Saturday 16 October 2010

Unbranded 12C27 Fulltang Neck/Utility Knife Blade...

 My friend Matthew from Workshop Heaven sent me a knife blade recently. It is a very slim blade, about 1mm, and approximately 7.5cm useful cutting edge , made from some splendid 12C27 steel, the same steel used in my favourite French Laguiolle eating knives...



This knife from Matthew is super slim and super sharp. It comes as a broad tang knife. The tang could be wrapped in leather or rubber to give it a usable handle if you wanted a quick handle solution. I sent my blade and a handle I had modelled on the Roselli carpenter knife, up to Chris, who ground down the tang and fitted the handle.

The result...


A very pleasing and usable carver...


 Nice and narrow for those tricky hollowing and chip carving jobs...




I've been using this blade for a while now and can recommend it as a nice little lightweight carver...

I'm going to pop it in the post to my great friend Ralph and let him use it for a while...

ENJOY...





John.Rs' New knife...

The other week my old friend John.R turned up at my house. "You've inspired me to make my own knife". He said. With a big grin he rummaged in his bag and presented me with a box. Inside was everything you would need to make your own knife, except the blade provided was absolutely horrid. I gave my friend Chris a call, and asked if there was anything to be done. He told me that when I come up for a visit he would sort something out...
On my return home I gave John.R a call to show him what Chris had made, a very nice utility blade in CS80, Scandi ground with a nice chunky needle tang.

jon mac spoon carving

John found me a nice piece of Yew for the handle. I soon set about making a copy of the handle used on the MaChris. Once it neared completion I gave it to a friend of mine who would drill a couple of holes down the middle to accommodate the tang. This job can be done with a hand held electric drill if your careful...

I made up a couple of wedges from some pieces of timber from the 'Gypsy Moth'. These wedges are popped in to stop up the visible hole, they aren't structural in any real way...

jon mac spoon carving

It is always a good idea to protect some of the blade and handle with tape, in this instance I used some parcel tape..

jon mac spoon carving

Before assembly, make sure the shoulder of the knife fits accurately into the handle. I had to use an old screwdriver, heated until red hot, to poke down the drilled hole just to burn enough wood away for an extra couple of millimetres depth...

When your happy with the fit, mix up your fixing resin and fill the chamber, pop in the blade, push the blade into a wooden block and give the top of the handle a couple of sharp blows to get everything seated. Carefully remove the blade and handle from the block and insert the wedges...

jon mac spoon carving

 A couple of taps to seat them and leave to dry...

jon mac spoon carving

Once the resin has set, use a knife to carefully carve away the wedges, clean the handle and leave to soak in your preferred oil for a day or two. In this instance I used some Danish oil from Liberon.

jon mac spoon carving

 I am sure John will get many years good use from this knife. All we have to do now is make a sheath...

jon mac spoon carving



ENJOY...



Carving a Dragon Kuksa.

Carving a Dragon Kuksa.  I have been carving Kuksa from green Birch for 15 years or so, I’m self taught. From the beginning, I limited mysel...