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Location: South Central Oklahoma
I suffered a hand injury that kept me from major woodworking projects for a good while, and I still have a pucker factor when I use the table saw or the router, so I avoid those when I can. I broke the left wrist in two places in a fall and the corrective surgery caused nerve damage resulting in loss of range of motion and weakness in the grip. It was a year before I could close the hand and form a fist. I have about 80 to 85% of the range of motion back. I won't get it all because of the metal plate, it physically stops the full movement.
Strength is about 45 to 50% at this point, but can continue to increase.
I have been back at work in the shop, mostly sticking to leather work and making knives using purchased blanks.
This year I have made a few that turned out pretty well. I sent a couple to my old ortho surgeon in VA. The first one was his long time request:
He wanted a knife with cocobolo scales. I gave him the website for the knife supply warehouse in Davis Oklahoma and he chose this one, The Shawnee.
I put it together with brass bolsters.
He had originally gone on and on about cocobolo and Damascus. But the knife he chose wasn't available in Damascus. I think he didn't want to choose a Damascus pattern due to the cost... but I surprised him and chose one anyway. I built that one with bone scales and he knew nothing about it. It was a complete surprise when he opened that USPS box.
The Cocobolo was to be a daily use working knife so I made him a sheath as well.
He had done so much for me over his thirty years as my surgeon and as my friend. I wanted to do something to show my gratitude. He loved the knives. I am still learning, and they were far from perfect, but he loved them.
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
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Now, I had made a bunch of knives in the last few years, but don't claim to be great at it. I am always learning and I always see the ways to improve when I am finished with each. But, the wife LOVED the bone handled knife I made the doc and wanted one for Christmas... so... (I couldn't decide so she was getting two.)
I made her a very small working knife, with a sheath with a pocket clip on the back. She doesn't wear a belt so that one would clip on the jeans/shorts/sweats.
The knife has mammoth ivory scales and mosaic pins. A lot of work, hand fitting went into that one.
 But, she is the wife....
The pancake sheath will offer good protection for the ivory scales.
The second knife was ox bone. I loved the beautiful pattern on the bone, but had never worked it before. I was disappointed that the pattern started to go when I shaped the the scales and worked my way up thru the grits to 800. But, you learn as you go. I won't work that any more. It's still striking, but not as striking as it would have been if the color had stayed consistent.
The contrast might be considered a bonus by some. I would have preferred the color to remain.
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
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Location: South Central Oklahoma
Boredom... the curse of retirement. I decided I wanted to make another knife for myself and I had purchased two of the shawnee pattern blanks and rough brass bolsters.
I planned to use Walnut for my scales. but after laying out the trial... nope.
I looked at Lacewood, burled Oak, knotty pine, and even cut out curly cherry.
While I thought about it, I polished the front edge of the Bolsters to 800 grit, then epoxied and pinned them in place and started to shape and buff them.
I remembered I had cut down a tree we planted when we first moved to our farm in VA, the woodpeckers and bugs killed it. When I was chopping the silver maple up to burn, I noted it was spalted. I had run it thru the band saw mill and stacked it to dry. Spalted Maple. Perfect.
Worked on the scales and the bolster for a couple days, taking them to 1000 grit. The bolster was polished thru three levels of rouge to rid it of scratches. I had added a strip of leftover bone between the bolsters and scales for accent. Trying to make the knife a bit more special and to see if I could. It turned out better than I had hoped with a few errors. Three coats of amber fly rod varnish and two coats of bees wax and buff...
I'm currently working on the sheath.... I carved oakleaves and acorns on the front, and then because I was bored, I carved the tuck and roll pattern on the back. No one is likely to see it but me, but I needed the practice anyway. My maker's mark got highlighted this way as well. The sheath still needs to be antiqued, and that will tone down the colors a bit and highlight the tooling and add depth. We have a long way to go.
But, if it doesn't turn out I'll toss it and start over. Retired, nothing but time.
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
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Beautiful work!
"the most important safety feature on any tool is the one between your ears." - Ken Vick
A wish for you all: May you keep buying green bananas.
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Wow! Really nice knives. Sorry to hear of the accident (if you mentioned it before I missed it or forgot I had seen it). Hope your recovery speeds up and allows you back to the tools.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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(12-24-2022, 06:34 AM)fredhargis Wrote: Wow! Really nice knives. Sorry to hear of the accident (if you mentioned it before I missed it or forgot I had seen it). Hope your recovery speeds up and allows you back to the tools.
I tripped and fell backwards while unloading a trailer of Railroad ties to use to build a Range on the farm. I tried to break my fall, and broke my wrist.
 The range was delayed a year, as were the three knives I was making at the time.
 I finally recovered enough to finish the knives, Christmas presents for LAST year. I started on the range last spring and eventually finished it. I don't do anything half way, and the Doc said the wrist break wasn't half way either. The nerve damage was called: Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. I couldn't MOVE my fingers and even touching them caused pain to shoot up my hand and into my elbow. It was like electrical shock. Got past it.
I can use the table saw, and all the other tools, but I am really cautious in their use and prefer to use hand tools when I can. Planes, hand saws and the like.
 Of course, I preferred hand tools before the accident.
The three knives abandoned on the bench for a year....
The completed range
We set a berm wall of Railroad ties using the Kubota, and spiked each layer with Rebar spikes. I was only able to do about two layers at a time then done for the day. No rush, I am retired. Once Miss T and I got the wall built, we backfilled the U shaped wall with dirt for the impact area. I have about 95 yards of range in a shaded area. Summers in OK can hit 110 degrees. The trees also act as a windbreak, since the wind comes whippin down the plains.
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
Posts: 11,705
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Location: South Central Oklahoma
Back in the shop for a quick session. Antiqued the sheath to bring out the details. I'll leave it for the antiquing to dry and then put a coat of finish over it to seal it and move on to the next steps. Once we are near the end several additional coats of finish will be applied, followed by several coats of wax. If need be, it can be re-antiqued to get just the right look before THOSE final steps are taken.
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
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Very impressive work! The Damascus blade is really nice looking.Please keep us informed of future knives. Again very impressive work.
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Glad to see you're on the mend. And the knives are very impressive; well done. Your post reminded me that I wanted to try making a couple of nice kitchen knives from Damascus steel, or Hock, etc. My wife uses some German stainless steel knives which I have to sharpen every couple of weeks. Time to move up to something better.
Who do you recommend for steel blades?
Merry Christmas, all.
John
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(12-25-2022, 10:03 AM)jteneyck Wrote: Glad to see you're on the mend. And the knives are very impressive; well done. Your post reminded me that I wanted to try making a couple of nice kitchen knives from Damascus steel, or Hock, etc. My wife uses some German stainless steel knives which I have to sharpen every couple of weeks. Time to move up to something better.
Who do you recommend for steel blades?
Merry Christmas, all.
John
check out these folks for all your needs, they never let me down and the shipping is FAST.
www.knifemaking.com
Jantz knives
Davis Oklahoma
Now, I did make my wife a Damascus kitchen knife using a kit from Woodcraft, it's her favorite still, five years later.
The build along should be here on Woodnet somewhere.
I think this was one of my first.
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
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