Thread: Not a razor, but...

...something I have been working on. A friend asked me to make a kukri (or to be more accurate a kukri-style knife as I make no claim of authenticity) for her husband's birthday. It isn't done yet, but I think it's going to turn out well.

I need to finish sizing the bolster, re-shape the butt of the handle, epoxy everything together, and then finish it all off with some boiled linseed oil. It might be hard to let go of this one.



Blade: 5160 (I think) leaf spring
Bolster: copper
Handle: charred maple

Looks like a fun project! Do you have any progress pics?

Did you shape the steel or forge it?? I don't know about knife making, so I'm asking did you make it from scratch?

It's forged with some shaping with files and a wee bit on a bench sander. The bench sander is dying (I reckon popping sounds and spitting sparks from the motor is likely a bad sign) so I may finally have an excuse to build a 'proper' grinder.

Originally Posted by Ernie1980

Looks like a fun project! Do you have any progress pics?

Not as many as I'd normally have, but here are some:

Near the beginning: putting the basic shape on the end of a leaf spring


Next to my very cheap crappy kukri that kind of served as a model for the shape


Starting to file in a bevel and ricasso


The general shape is more or less done, but I needed to forge down the tang


Which gave me an excuse to make a wee tool...


Which allowed me to get a more or less square drop down to the tang


And this is the blade more or less fully shaped after further forging down the tang and then a bunch of filing. After this he tang was narrowed and drilled in a few spots to give the epoxy something to grip to. Hardening was a bit of guesswork as I only had a hunch about the steel. But I think I got it right second time around.


BTW my touchmark is a simplified from the initial T (my surname initial) from this page in the book of Kells:


The handle is maple, turned then charred. Love the effect of charred maple after linseed oil is applied!

Very cool. I have wanted one of these for a while now.
red

It sure looks cool. Let us know how it shaves :<0)

Cangooner - incredible work! I can see how it would be hard to let it go.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

It sure looks cool. Let us know how it shaves :<0)

I don't know... I kind of like my ears where they are...

But of course I'll try it.

Sorry to hear about your sander, but all electric things operate on magic smoke, and once the magic smoke start escaping it is only a matter of time before all the magic smoke is gone, and it just won't work anymore. I really like using well built machinery, I hope you get yourself a new belt grinder. Nice work.