rawcustom

I have a suggestion about the bags. You can't post that much hand stitching that looks that good. It gives me no room to complain about the comparable small amount I've had to do. Otherwise, excellent work, and I won't be tricked into trying to match your efforts ever again!

Excellent work. Love that gator. How do you like working horse hide? I'm thinking of switching to horse butt for knife sheaths.

That looks great, and hard to believe it's your second attempt.

Thanks Monica, and yes I made the knife. I was in the process of making another similar one, but to be honest after viewing that beautiful snakeskin inlaid wallet you posted I have been derailed from knifemaking and am currently attempting to make my wife something similar. Of course it is proving to be a much bigger PITA than I expected. Never would've guessed that I prefer to sew leather 1/2" thick or more compared to the 4oz stuff. And the wood is a stabilized dyed quilted maple.

Thanks, it was my first using the sam browne button and a departure from my normal pouch style sheath. A lot more stitching but it seemed to turn out alright. Already used a gun the last two times I went so I guess I'm looking for a change. Besides, sounds like good advertising for a knifemaker.

This is obviously a matter of opinion so what is "better" lies in the eye of the beholder. I would caution against writing off the detail work as meaningless or labeling it strictly a bells and whistle feature. Fine embellishment is what most of us are in it for or at least gravitate towards. First steps are learning to make something functional and durable, at least for me, but fine embellishment has always set apart the craftsman from the commercial alternative. If you throw the boning under the buss then so you should stamping, carving, dying (especially in pattern), inlays, creasing, and most any other work that goes beyond simple function.

Currently making a pair of bowies for a future knife hog hunt. Here is the first, tried to keep a theme for the planned hunt.

Already stated that it sounds like a dull knife, and in self interest I would be happy to recommend upgrading. Before you do I suggest you sharpen it well, use, sharpen, and repeat a couple times so in the event you upgrade you will understand the increased edge performance and you will also be adept at sharpening a round knife having gotten all the practice out of the way on the cheaper one.

First off a knife should be stored with it's leather sheath, not in it. Even stainless steels can rust and the chemicals from the tanning itself can lead to this, so leather treatment effects would only be secondary. The rate of oxidation on the blade will have to do with the steel composition, level of finish and surface treatment. A "high end" custom knife speaks nothing as to the steel used. Many knifemakers use basic high carbon steel such as 1095 and many of those would be labeled "high end". O1 is another very popular custom knife steel, and although it has a dash of alloy it will rust like crazy, the same as 1095. The sanded finish will play a major role as well. A mirror polished blade will resist rust far better than a belt sanded finish blade. Although it won't rust as fast, high carbon blades with a mirror polish still tend to stain, and will rust over time in the right environment. Lastly some of us will acid etch our non-stainless blades to mitigate the oxidation issues. Acid etching is the same as gun bluing whereas it requires an oiled surface to fully work. Despite all the extra ramblings, you should NEVER NEVER store your knife in a leather sheath, or your rifle in a leather scabbard. Add or subtract the NEVER's on that statement depending on if you call "Rust" "Patina" and if you call "Stains" "Character". One last note, I prefer waxes on blades over oils. I think you get longer wearing protection from a wax.

Thanks for the compliment Chuck, and I'm glad that awl is finding some service in your leatherworking. And it's a good thing I cleared the board before my boy arrived, since there has been a drastic, but enjoyable decline in my available time. I'll try to return the favor by pushing all of my cowboy cousins in your direction next time they're looking at saddles and tack. I say try, because you never know where a cowboy will end up spending his money...

I just have to second the price point opinion. You are doing yourself no favors by low balling your work. You need to charge a fee that covers your expense and time if you plan to keep selling. The other fact is this, the people willing to seek you out for being the cheapest are always the hardest to satisfy. In my fulltime job the absolute most complaints I get is from a product/service offered to the public for free. FREE as in no cost, zero dollars, and zero cents. The people who seek out the freebies seem to have the natural personality to complain about anything and everything. Charge a realistic price and you won't work yourself out of business and you will be limiting your customer base to educated, typically respectful buyers.

If you are getting a proper quench while heat treating, the blades will be too brittle to use without tempering. If you're blades are not brittle after the quench = failed quench. This could be from soaking temp, quench oil used, quench oil temp, quench technique, steel used and any combo of them.

I have dried a lot of rattlers and like Electrathon said, the scales are pretty easy to just brush off. I have had a harder time keeping the scales on then getting them off.

For other cleaning I recommend: http://www.amazon.com/Ron-Jeremy-Hardest-Working-Showbiz/dp/0060840838

Maybe the last addition to my leatherworking blades.

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I advise against using household bleach on bone. The bleach will break the bone down. Maybe you won't notice much to start, but you will be limiting the life of the bone. A 50/50 mix of alcohol with acetone does a good job of cleaning. Rub with an scotch pad or fine sandpaper as mentioned above. Doubt you will return it to stark white, but you should remove enough residue to keep it from staining. Here's a good read on prep and cleaning bone: http://www.bearmeadow.com/build/materials/bone/html/bone-clean.html

There's a sticky over in leather tools where some guys made head knives. Sounds like you've made knives before so depending on your setup, a head knife may not require a lot on your part. Like anything it all comes down to what your time is worth to you. If you have time and resources (skill helps) than you can get by. If you find you're better off paying someone else for their time so you can spend yours on others projects than guys like me can help. I have to admit the only head knife I made was my own, but I've been itching to make another. After making mine I got caught up in the leather tool knives and went on to make my own skiver and trim knife as well. In fact I have my new trim knife tempering right now since I sold my last one. So maybe if you make your own you'll end up like me and find yourself making a few specialty knives for the trade...rather than leatherworking, only so much time in the day. And as far as the head knife vs the stanley, after you get to using one you'll find it has its perks.

Knife is sold, moderator please move appropriately. Thanks

Maybe this is more of a what than a how, but I'm curious what kind of leather is being used on sheaths such as the pic I've attached. All I've ever dealt with is veg tan, and I can honestly say I'm not well versed on the different types of leather out there. If this is veg tan, it has a finish unlike any I've seen. Ideas? Sheath.bmp

Very nice work on this one, I like it.

I agree with you on this one. Only reason I can see is that often leather items, at least in my trade with knives, often have the owner's name or intials on them, and perhaps this was to distinguish the craftsman from the customer. Even with that stretch I think it is redundant. I haven't designed my own yet so maybe I'll be a hypocrit and go with it as well in the end. I have spent plenty of time coming up with designs and have found it very difficult yo come up with anything else for words or images that will fit in the center and look right, maybe that's another reason for just going with 'MAKER'.

And you can spend $75 on a Douglas handle as well, and from what I've read it's a good investment. But really why spend $10 when you can just wrap an awl blade in $1 worth of duct tape? Did you consider that option, or perhaps finding a branch, drilling a hole and $0.10 worth of elmers glue you have another handle. In short your post is not enlightening or helpful to this thread. I have listed my components and what they will cost and some would rather invest in a quality tool than the cheapest chicom alternative available.