New Sheath & Knife To Go In It For The Relay For Life.

[The Grizzly]

Hey folks. Just thought I would share a piece I just finished. This knife and sheath was donated as a fundraiser item for the 2013 Relay For Life event in Metropolis, IL. This is, by far, one of my best knives yet.

Here is the rundown:

Blade: Jantz Pattern #31 in D2 with their satin finish. These Jantz Pattern blades are top notch. They are ground in house at their facility in Oklahoma, not imported. This is the 4th blade I have used from their in-house line up and I was not disappointed. I do believe they sent me a peened finish blade mistakenly though, as the finish is unlike the last satin finish blade I ordered. Size: 7 5/8" long, 3" blade, 5/32" thick. Beautiful light grey textured finish and razor sharp from the package.

Handle Scales: California Buckeye Burl. This was a set of scales that I received from Mark @ BurlSource as part of his free knifemaker's pack he gave out a while back. There was some choice sets of scales in that pack, but none of the burls were stabilized. So, I had to do my own stabilizing, so to speak. Multiple coats of thin CA glue make up the finish on these scales. Sanded and hand polished. I added a few coats of Formby's Low Gloss tung oil to bring the shine down just a shade. The scales are tapered back to front from 3/8" at the butt to about 3/16" at the front.

Pins: Brass and Stainless Steel Gatling pins in 1/4" diameter with a 1/4" brass thong tube, chamfered ends.

Sheath: 8/9oz veg tan shoulder from Springfield Leather. Dyed black borders with natural center that has been tooled and antiqued. Hand sewn. Resolene and neutral shoe polish finish.

This knife was a joy to build and I sincerely hope it brings a good bit of money to donate to this event.

Hope you enjoy the photos...

[mikesmith648]

Wow........very nice

[The Grizzly]

Thanks!! I hope it does well at the raffle!

[eagle6977]

That is one sweet looking knife there. Good craftsmanship done both. John

[aquamanlr]

I would say that you have done outstanding on this knife and sheath. I think that any bidders on these need to have deep pockets.

[Cogs]

The Girzz got it goin on! Way to go Craig!

Bill

[stingray4540]

Very nice!

Did you do the dying, tooling, antique, and finish; before or after forming the sheath?

[The Grizzly]

Thanks again guys.

Stingray- I had the profile pattern drawn and cut to just over correct size. Then, I wet the leather and folded the sheath, pressing it tight and did a quick test fit on the knife. Next, I unfolded the leather and laid it flat out on my granite slab to come back to tooling dryness. I did all my tooling, dying, resist, antique and preliminary finish coat while it was flat. Then I folded it back and completed the sheath. I did not finish the inside with resolene because I wanted to be able to wetform the sheath from the inside out. After the sheath was glued and sewn, I wet it again inside lightly, then formed it to the knife and dried in my dehydrator. It's not a full molded wet form because I didn't want to disturb my tooling, it faded enough on the bend, which was to be expected.

[bissetdesign]

Great work Craig, I love what you've done with this, the contrasting colours in the burl really set it off, I'd love a knife like that & great sheath too

[The Grizzly]

Thank you very much! I'm seriously considering making a copy of it for myself.