Knife Display Case - WIP

[Brokenolmarine]

Since a lot of my past hobbies are no longer available due to physical changes, I do a bit of woodworking, build some knives, and do a bit of leatherworking in the shop.  I can also shoot or fish on the good days... (from my kayak mostly) but mainly I work in the shop, an hour at a time.  Lately, I have been challenging myself, building knives.  I don't sell them, I either give them to friends/family as gifts, or keep them.  A table by the front door is laden with them and the wife told me I needed to build a display case to hang on the wall.

"Someone could walk off with one of your knives," she shook her head, "We have service people in and out at times."

"Worse yet, a guest's child could pick up one and they are RAZOR sharp.  Get them off the table and in a display case where they aren't easily accessed."

Challenge accepted.

[Brokenolmarine]

I played with designs in my head for a week, then started laying out the cut list.  OMG...   Have you guys seen the price of wood these days?  I typed in Oak, and nearly stroked.  So I typed in pine.  Still was some sticker shock.  So I went out to the storage side of my workshop and looked at the slabs I had, and found a few nice pieces.  Thing is, it would take some work.  This was rough wood, which would mean I'd have to run it thru the planer, then square up an edge then rip the pieces to the width I wanted before I could start cutting to length or adding the angled cuts to form the case.  No rush, and the total cost?  Zip.  Just time.  I have that.

 

The raw boards above were run thru the planer, then ripped, and cut, dado'd for the bottom,  and test fitted using band clamps.

[Brokenolmarine]

A bottom was cut and fitted, then test fitted to the frame.  NOTHING is even close to being permanently attached at this point, all held with the band clamps.  Too much to do before we ever reach glue up.

Had to decide what backing would go behind the knives.  Blue or burgundy velvet, another cloth, or ... wait for it... LEATHER? I had been making a lot of leather sheaths and thought leather might be awesome.  A tooled leather background?  I had to decide.  The area was about 4' wide and 16" tall... lotta leather.  I spent a couple days thinking it over while I played with tooling patterns for an large area like that in my head... It could work... I just needed to commit.  I finally committed and CAREFULLY cut the needed piece from a nice roll under the tooling bench.

 

[Brokenolmarine]

In order to properly mark a tooling window I'd first need to cut and fit the quarter round molding.  So I'd first need to BUY quarter round molding. 

 

The molding was CAREFULLY cut and fitted over the leather and I marked the interior edge of the molding on the leather with a Sharp Pencil.  I had my tooling window.  Then I broke down the entire framework, CAREFULLY marking every orientation, every joint, a/a b/b c/c etc.    The test fit was excellent.  Fail to mark the joints and the glue up could be WAY off.

[Brokenolmarine]

After all that time agonizing over the layout, I settled on a serpentine border for the edges, and a wide tooled Basketweave under and above the magnets.  I carefully laid out the design, with a heavy ruler and a sharp pencil.  Then cased the leather and cut it in.  It was looking good.

In preparation for tooling I taped the back of the leather to prevent any distortion of the panel. With the amount of tooling I'll have to do, I don't want to take any chances.

 

[Brokenolmarine]

I decided to start beveling the lines for the basket weave pattern.  The serpentine pattern will be last, as I don't want to distort THAT tooling by resting my hands on the border while tooling the inner pattern.  That's a lot of tooling inside, and with my arthritis, I'll be resting my hands a LOT. 

 

 

[Brokenolmarine]

I spent two days, and about six one hour sessions (arthritis) on the basic beveling, and it's gotten me to this point... the basic beveling is done.  

 

A close up look at the emerging pattern.

Tomorrow I'll start enhancing this beveling with the lined footprint by extending the bevels to create a more 3D look and further create the appearance of the over and under effect.  A couple more steps after that and the basket weave will be complete, and I can start on the serpentine.  Then, I have the magnets to install, the lighting, and the glass front frame and hinges.  Yup, we are so close to complete.  NOT.  

 

Watch this space, so much more to come.  So many more opportunities to fail. LOL.

[Brokenolmarine]

This closeup gives you a better feel for the beginning emergence of the basket weave tooling.

I have mentioned the magnets several times, here is a peek at the magnets that will run across the center of the display.. you can see their outline on the leather tooling.

[DieselTech]

That is going to be SHARP! Can't wait to see your finished display case. 

You do some nice work. 

The lighting, tooled leather back ground, with a bunch of nice hand made knives. 

Oh It is going to be awesome.

 

[AlZilla]

That's a big project. I like working with rough lumber, slabs, etc. Way back in about 7th grade wood shop, we basically started from scratch like that. Much more satisfying than just buying some piece of lumber ready to go.

That giant quilt pattern is fun. I'm waiting to see what you use for the centers of the blocks. The couple I've done were smaller and the tool I used is the Seeder (I think). Too small to look right on that larger pattern.