Help me design 2 Nordic knives...

Brothers of Briar

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OK steelheads one and all. Here we are, all together here to witness the inveiling of the latest and greatest of the n....


Oh to heck with all that. Here's the latest knife. The EnZo blade of D2 steel with the full convex grind...handle of Snakewood (first time I've worked it...and it's WAY cool)...bolster/spacer assembly of Nickel Silver, rust and green fiber and black paper Micarta. The finger grooves were measured to fit ONE hand...the owner sent me a diagram of his hand...nice.

S0 then, without further ado...


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Thanks...you just saved me sending you (my guru-mentor) a set of photos. Thanks!


I think this is a very tidy yoman piece...an Americanordic, if you will. It should be a hard worker with the D2 steel and very resistant staining...being kind of semi-stainless. To many, D2 represents good traits of both sides of the wonderland lookinglass...the toughness and ease of sharpening of a high carbon steel and the durability and stain resistance of a stainless. Is it Bob Dozer that makes his custom blades from D2 exclusively? Be that as it may, even though I like A2 more due to it's better toughness if Cryo-treated, there is no place that one could take a blade of good D2 that it would be totally respected. Damn good stuff.

Anyway, gotta go. The shop is calling and today I'm fitting the spacers on what should be a pretty cool looking Leuku. Big blade. Handle of Burmese Blackwood with fore and aft spacer assemblies of Nickel Silver, ivory paper Micarta and green fiber. The big news here is that I had to drill the tang hole in the Blackwood with my DeWalt LiIon cyberdrill (lol) and using a 1/8" bit...drilling from the front and the back...the holes actually met in the middle! Astonishing!

The next:

Kankaanpää Knife Blades - Finland
Utility blades in Bohler Uddeholm 0.8% carbon steel used for decades. Slightly convex grind.
Rockwell Hardness 58 - 59.

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I have a feeling that the owner (me) is going to just love that knife.

It is beautifully done and I love how the hand will fit my hand perfectly.

Thanks for your hard work.

Todd
 
TH is referring to this one:

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One thing I really like about he Nordic style knives is their simplicity. They have few frills (except for the quality of the parts) and are deceptive in that way. But the blades and the way they are shaped (the geometry) and the handle style, etc. are really well designed for cutting with the edge that's on the knife. So the geometry of a Scandi grind will be different from a Convex grind and brother, they come SHARP. What's more, with a convex grind there's a lot more steel behind the edge so they are VERY strong and since they can be field sharpened to insane sharpness with just a mouse pad and a piece of 2000 grit automotive paper...they are VERY easy to maintain. To me those are both major assets.

A knife like the this one with the EnZo blade (which is not extrmemly thick, like a Bark River) is not designed for chopping and hacking. It's a slicer...a cutter. A Bark River knife that has an extremely heavy blade can be used to chop down small trees. You just take the knife and beat on the back of the spine with a chunk of wood (tree limb size) while the blade is sent into the trunk and you'll soon be yelling, "TIMBER"! Note: a convex grind is normally what's on an axe...but not so well done...and of course the steel on an axe is very soft.
 
Some things go more quickly than others. Except for a bit of filework on the spine and perhaps an application or pin for the butt, this one is done. I like how the green of the fiber spacer comes out, next to the ivory paper micarta...I like the heft and size of the thing (it's about 12" overall).

Kankaanpää Knife Blades - Finland
Utility blades in Bohler Uddeholm 0.8% carbon steel used for decades.
Rockwell Hardness 58 - 59.
Slightly convex grind.

Handle - African Blackwood/Ivory Paper Micarta/Green Fiber Spacers. Finished with 100% Pure Tung Oil.


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NICE knives BH. I have a weakness for puukos. Great bushcraft knives. I don't own a custom puuko. I use Moras and Falkniven F1.
 
Thanks guys. The angle really did make for a sharp edge on the nickel silver cap...til I smoothed it down. It would have made a good cheese cutter...or something...I just happen to like cheese.


I finished the fileworking this morning. A vine pattern. It really adds a little panache to the piece. It looked a little 'rustic' what with the black scale left on the flanks of the blade (which I like). Now it has a kind of 'rustic chic' feel to it. Instead of looking like the maker didn'take the time and effort to finish it, it looks like the scale was left on to give it a kind of cool, um, well you know...rustic chic! Like I said.

I've got two pieces of steel finished for the buttcap. One is a low oval dome (came off a Stanley chisel that I parted out for other projects) and the other is a stylized 'lightning bolt'. I'll look at it for a while and one thing or another will start screaming at me that IT wants to be there. Yes, the parts talk to me. (I'm lonely.) lol

The dome thing is cool. It was on the chisel so you could whack on it and it was beaten to a pulp...all dented and dinged up. So I set it into my drill (it has a stem about 1/3" long) and ran the drill and applied successive grits of sandpaper to it til it was smooth and very polished looking. When I got to about 400 grit the thing developed this 'gradient ' effect...like a CD. When you move it in the light it defracts the light and makes cool patterns. Interesting science sidebar or something. Might be a little much for the knife. But then the lightning bolt is no small statement either!
 
I just ordered a small EnZo blade made from O1 steel...with I assume a scandi grind (totally flat on both sides, no secondary bevel)...as a whittling knife. That'll be my next project. After that...I noticed they make the Leuku blades in some REALLY long sizes...should make a good machete! I might think about that.

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EnZo Nordic "Lynx" $30
3.4x20x80 mm
Total:200 mm
Carbonsteel: O1
Designed as a real whittler blade.


And I have one piece of very, very high grade Curley Birch, and the shimmer inside this block is amazing!

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Curly Birch Extreme $19.00
Very rare and becoming hard to get.
Got some really nice ones in this order!
Lots of curl, shimmer, pattern.

So...I don't buy the bolsters or guards any longer as I cut my own. It's easy with a flat sided blade to get the slot just right...the rhombic shaped blades are a bitch though. Then there's just the spacers and one section to add near to forend of a contrast material.

I've been thinking of cutting across the Birch about 1/4 of the way from the end and making the large piece the handle and the small piece the top of a scabbard, so that when they were put back together they would look like one piece. I would finish the bottom of the scabbard with the same wood I use as the accent piece on the handle...and maybe carve the thing with a stylized Beaver or something...since it's a whittling knife! lol I've got both Rosewood and Blackwood to use as the secondary on the thing and either one would set off the other quite well. I'll see what the grain patterns look like and how the colors match the color in the Birch's curls before I make a choice. And on this one I might use brass as the metal...I have a bunch and it makes for a 'warmer' overall look, etc.

Stay tuned.

 
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