Dacks' Buildoff Project

**P. McKinley** · 09-27-2010, 03:34 PM

Royal M - That is Staghorn Cholla(pronounced "choya") cactus. It's found in the Sonoran Desert from Texas to California an down through Mexico. Its a unique handle wood with lots of possibilities. Look up Tai Goo Knives for some extraordinary examples.

**P. McKinley** · 10-02-2010, 03:23 PM

Progress!!

Before final assembly I want to route in the inlay holes.

I built a small, level, and smooth support for my Dremmel router and cut a hole through the top to access the piece. My handle piece was held securely in my drill press vice which was clamped to the work bench. Rather crude, but again, it worked.

One side done.... fairly well. The second side came out a bit better, but they both need to be shaped and cleaned up quite a bit. The thin steel inlays will be done by a local laser engraver which I'll then shape to fit each hole once the handle is almost done.

I put an edge on the blade:

And, beveled one facet of the choil. When this was done I removed the tape from the bevels and re-sanded then to 1000 , then back down to 600, and re-polished the choils.

Scratched up the tang under the guard (photography at its best!!)

Gave the arse-end a final bevel and fitting:

I needed a clean buffing wheel for the guard and I only had one new one left. So I made a thick leather spacer and bolted the sucker together.
I gave the guard a final sanding up to 600 grit then polished with white diamond:

The polished guard ready for assembly:

I've put together all the supplies for final assembly. I'll use Le Page 60 minute epoxy and some powdered 400 grit antler dust for the guard. For clean up I have brass "chisels" for the choil/guard joint, acetone, q-tips, and plenty of paper towels.

epoxy and antler dust for the guard glue-up :

Ready to apply:

The glue-up and assembly went pretty quick and I didn't get any shots of the stages. Here's one my wife took as I'm torquing down on the tang bolt:

Everything has been lined up, the tail piece has been added, and Ive cleaned up the excess ooze with the q-tips and paper towels. I paid special attention to the choil/guard joint and made sure the area was good and clean before the glue sets to hard. The choil has a high polish so I made sue all the epoxy film was removed.

That's all for now.

**P. McKinley** · 10-04-2010, 11:56 AM

Time to do a bit of handle detailing.....

I've wrapped the blade and guard in an impenetrable sheathing of paper towel and painter's tape. Ain't nothin' gonna' scratch my hard won blade finish!!

As I've worked on this project, I've had to create many of my own tools to do some of specific steps. This time I found that the front edges of my little file works quite well as a scraper. Here I'm using this tool to fine tune the handle shape near the guard:

I started shaping the "tail" as well as the adjacent edge contours on the handle:

The rough shaping is nearly done:

Next step is to inlay the "JD" logo, create the thin groove separating the two "halves" of the handle, and then finally make it all look pretty with lots of sanding and polishing.

I can see the light!!

Then I can turn my attention to the sheath!

**ratstuph** · 10-04-2010, 03:11 PM

Lots of complex components to this one. Your perseverance is admirable.
all da best,
rats...

**M.Olexey** · 10-04-2010, 09:07 PM

Very impressive!

**P. McKinley** · 10-06-2010, 09:46 PM

Just some detail stuff done lately.....

I did some shaping to the tail and fine tuned some of the edging. One of the biggest challenges with this knife has been maintaining symmetry on all four faces of both blade and handle(I was warned). I've spent countless hours removing minute amounts then re-checking, then repeat again and again. I've also depended on these contour gauges for the macro profile and this little discrepancy will be corrected:

I also did some prep for the logo inlay. This is the first test piece that's almost right. The initials are the right size, the oval just needs to be larger. Also, the center of the "D" has a very thin tab to keep it in place.... I bent this slightly while screwing around with it for this shot!

This will get glued to a Padouk veneer backing then polished, and finally epoxied into place. Hopefully I can get the inlay pieces by Friday so I can work on it over the weekend. The inlay holes still need to be re-routed to the correct shape, contoured quite a bit, and the center groove need to be completed..... and then a whole bunch of finish sanding and polishing.

**shakie** · 10-07-2010, 01:39 AM

I'm at a loss for words. Your attention to detail is Top Shelf. WOW

**P. McKinley** · 10-07-2010, 07:38 PM

Thanks Shakie!

Here's a short update:

I won't get the emblems back until Monday, but I was sent these photos of the lazer doing its thing. I'm told that business there is very good, with clients such as NASA and and Boeing... but the service they have provided to me, a $100.00 customer, has been extra-ordinary....VERY professional operation!

Apparently this is the machine that'll do my two little pieces.

**six** · 10-09-2010, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by shakie

I'm at a loss for words. Your attention to detail is Top Shelf. WOW

Well said mang!!!!!!

**P. McKinley** · 10-09-2010, 04:04 PM

While waiting for the lazer-cut inlays I spent some time on the sheath design.

Thought....??

I haven't quite figured out the belt loop yet, or if there'll even be one, but this is the basic idea.

Here's a cross section view of the design.

I'll do the welt either from this piece of Wenge, or use leather and just dye it black on the outside. The Redwood is more intensely figured than seen in this shot... the "flames" just pop out with chatoyance.... beautiful. I think it'll look great for this sheath.

**P. McKinley** · 10-12-2010, 08:19 PM

The logo pieces are finished. Two of these will get glued to a Padouk backing and inlaid into the handle tomorrow.

**BennytheBlade** · 10-14-2010, 04:28 AM

Pretty sure this is the most difficult design to execute attempted.

Major Props.

Beautiful, difficult work you are doing.

**RoadFish** · 10-14-2010, 04:51 AM

This is one hell of a WIP! Great looking project!

**BenDibble** · 10-14-2010, 12:11 PM

I just spent that last hour and a half reading this entire thread. WOW.

Your level of worksmanship is awesome. Seeing your dedication through the minor set backs is great too.

I am jonsing to see this through.

**P. McKinley** · 10-14-2010, 08:00 PM

Thanks guys.

Benny - I find that my imagination takes me places that my ability has never been before.

However, I've also found that I enjoy the challenge of actually building these designs I conjure up. When I drew this one out I had no idea it would be this intricate and complicated to assemble .... correctly. I'm even finding that polishing is quite the bitch with all the little facets and curves I put into the design. It seems my little Dremmel polishing wheels are quite handy for this chore. At this point though, I'm pretty happy with the progress I've made.

The knife is now basically finished and I'm starting work on the sheath. Halloween may be a bit of a stretch, but I'll try to be done by the deadline.