Custom Skinner

This is a custom order made to the customers preferences. The customer liked one of my previous knives but wanted some modifications such as a drop point, and a finger choil. That is one of the biggest benefits of a custom knife, you can have it made to exactly what you want.

Here you see my finalized drawing of what we are going to make. It is an 8" drop point skinner with a 4" blade, desert ironwood handles attached with copper mosaic pins. The blade will be hollow ground from 3/16" thick 416 layer Alabama Damascus.

Rough cut blank.

Now to clean up the edges and the profile

Now I scribe my center line where the edge will be.

I mark my grind lines

And drill the pin holes

Now to start grinding. I do all of my blade grinding freehand without the use of any guides or jigs. I will start with a coarse 60 grit belt and progress to 120 grit and 220 grit before heat treating.

Here the blade is rough ground and ready for heat treatment. You may notice that the pattern of the Damascus can no longer be seen. After heat treating and final grinding I will treat the blade in a ferric chloride acid bath which will etch the blade and make the pattern show again.

I chose a nice set of desert ironwood scales for the handle. I chose scales with the grain pattern running vertically as I think it will compliment the pattern in the Damascus which also run vertically. The wood looks a little dull now but you will be impressed with how it looks after sanding and polishing.

I had to skip a few pictures here but the blade has been heat treated, final ground and acid etched. The handles are attached with copper mosaic pins and shaped.

The handle after sanding and polishing.

I tried several designs before we agreed on a pattern for the sheath.

The finished knife and sheath.

Thanks Ryan for another great projsect.

 

 

Home RichardsGrizzJr Bwana Grizz Kodiak GrizzJr Necker Set Two Moons Cadillac Nessmuks Cheyenne KingKong KongII WhyCustom BobsHunter Handle Hessmuk BigOne Thor Set of 3 Butterscotch Trio KDS TribeGrizz Deguello Druid Walkyrie Custom Skinner Grey Wolf