Trade sgian dubh WIP

[Drac]

Making or using? Good luck with either.

In this case making. Though I do use them I've been using what's called a shavette, a straight razor with desposible blades.

Jim

[Drac]

As promised here are the steps in the second one.

Here is the blade and rear bolsters -



After some clean up work. Finished it to 600 grit -



A quick buff along the spine to make the filework pop -



Getting ready to put the rear bolsters. Notice the small hole on the corner of the vise? It is so I get the proper amount of pin on the other side for peening. Next is to beat the sh, um, the cr, um, the he, oh give it a few good whackes -



After the whacking and some quick grinding down of the pins -



Cleaning up the rear filework -



A close up after the buffing to make it pop. Sorry not the best pic -



Getting ready for the handle and front bolsters. Got to get every thing to fit tight so got to work them together. Add to the issue I need to fit the bolsters across the top of the knife -



Front pins whacked and getting ready to glue it up -



Clamped up and waiting for the morrow for the shaping -



Jim

[artificer]

Hoooohoo boy! That burlwood is going to look really nice!

[Eleazar]

WooHoo!!!!!

Can't wait to see how this is going to turn out.

[Drac]

Ok, survived a night of curing -



After rough grinding as 60 grit -





After 200 -

[Drac]

On to the fun part, the hand sanding my sanding setup & vise -





After hand sanding to 200 -





After 400 -



After 600 -



A light touch on a buffer -



After this it is a trick using a sanding pad (a gray version of a green scrubbing pad) to finish the bolsters out, sharpening and etching the name.

Finished -



Should get it out in the mail in the next day or so to the recipient.

Thanks for following,
Jim

[CMcG]

[artificer]

Just lovely.

And thanks for the step-by-step pix. I know how difficult it can be to stop in-between each phase for a pic.

[Drac]

Well I didn't want to leak this before it was done because I had no idea if I could do it. I tried to make a wood sheath for the first time. On the kuri I can do this since the wood comes in nonstandard blocks. All the others are to short to do both a handle and sheath.

Here is the two - leg side -



The outside -



Sheathed -



An odd thing, tradition is that the left side of the knife is what has the makers mark. This is the body side on a strong arm carry. Something about historically the crest being on the body side or personal side. Well that is the leg/plain side of this blade and all the good stuff is on the other side.

Jim

[artificer]

Such depth- you could drown in the grain of that sheath! Really an amazing piece of work Drac.

Congrats to both you and the new owner.