I love the feeling of excitement that I get each time I start a new build. This time is no different. I'll be building two knives simultaneously this time around for a couple of great clients. The Bobcat will be very similar to the one I just completed, but the Pride will be something quite different to previous versions. Splitting my time between my home renovation projects and shop time is quite difficult, but I hope to keep my personal projects and my knife builds moving forward at a steady pace. Here are a few pics of the knives as they start the metamorphosis from raw materials into a finished piece of edged art.
Here is the pile of raw materials that will soon become two really awesome knives. The Bobcat will be almost identical to the previous build with CPM154 blade, stabilized maple burl scales and Damasteel bolsters. I'll individualize it with some unique filework so that it won't be exactly the same as the other knives of this design.
The Pride will have a Mike Norris Damascus blade, silver shred carbon fiber scales, and titanium bolsters, spacer and pocket clip. It will also have hidden screw construction, exposed pivot screws with Timascus pivot collars and Timascus inserts in the spacer. Should be a fun build with some "firsts" for me.
All of the major parts have been rough cut and are waiting patiently for their turn at the grinder.
The liners have been profiled and spot drilled for the hardware.
The Pride will also get caged ceramic bearings. Here we are at the mill counterboring bearing pockets into the blade to accept the pivot bearings.
The blades have been surface ground to final width and all of the holes and pockets have been drilled while the steel is still annealed.
The final pick of the day is of the two blades wrapped and ready for heat treatment. Since these are two different steels, I'm going to have to heat treat these guys independently, which I hope to accomplish sometime during the coming week.
Well, that's it for this week's post. I hope you'll follow along with me on this build as this is going to be a fun ride.
- Brandant Robinson