Well, the road to this final piece was long, with more than a few bumps along the way, but it was definitely worth the journey. Here are a few pics of the last few steps in the build a a few more pics of the finished knife.
Here is the knife with the scales and pins epoxied in place. Man, that's a lot of clamps!
Here is the handle after initial shaping. The beauty of the iron wood is already starting to show.
This is a view of the spine to show the contours of the handle.
And a bottom view to further show off the contours.
Here's the finished handle with the wood polished up and the steel hand rubbed to a 2000 grit finish.
My maker's mark is about to be electro-etched into the blade. The blade has already been sharpened, so it's nearly complete at this stage.
And here's a pic of the finished knife. I think it turned out really nice. It feels absolutely terrific in the hand and has a wicked sharp edge. Here are a few more pics of the finished piece.
I really love how beautiful this knife turned out. The desert ironwood pairs really well with the stainless furniture and the red liners give a subtle, yet distinct transition from the wood to the steel. The 600 grit finish on the blade and the 2000 grit on the bolsters offer just enough contrast to bump up the interest. All in all, I'm very pleased with how this one turned out.
Thanks for following along with me on this build. Next, I'm going to try again to get back to the Talon knife and finish it up. Wish me luck.
- Brandant Robinson