On January 24th, I drove down to Tucson, AZ and spent a few hours with Mastersmith Tai Goo at his shop, and he taught me, helped me, and fixed my mistakes as we made this knife together. He showed me how to do things by starting to do them, then let me do what he showed me, and fixed my screw-ups while explaining how and why. It was a great experience and I really hope to go back soon! The knife is 8.5" overall, with a 4" blade. The handle is antler stained with shoe leather scuff covering, the tang goes approximately 2.5" into the antler and is held in by epoxy--it was a quicky handle. The blade was hardened and given a quick (about 20-30 minutes) temper. I scrubbed off the worst of the scale, but I kind of like the worn forge-finish, so I don't think I'll clean it up anymore, except for on the edge (which shaves, by the way). Total time to make was 5 hours.
And here it is after I etched the blade in warm vinegar/lemon juice/dish soap to give it that aged look:
After I made the knife, I had stored it in a sheath made of cardboard and duct tape, so I had my brother send me some leather he had (scrap pieces from a glove
factory--too soft for a sheath, but I did it anyway):
Not terrible, I suppose, but not very durable either. In light of that (and with permission from my girlfriend--AKA, the boss) I went by Tandy Leather Factory
and picked up some heavier leather, an awl (yes, I did the above work with a regular sewing needle), some waxed thread, and some leather dye. This is the
result of that adventure:
I waterproofed it with several coats of a commercial waterproofer because I don't have any way to double-boil wax (my double-boiling equipment is still
back home in Illinois, because it couldn't fit in the car when I moved to Arizona). It's certainly not perfect--there is no stitching groove, the
stamping isn't very good, the dye job on the back is crap, the edges aren't as clean as they should be, etc--but it works and I made it 
.
There is a bit of my sheath making process over on Don Fogg's forum if anyone's interested: http://forums.dfoggknives...d=114541&#entry114541
Thanks for looking!
~Noah M. Legel
) in So. Cal. are welcome to try their hand in my shop and learn
under a "bastard of the craft".
