Getting a bit more adventurous

[Die Judicii]

A number of years ago I had a go at making myself a "Pig Sticker"
My problem is that I tend to get a bit carried away and go overboard, so instead of ending up with just a pig sticker,,,
I finished up turning the bit of stainless steel and redgum into a sort of show and shine that's never drawn blood. (Pic # 1)

Now I decided to get a bit more adventurous and play with a bit of wood, to make a mount for a set of Buffalo horns.

I never thought of taking step by step pics until I got to this stage (several hours after cutting the length out of a dead tree limb) (Pics # 2 and 3)

When I finish sanding it properly I'm going to oil finish it before actually mounting the horns.

I'll put up progressive pics as I go,,,, and hope it's worth the time put into it.

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[sandgroperbill]

Nice work on the knife, mate. Looks like a real nice knife. Ever thought of doing some to sell? or is it purely for the love of it?

[Die Judicii]

Nah mate, just self satisfaction while I'm day dreaming.
If I were to start doing em to sell, I'd have to take shortcuts cos otherwise nobody could afford to buy one.

[Oldbloke]

Nice work on the knife, mate. Looks like a real nice knife. Ever thought of doing some to sell? or is it purely for the love of it?

+1 great knife

[on_one_wheel]

sweet knife, looks like you have put countless hours of elbow grease into it.

Most crafts suffer from the same problem of being expensive as a finished product. I do leather work, not many people wouldn't be willing to pay a price based on an hourly rate when they can go out and buy something that dose the same job for peanuts.

finding a market for fine hand made things would be difficult, I just make stuff for good friends at material cost.

There is a knife maker in a town not too far from me ( Hahndorf ) he makes damascus steel knives. I went for a look the other week and the price tags had some really big numbers on them.

[Title_II]

Great looking knife!

Good luck on the project.

[tom604]

was that your first knife? that's a great looking knife and even more so if it was your first my first knife looks like crap compared to yours i did everything wrong looking forward to seeing the mount

[Title_II]

Did you treat or clad the surface of that knife?

[Die Judicii]

In reply to Tom, and Title.

Yes it was my first (serious) attempt at making one for myself.
and,
Yes ,I heat treated the blade prior to polishing, but havnt tested it since for hardness, Seeing as its mainly a shelf/display knife now.

Just found another pic of it that caught the suns rays at just the right angle.

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[Die Judicii]

After the 1st coat,,,,,,

Its amazing how quick the grain comes to life.

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[Title_II]

Lookin' good!

[sandgroperbill]

That's a really nice grain coming out...

[tom604]

boiled linseed oil? its looking good ,the grain is popping out now

[Die Judicii]

boiled linseed oil? its looking good ,the grain is popping out now

Yeah Mate,,, sort of,,,,
Actually "Birchwood Tru Oil"

[Tinked]

The mount for the horns is looking good, and serious thumbs up for the knife

[Title_II]

The more I read this thread the more I feel like a lazy bum

[tom604]

The more I read this thread the more I feel like a lazy bum

don't put yourself down title ll, that's what we are here for

[Die Judicii]

The more I read this thread the more I feel like a lazy bum

don't put yourself down title ll, that's what we are here for

Good onya Tom ol Mate,,,,, But I aint gonna put anyone down.
I've never had such nice comments before,, I'm almost lost for words.

[Title_II]

The more I read this thread the more I feel like a lazy bum

don't put yourself down title ll, that's what we are here for

Where's Ms Piggy?

Yeah, that's what I thought

[tom604]

im cut to the quick i was just trying to help and you bring the missus up now back to the thread

[Die Judicii]

Well,, here are pics taken after 3 coats,
Have given it a total of 4 coats as of tonight, but there was no improvement on the pics taken of the 3rd coat.

So I'll call it quits on the oil and start to mount the horns.

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[on_one_wheel]

That's a fine finish ... blody great piece of wood, it's gonna look awesome.

[Die Judicii]

Well guess what I did ?

It might be a little while before you all see the horns mounted.
Because it was so smooth and slippery, I dropped it.

Now I have to strip off the surface, and start oiling it again.
Probably a good thing in a way because there was one area that I wasn't entirely happy with in relation to its shape.
Look at the last and 2nd to last pics, and you can see the difference (in the curve coming down to where one horn will be) on the right side, and compare that to the left side.
At least I'll have the chance to rectify that, and be 100% happy with the end product.

[sandgroperbill]

As I started to read, I thought you were going to say the wood had been damaged. Glad it wasn't, and needing to re-oil isn't too bad

[Title_II]

Can you carve that black mark out?

It's looking great BTW.

[Die Judicii]

Can you carve that black mark out?

It's looking great BTW.

Hi Title,
If you are referring to the black mark on the extreme right hand side of the last 2 pics,,,, that is covered by the horn itself.

If you are referring to the large brown swirl in the centre,,, that is going to finish up at the top when hanging on the wall and wont really be seen unless you are 7foot tall.
That part of it looked real sh!tty when I first started shaping it and that's why I planned it to be on the top and out of sight.
It wasn't till I got it part way sanded, and I wiped it over with methylated spirits that the grain showed up as a lovely chocolate brown swirl.
Too late now to reverse it, but it would have looked like curly brown hair right between the horns.

That's a lesson to self, next piece I do, I'll swab it down with metho before I make up my mind which way to proceed.

Thanks to one and all for the encouragement.

[Title_II]

It looks great as is. Or, as was, since you dropped it I only brought it up since you have to give it a second go.

[Turkle]

Looks awesome Die