| Project by terryR | posted 374 days ago | 1502 views | 5 times favorited | 27 comments |  |
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Hi everyone, I finally made time to finish a few more of my knives…so many LJ’s liked them last time…I guess I’m not breaking the project rules too badly. These guys appear half wood and half stone, but, the handles take 3-4 times longer to make than the blades, so I hope you’ll think of them as woodworking related as well…
Anyhow, on to the photos…
#1 is a pretty piece of Flint Ridge Flint from Ohio, hafted to Maple Burl with a live edge. A very simple shape for the handle to let the burl shine!
#2 is similar to above, but features Indian Jasper for the blade.
#3 will go into my ‘keeper case’ since the blade is knapped from Tallahatta Quartzite (lower Alabama)...a very chalky, difficult stone to work. In fact, this represents the best point I’ve made so far from the material in SEVEN+ years of trying! Handle is shaped from Che-Chen.
#4 is a striking knife which was difficult to photograph. The blade is from a man-made material sold as Opalized Glass, and has a subtle beauty which can hide depending on background color, and the even prettier handle is made of stabilized Box Elder Burl…tinted, of course.
#5 is made from un-obtanium all the way! The blade is man-made Fulgurite from the Space Shuttle Project! Huh? Fulgurite forms naturally when lightning strikes sand…cooking the material into glass…well, this blade started out as sand that some NASA contractor used to form molds for the Space Shuttle tiles. The tile material was so hot it cooked the sand into beautiful and RARE scrap! The handle for this guy is shaped from stabilized Black Palm…kinda matches the black spots in the blade, I thought.
Oh yeah, last time I posted knives, someone wanted to see the joinery used between the blade and handle. Here’s a shot of the flint ridge knife in progress to give an idea of what the others look like as well…
I use the drill press to rough out this mortise, then fine tune it with small chisels. 5 minute epoxy holds each blade fast to the handles, and deer rawhide is wrapped over the joint to hide ugliness…I mean, for a rustic look. :-)
As usual, all blades were hand-knapped by me. I use modern copper tools, but ancient techniques in chipping the stone. All handles are finished simply with wax.
Comments and ideas are welcomed…
-- tr ...see one, do one, teach one...
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27 comments so far
IndianJoe
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386 posts in 415 days
#1 posted 373 days ago
Nice vary good work I play with this from time to time so do my kids
-- Nimkee** Joe
Martyroc
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2708 posts in 471 days
#2 posted 373 days ago
Great work, these all came out very cool.
-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.
Bertha
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13111 posts in 858 days
#3 posted 373 days ago
Absolutely gorgeous. If youre selling, please pm.
-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog
Brit
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4183 posts in 1008 days
#4 posted 373 days ago
Wow Terry, they look great. The last one is my favourite.
-- Andy -- Old Chinese proverb say: If you think something can't be done, don't interrupt man who is doing it.
BTimmons
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1076 posts in 650 days
#5 posted 373 days ago
Awesome little knives, interesting stories behind them too!
-- Brian in Arlington, TX - Laziness is the foundation of efficiency.
bowtie
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617 posts in 511 days
#6 posted 373 days ago
beautiful knives, very unique. have you ever used deer antler to knapp with?
-- bowtie,.....jus passin thru.... cccedar.com
SisQMark
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353 posts in 765 days
#7 posted 373 days ago
Very nice job, love these. You make it look easy.
Mark~
-- Don't waste today, it is yesterdays tomorrow!~SisQMark
terryR
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1103 posts in 474 days
#8 posted 373 days ago
Thanks for the kind comments everyone!
bowtie, yes, I’ve knapped with deer antler…and moose! But, organic billets are more difficult to use, 5-10 times the price, and are affected by the weather. humid days render them useless. Deer works OK for small rocks, but moose is really needed to work larger chunks…and a good piece of moose can run $75!
Nimkee Joe…nice to meet you…glad to hear your kids chip! I try to show the younger generation how cool knapping is when I can…they don’t wanna hear how important it is. :-) keep up the faith!!!
-- tr ...see one, do one, teach one...
mtnwild
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3474 posts in 1692 days
#9 posted 373 days ago
Those are awesome! Love the live edge idea. Very cool, great to see…................
-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.
LittlePaw
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1500 posts in 1243 days
#10 posted 373 days ago
Perfect choices of the wood to compliment the blades, Terry. You did a great job!
-- Paul - The sweetest sound in my shop, next to Mozart, is what a hand plane makes slicing a ribbon.
deon
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1161 posts in 1191 days
#11 posted 373 days ago
Great work!
-- Dreaming patterns
sprevratil
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565 posts in 811 days
#12 posted 373 days ago
Any good resources on learning how to knap or chip?
-- -Sam - West Virginia -
489tad
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#13 posted 373 days ago
Fantastic work. I like them all. The maple burl on #1 is beautiful.
-- Dan I.G.N.
millzit
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111 posts in 468 days
#14 posted 373 days ago
nice work, as usual my friend…...but that goat fence is suffering with all that knappin…....<g>
-- .......now cut that out!
terryR
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1103 posts in 474 days
#15 posted 373 days ago
Sam, an excellent book to read is DC Waldorf’s ‘The Art of Flintknapping’. It can explain some of the basic principles and get you started. But, honestly, knapping is so difficult to grasp you really need an experienced teacher to flatten the learning curve.
If you are really interested in trying it out, I recommend the book, a handful of tools, and some good quality rock. Then, you’ll have to attend a knap-in in your area to watch an ol timer…ask questions…sit and spend time chipping. Lots of time chipping…
Here’s a good site for tools and sometimes rock: http://flintknappingtools.com/
High quality chert is important when you are learning, best and cheapest at knap-ins. Don’t try to use rock you find lying around on the ground…the natural freeze-thaw cycle makes it useless for knapping!
Send me a PM if you want more info…I’ve also got some old tools I made I’d be happy to just give ya…
-- tr ...see one, do one, teach one...
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