1095 and Koa

[huntforlife]

10.5" OAL
6" Blade X 2" deep at the belly
Koa scales with nickel pins

[Frankallen]

Excellent Job Zen!! You know I love those Handles!!! Love the Blade profile,my Friend!!


Frank

[Doug Lester]

That's a great looking knife. It's seems like it would be a great chopper.

Doug Lester

[Airth]

Nicely done!

[huntforlife]

Finished this one off today. Sealed up the handles this week and finished off the sheath.

[john smith]

Zen,very nice work.
Your sheath looks great also.
Just in time for elk camp?

[huntforlife]

Thanks John. I sure wish it was. This one is off to Texas for a hog hunter's engagement gift.

[ranger1]

Nice work I like the design alot.

[Rusty]

I really like this I'm a huge fan of Koa. What did you use as a finish for the wood?

[huntforlife]

I use linseed oil. I think I treated it 3 or 4 times.

[ckluftinger]

Very nice work! I would love to see more detail on the file work. Also, how did you mould the leather?
Thanks for showing your work.

[huntforlife]

Thanks Chris! The filework was a completely random thing I did after cutting the blade out. Its kind of a pointed cross look. Never took a picture of it unfortunately.

Yes the sheath is "molded" with my fingers, spoons and various other household items that fit the curves without messing up the leather. Just gotta get it wet and let it dry for a week.

[ckluftinger]

What did you use as a mandrel? Not the knife itself, did you? If you had to get the leather wet, how did you manage to keep the shape without causing the knife to rust? The reason I ask is that I tried this once and although it worked somewhat it did not look as snug as yours. Mine looked more like the leather was "worn out" to fit the shape of the knife handle. I guess if I used a piece of wood the shape of the knife grip, I could mold it around that... I have heard of guys using hot water, even boiling the leather before molding, but apparently that makes it brittle. Soaking it in hot bee's wax is apparently another technique, but then you can't dye it anymore. I'll try the wet treatment.
Thanks again.
Chris

[huntforlife]

Chris. I wrap the whole knife in 3m blue tape. Its pretty waterproof. I do this before I seal and/or stain the handle, and prior to sharpening the blade.

The leather I use is 9oz. leather (pretty sure) veg tanned. I just run it under hot tap water to get it wet, and then start the forming. I use clips and clamps to hold everything with a leather spacer in between the clamps and sheath so that it doesnt dent.

Here is a picture of it after soaking and forming.

[ckluftinger]

That is totally awesome. How did you figure that out? I will definitely try that! Thanks for the tip.
Regards,
Chris