Bone Handle Knife

[WH1]

Finished this evening. Forged 1084 carbon steel. the knife is 15 inches overall length. The blade is 9 13/16" long x 1/4" thick x 1 5/16" wide, 7" false edge, 3/16" thick file worked iron guard, 5/8" iron bolster, and a 5" handle from a deer leg bone with an 1/8" brass pin. Trying to decide if I should boil the handle in black tea to stain it or just leave it in the white?
V/R
Todd

[Old Salt]

If it where mine I would leave it in the white and handle it to give it a natural patina.
just my personal preference.

Old Salt

[Bull Shannon]

I agree with the salty one, leave it to age naturally.

[alyce-james]

Sir; my vote is with "Old Salt". White and the handle will age nicely. Have a great day.  "O", nice knife, well done. AJ.

[James Rogers]

This is the most appealing knife I've seen with that style of handle in 25 years. The one of old was by Jim Hash who was also top shelf.

[Greg Pennell]

I really like this one, and agree with the others about just letting the  bone age on its own.  Beautiful work!

Greg

[msellers]

I must admit, that I really like this knife and handle. It looks like it will actually be a usable fit in ones hand.
Mike

[MuskratMike]

Any chance it is for sale?

[Hungry Horse]

Years ago I hafted an antique carving knife blade that had a broken grip, with a deer leg bone. It turned out very similar to yours, although mine has a brass ferrule instead of iron. It has aged beautifully, and is my favorite carving knife. The bone is slick when it gets grease on it from a big roasted turkey, or shoulder roast, and is a little small in diameter for an optimum grip. Very nice work.

 Hungry Horse

[WH1]

Any chance it is for sale?

Mike
I think this one is already sold but I can make another one very similar.  This evening I forged a 7 1/2" blade similar profile.  it can be finished the same way.

[Elnathan]

I made a bracer to protect my arm when shooting a bow out of a bleached dogbone, and ended up melting beeswax onto it to finish it. the rubbed-in wax gave the very white horn a more mellow color without any added dye.

[Huntschool]

Many years ago I made a push dagger out of plain stock (dont know exactly what the steel was) and used the same leg bone.  The butt end fits into your palm just perfect.  I made a long tail,  filed down a brass plate for a bolster and silver soldered it in place on the blade and then drilled a hole in the bone and epoxied it in place.  40 some years later it is still there and works.  The patina is from hand use. Yea I should have pinned it but I was really young and stupid.......  go figure.

I'll try and get  pic up;







Yea, I know......  The point is not pointy enough.......

[P.W.Berkuta]

Nice knife all around -- if you have a spare bone then I would stain it to see how it would look then decide if you want to stain this one. Yes the handle looks good as is but it just might look even better stained - you never going to know if you don't do some experimenting  .

[WH1]

Bruce I like the look of that push dagger very clean.

I have decided to leave the handle unstained and let it age naturally through time and use.  However I am working on another knife, same profile but a 7 1/2" blade with a 5" false edge and may tea stain that handle.  I have some scraps I can test with before committing.  Thank you all for your input, one of the reasons I really like this forum and its membership.
V/R
Todd

[Elnathan]

If you do the tea stain, check it often at short intervals. I tried it once and ended up, very quickly, with something that looked like it came out of the La Brea Tar Pits. I ended up sanding it away (and the color was ON the bone, not in it, despite having added vinegar as a mordant) and went with the bees wax finish I mentioned earlier.

[Huntschool]

WH1:

Thanks a bunch.....  I dont do knives any more, leaving it to you guys that can really do it

I really like your knife......

[aaronc]

That has a great look to it to my eye,..really appealing. I like it enough as is that I would hesitate to make any changes to color if it were mine. Very nice work. -Aaron

[JohnnyFM]

Well done sir.
This knife you have created represents what I had wanted when I ordered a custom from a well-known reputable pro some years ago. It was everything I specified except the bone handle resembled the size and shape of a baby brontosaurus tibia. That ugly absurd handle made that beautiful blade look like a movie prop from “10,000 BC”.  Raquel Welch she was not. Not exactly fitting for my image of a colonial  rifleman, But if I ever want to portray Fred Flintstone it would be perfect.
And that dinosaur bone handle made the blade awkward and clumsy.  The shame of it is that knife will never cut meat or be used in any way that a knife should. It languishes, buried in a drawer somewhere.

That experience swore me off ordering custom “primitive “ knives.  Now I only buy knives that I can pick up and hold before I lay my hard earned money down. IMO, the handle shape and feel is just as important as the blade

Once again your beauty succeeds where mine fails. Kudos.