Sunday, November 18, 2007

Hand Finishing.

I made a Japanese sen about a year ago. The sen is basically a drawknife for metal thats used to create a flat surface. After trying to use it a few times with minimal results, I put it on a shelf and didnt think much about it for a while. Recently, I did a little research on the sen and decided to give it another try.

This time I was determined to learn the ways of this tool. After some practice I started to get the hang of it and man do they work! It only takes a few strokes to start shaving metal. I was amazed at how surfaces I thought were flat were really quite uneven. The sen is scraped across the surface and takes away all the high spots giving you a much flatter surface than you can get from filing alone. This is a big deal when you are trying put flat handle scales on your knife!

This is just another example of an old world tool that is still finding use with a select few smiths out there. If you are making knives by hand, it is something you should consider.

Larry Sharp

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Two new larger knives.

Back with more! Here are two larger knives both made from leaf spring.

The recurve knife has a 7" blade with another one of my cotton cord over camo handles. This time in a tiger stripe pattern.

The Persian style knife has a 6.5" blade with a series of turks knotts for the handle. This was incredibly time consuming and took almost as long to do it as it did to make the knife!

I have another knife a little smaller than these about half finished so I need to find some motivation to make some sheaths!

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcome.

Larry Sharp

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

New coil spring knife.

This is the latest knife Ive made from my supply of coil spring. The blade is 3.5" long and is 7" overall.
The handle is army digital camo with a cotton cord wrap on top.
I still have not decided what type of sheath to make for it, but Im leaning towards a neck sheath.
Comments and questions are always welcome.
Larry Sharp