Fillet Knife

[Hawk]

Well I am gonna try one last time to made get a comment directed towards my knives.

This is a fillet knife I just finished, I bought the blade from Texas Knife I used cocobolo for the handles with brass pins, the handles are epoxied on and sealed with burnt in wax to keep out the moisture.

Any comments good or bad???

[SVanderkolff]

Looks pretty good. Nice fit on the handle and I don't see any moons around the pins. I would suggest you try carrying the knife around or using it for a while. I think you will find that a rounder shape will be more comfortable in the hand. Was the blade heat treated before you bought it or did you need to get it heat treated? Is the blade fairly springy? What are the demensions of the knife, length, blade length, width of steel stock? To what grit did you sand the cocobolo, and I hope you were wearing a mask that is nasty stuff. And finally how do you burn on wax?
You asked
Steve

[Hawk]

Steve,

First of all thanks for the reply, I was thinking that I was typing in invisble ink.

Like I said I bought the blade from Texas Knifemakers it is 10-1/4? over all length, 5-1/2? blade, 1? wide at ricasso and 1/16? thick and cryogenicically tempered to -305 alot of spring to the blade.

I personally wanted a rounder handle on the knife, however the person I gave the knife to wanted a wide handle, believe it or not the handle does fit nicely in one's hand. I sanded the handle to 800 grit then buffed it with wood wax, I burned the wax in with a propane torch I learned this many years ago when I was doing wood work. The handle is impregnated with the wax.

Yes, I did wear a mask as I said I used to work with wood and I know that cocobolo can be nasty if inhaled along with horn material.

I know that this is not a 100% handmade knife, but it is my 3rd knife and the pictures do not do this knife justice as the pics of my 2nd knife did not do it justice. I took this knife and my 2nd to a gun and knife show this weekend and was offered $200 for the 2nd knife and $100 for this knife no BS no one could believe that these were only my 2nd and 3rd knives.

I am trying here and reading EVERYTHING I can read, I suppose I need to take better pictures.

Again thanks for the reply, at least someone can read my posts :-)

[SVanderkolff]

Hawk
It has nothing to do with the quality of the pics or the invisible ink, what it does have to do with is what there is to comment on. If you bought the blade, then really oll we can comment on is the slabs and if they are fairly straightforward like this one it makes it pretty hard to come up with something to say. And by the wya we all went through this when we started. One suggestion is to ask a question along with your post. If there is somehting you were thinking of or weren't sure of ask with your knife as the example. We are a group that loves to help out so "nice handles" is a bit hard to do. With the knife in this picture had tyou thought of what else you could do with limited tol to either improve the look or enhance the usability. You do not have a thong hole onthis knife, usually something I like to have on a filleting knife. Was there not one on the pattern or did you decide you didn't want one or couldn't figure out how to do it? If you want ansers and feedback give us somehting to answer. Whew, that came out a lot stronger than I intended.
Hope it helps
Steve

[Hawk]

Steve,

Again thanks, I suppose that the one thing I would have liked to do to the knife is to inlay a brass fish into the handle, however again the person I made the knife for just wanted it like it is as he plans on using the knife.

On the thong hole there was not one on the blade nor did I think to add one, but now that you mention this I would like to add this in the future.

I have read and read on inlays and hope to try this with a knife I intend to keep in the future. Is it possible to do a inlay without a milling machine? Because I had hoped to cut my pattern by hand and also my inlay piece, is this possible with standard hand tools and a magnifing light?

John

[Frank J Warner]

One of my first knives was also from TKS (their "Texas Bowie"), also cryo treated. I had a hell of a time drilling the holes for the pins until I figured out the steel was harder than my HSS drill bits. I burned up several bits and invented a couple of new cuss words before I figured out the problem.

Did this knife come with the pin holes already drilled or did you have to anneal the tang before drilling?

-Frank J Warner

[Hawk]

Frank,

The pin holes were already drilled I wanted to enlarge the front and rear pins to the size of the center pin, but as you found out the steel (being cryo treated) is much harder then HSS drill bits even with cutting oil applied and there was no way I was going to take a chance on ruining a TI drill bit just to make the pins a little bigger. The blade holds a amazing edge I am impressed with the cryo treatment.

If I were to add a thong hole I would do so with a diamond bit.

John

[berettaman12000]

Very good job! I especially like the handle and finish. Could you use any wood wax and burn it with a propane torch? What wax would you recommend? I would appreciate more detail on how you do that. I really do like the finish and I bet that would do the handle for life. Thanks!

[Paul3]

Hi Hawk. I made knives years ago (I'm starting back up though) and the one I keept is a plan knife but I designed and created it just for my hand and my use so looks are not everything.
If I can get a pic on here You will see.
Here is a link to see my plane ol knife That I will not part with.

http://community.webshots.com/script...ecurity=rrQBIZ

Look out! once its in your blood you will always have your hand in the knife pie,LOL

[Hawk]

Paul,

I would love to see your knife but the link returns a error it says that I cannot view the album because I am not the owner. I already love making knives it is something I have wanted to do for years and years ever since I carried a Randell knife throughout the 14 years I served as a Army Ranger so this is very exciting for me even if I did not gring the blade on this knife or my SG4.

berettaman12000,

I burn/melt the wax into the wood by putting a covering of minwax paste wax onto the wood and then using a propane torch to heat the wax until it "flows" into the wood. I do this time and time again then I buff the handle. I have done this for years with my store bought hunting knives and it makes for a knife handle that is waterproof plus it looks good.

Well off to the garage I have 4 more knives in progress that I want to work on tonight.

[Paul3]

Hawk. Here, Just go to my web page and you can see it.
The button at the bottom with the little house on it. you probubly know that. Sorry

[Hawk]

Originally posted by Paul3
Hawk. Here, Just go to my web page and you can see it.
The button at the bottom with the little house on it. you probubly know that. Sorry

Paul,

That is a great looking knife, how did you finish the blade? I love the handle.

[Paul3]

Hi Hawk.
That is a very bad Scanner image. The Blade acctualy has a mirror polish.
Handle: Laminated wood "Dymondwood",http://www.texasknife.com/

[berettaman12000]

Thanks for that information Hawk, I really do appreciate it. I will try that on a kitchen knife in the next day or so. Souns like that would really work good!