Curly Bubinga Marking knife

After reading many helpful topics and blogs on making a marking knife, I decided it was time to make one to call my own. I used an old 1/2” spade bit for the knife. I ground the tip to a 60 degree angle, with around a 45 degree bevel. I then cleaned it up using the scary sharp method, then polished it up with rouge and a buffing wheel. The curly bubinga handle was roughed out on the bandsaw then cleaned up using an oscillating spindle sander. Since I don’t yet own a lathe, I mounted the hande on my drillpress and went to work sanding it to its final shape. I applied 2 coats of amber shellac followed by a few coats of laquer. It is great finally being able to get precision marks on boards, instead of fat pencil marks.

Now to look on craigslist for a small lathe. The wife shouldn’t get TOO mad about that.

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL