank you everyone for you compliments and encouragement. I'm having fun and I
enjoy sharing with all of you. On the the next one. :D
::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu:: I look forward to all your future projects, i find them interesting as a tinkerer. :)

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:58 pm
by dlr110
cudgee wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 5:16 am
dlr110 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:19 am Thank you everyone for you compliments and encouragement. I'm having fun and I
enjoy sharing with all of you. On the the next one. :D
::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu:: I look forward to all your future projects, i find them interesting as a tinkerer. :)
Thanks cudgee, I appreciate it. ::handshake::

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2021 11:05 pm
by dlr110
Here's today's knife, I just finished it.
The first pic is the knife assembled, but the scales haven't been shaped and smoothed out yet.
20210301_143814.jpg
The next three are the finished product. I ended up with a little gap between the scales and the fancy bolsters, but it's not too bad. The scale material was thicker than I wanted, but the color was so rich looking I just couldn't pass it up.
I'm surprised how easy Buffalo horn is to work with and it turned out very smooth. I started out with a small 80 grit drum on my Dremel for the final shape and then went to a 400 through 7,000 grit to finish and polish. Cleaned it up with a little Murphy's oil soap and finished with polish and wax.
20210301_160112.jpg
20210301_162224.jpg
20210301_162253.jpg
For my next 2 projects I have a fixed blade in Damascus Steel and Buffalo Horn handle and a Camillus flip open, I call it, and I'm using some strange dark wood on it.

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2021 11:31 pm
by Steve Warden
Another great job turning out a beautiful knife.
That horn in drop dead gorgeous!

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 2:52 am
by Reverand
Looking really good!!

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 12:07 pm
by glennbad
Sweet!

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:30 pm
by KLJ77
GREAT looking knife, David. At first glance, I thought I was looking at a Koji Hara design. That horn turned out awesome. ::tu::

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 5:38 pm
by dlr110
Here is another one out of Buffalo Horn.
It's a Camillus Knife Kit, but you select the scales and make you own handle.
I was hoping that the brown would come out more as I polished it, but it turned
out pretty good. I know some of you my be getting tired of my knife kits, but
I'm having a good time and it keeps me out of trouble. Hope you like them.
20210302_155551.jpg
20210302_173917.jpg
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20210302_181400.jpg

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 12:09 am
by doglegg
No complaints from here. Keep it up!

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 2:24 am
by Reverand
I am enjoying the show!

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:41 pm
by dlr110
Here is one I've been working on for a couple of days.
A Trapper that I assembled, cut the pins and then picked out the wood. I think the name is
Ebony - Macassar wood, but I'm not going to swear to it. When you sand it there is a ton of
very fine black dust everywhere, so I had my respirator and gloves on along with my arms
and head covered. The blades are very tight, but there is not much snap. In these pictures
it's hard to see how smooth the handles are, but when you hold it you feel how smooth the wood
is and you see the light reflecting off of it. I'm rather proud of how this knife turned out.
I have several types of handle materials on back order so it may be awhile before I'm able to
finish another one. Also I need some supplies.
20210304_170116.jpg
20210304_170558.jpg
20210304_170634.jpg
20210304_171732.jpg

Re: Kit Knives

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 12:58 am
by doglegg
::nod:: ::nod:: ::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu::