Materials so far...

So it's been one helluva week and a half...I've been running around non stop and finally have a chance to sit down and work on the blog a bit. I was in Ottawa and Montreal until last Saturday to get a number of things done so I haven't had much time for anything to do with the outdoors or bushcraft. It's driving me nuts!!! Still, I did manage to get some materials for my knife handles!

First I scored some sweet looking pieces of Maple. This stuff is HARD!!! My father and I cut it into useful sized blocks using a bench saw. The saw tripped out a couple of times because it was overheating. Here's a shot of some of the blocks of wood all cut up and ready to go.


Next I found some time to go for a walk in the woods, not far from my parents home, to look for some birch. I found some dead standing birch trees and managed to get some really nice bark and a solid piece of birch wood. A knife, bow saw and hand axe were useful in the collection! Here's a couple of pictures:


Finally I found a business in Ottawa that sells brass bars. The shortest they sell is 12" lengths, which was more than I needed, but it wasn't expensive and I really wanted brass bolsters to protect the wood and bark in the handles. I had them cut me two 6" pieces. Here's one of the sections of brass:


I thought I had a source for Elk antler but no luck. I wrote, called and visited, but responsible individual at the business in question never got back to me! Too bad... I'll try and do without, but I might have to place an order for a few pieces of caribou antler from Ragnar!

Anyway, it think I've finally settled on a plan for the two blades. The smaller carbon steel blade will be fitted with a birch bark handle, with birch and brass bolster and birch pommel. The whole thing will be held together by a riveted tang.

The 4" stainless blade will have a handle made from the maple, and maybe with a section of antler added in as well. It will be held together by epoxy, allowing the handle to be longer, with a larger pommel. Here's a (not so good) shot of my plan for the knife.


Things are moving along, and perhaps I'll have my own custom fitted, personally handmade knife soon! Other than that the weekend is coming up soon, so maybe I'll get some time to spend in the woods! There's no guarrantee, I still have a lot of work to do trying to secure I job I really want... but damn it would be nice!