Damascus, Bayleen, Ivory Sgian Dubh Build

[Robin]

Awesome job!

Those blade have a stunning texture....lovely!

[O'Neille]

What's the walrus ivory and bayleen like to work ?


Sgian Dubh components, blades,etc.

The ivory is a degree of hardness greater than antler but stil workable with the tools I use for aluminum aircraft work. It's as hard as your teeth. The bayleen is like a very dense hardwood. Both are almost self polishing when you get down to some fine finishing grits and buffing.

[O'Neille]

In photo #4, you drilled a series of parallel holes for the tang. I was wondering if a mortising cutter might be a bit easier - I think I've seen them as small as 3/16".

Also I'd be interested to know the story behind the blades...
.

I don't have a lot of wood working tools mostly metal working stuff. I used the drill press because I could remove a lot of material and then finish with a file. The consitency of walrus ivory is closer to brittle metal than wood anyday.

The blades came into existence because I found a guy who could make beautiful Damascus blades and bar stock. We exchanged ideas for a few weeks and finally I was happy with the final design. He went ahead and made up a test batch. It was a lot of work due to the language barrier we had, but the final product turned out wonderful. I ended up with 3 that are fine grained (folded more times) and 4 that are larger grained which I like because of the patterns involved. Getting payment to him and the shipment to me was a lot more work than either designing the blades or making the knives. It should go smoother now that we've worked out the logistics of international manufacturing. The blades traveled the world and ended up in Minnesota before they were forewarded to me. Some problem with a foreign computer keyboard and a little transposition of some numbers.

[Kiltman]

Don't work with metals, but I do appreciate your craftsmanship.

[cgrinder]

Those were very nice. Great work

[beerbecue]

Very nice indeed....

So much nice work done here... too bad these finished items are way, way, way out of my affordability range....

I am more than a little envious......

[sjrapid]

Very nice work, O'Neille. Thanks for sharing the photos with us.

I'm in awe of some of the things members on here can make, and also the level of sophistication of the workshop facilities and tools people have at their disposal.

Best regards

[O'Neille]

Beautiful! Where'd you get baleen?

I was born and raised in Alaska. I just had my Dad bring me some when he came to visit. It's nice to find something useful to do w/ the stuff I have been hoarding for years. O'Neille