[jimmontg]

I made it from a 2"x 1/4" x 24" piece and it is just over 19" overall. I made the blade using an angle grinder for the most part and a 1x42 belt sander grinding horizontally. It is a hidden tang, but the tang is pinned with small mosaic pins. By the time I was finished the blade was about .220 at it's thickest point. The handle is Tulipwood (a fave) and lignum vitae I think, but the label fell off, but it is very hard and dense so I think that's what it is, but I acquired it in 1995 so I don't recall exactly. Spacers are G10, blue and white. The pommel and end piece wood are tapped 1/4-20 threads as is the tang there. It is blued using Birchwood Casey Super Blue. I heat the blade in hot water and apply the blueing with 000 steel wool and it is double blued.

It is of course all finished by hand. I made the sheath to hang on the users belt or attached to his calf. Overall it took me about at 30 hours including the sheath. I heat treated it in the forge at the college and tempered down to below RC 54 as it is a weapon designed to be the last line of defense against a bear attack and is a gift I gave to my son. I did not want it brittle so a softer temper is called for. I told him to get a bigger gun for bear than he has (.357), but would he listen to me?

If you do not mind spending some time and being very careful you can make a knife like this, though I would suggest a smaller one to start.LOL I live in an apartment and have to roll my 1x42 with 8" disc Delta sander outside on a cart. Also have my drill press on the cart. I do not think I could sell it for as much time as I put into it, but there it is. I am retired and don't have anything else to do. The sheath's stitching could have been more even, but I ran out of thread a little more the 3/4 finished.
Sorry Ray, this is as small as I could figure out how to get it.

Jim: Took less than a minute to resize with PhotoDeluxe Home Edition 4 and its free software ...