Did I avoid clunky?

[ricky_arthur]

Ray told me to avoid clunky on this bowie. How did I do? Largest knife I've tried so far. About 15 inches of 1084 and Indian ebony. Now to start on the sheath.

[Crex]

Gonna have to use that to kill a cow for the sheath work!
Nice Ricky!

[Ray Rogers]

Nice! Doesn't look clunky at all to me ....

[ricky_arthur]

Here is a pic of the other side. The pic shows a shadow on the swedge. I'm still trying to figure out how to take a picture with reflective areas everywhere and not have at least one bad reflection. In this case the Handle and swedge have shadow or glare.



The guard is stainless and was cut out on the portaband. Love that little saw! As always I had to make 2 because I cant seem to get a good guard fit using files in one try or sometimes 2. How do others do it without a mill?

[PoolQs]

nice job ricky !! really like the handle shape!

[pcpc201]

Good looking knife.

I'll let you know on the guard if I ever get one to look like it should...

[Don Robinson]

Great work!! Marvelous!

[Doug Lester]

The workmanship on it is top notch but I do have to admit that I don't care fore massive knives. Just a matter of taste.

Doug

[Crex]

If I'd been the first to reply on the second pic I probably would have said that sides ugly.....but too late. So guess I better just say A+. Still nice from this side Ricky!

[ricky_arthur]

Well, the sheath is almost done, needs to dry and get finished and a snap. A piece of Faux Croc I picked up at tandy last week. My 5th sheath (in leather)and first trying an inlay, so any suggestions would be helpful.

[Doug Lester]

Looks like you nailed that sheath. Real croc leather might have made it look better but with the price of real crocodile or alligator leather I would have gone with the faux stuff too.

Doug

[Crex]

Looking pretty good Ricky. Few things, just observations:
The faux croc might stand out a little better if it were a shade or two darker than the frame - little more accent so to speak.
Did you skive the backside of the croc around the edges? I know it's a bit tricky to work with dimensional materials and get them to lay smoothly, but seems to be a bit bulky/bulgy around the lower part to tip of sheath. Skiving the back edges might help next time.
Just little things, but you put so much into the knife a little extra on the sheath is well worth the total package presentation. Make sure to "pad" the back of the snap, don't want to scratch that nice handle.
Agree with Doug real "croc a gator" is extremely over priced seeing as how they have become serious nuisances here in the south.

[Hunter10139]

Yeah you avoided clunky. That knife is a work of art. Especially that guard, It adds a crispness to the knife that is pretty sweet.

[ricky_arthur]

Here it is finished, with the best pics I can get with a cell phone. Thanks for the kind words.

[ricky_arthur]

Thanks for the input CREX I agree. I tried to make the sheath lighter by cutting the dye with neatsfoot oil. All it did was make it splotchy. After that I had to put like 5 coat sof dye to get it to look decent. Light brown dye is too dark IMO and I have tried 2 different kinds. The only thing I could do from there was dye the croc black and that would look funny. I did skiv the leather that the inlay was glued/stitched to, but it is not tight and that would help. I'll know better next time. I tried wetting it hoping it would shrink and tighten and I did a little. Over all I'm happy with it. Next one will be better.