Since Rob is okay with sharing the details of the knives he commissioned, I thought I would start a new thread.

As Rob shared, he commissioned five knives, four of which he will be giving to his daughters. I was asked choose a wood with the same first letter as their names. For his daughters I will be using Tamarind, Amboyna, Eucalyptus, and Bocote. I am wavering a little on the selection of Bocote. It's not quite as "fancy" as the other woods and I want each knife to be special. When I have time, I am going to do a little research and see if I can't find something a little nicer. Rob also wanted a knife and since he is paying the bill, his was made first! Below is Rob's knife.The scales are Redwood burl.



This morning I was up and working before it got light. I cut the appropriate lengths from a 36" long piece of precision ground O1 tool steel, profiled the blades, drilled the necessary holes, and counter bored the holes. The larger (3/8") diameter holes were drilled to remove weight from the butt end of the knives.

I had taken a photo of the pile of steel I ground off and drilled out, but once again, my photography skills are lacking. I can, however, tell you it was a helluva pile.



From here, I will grind the initial bevel, walk down the street to my friendly neighborhood blacksmith and have the blades heat treated.

If there is interest, I'll add additional pictures as I progress.

Lee

baumgartknives@gmail.com
http://baumgarthandmadeknives.blogspot.com/

I wouldn't give up on bocote, a good piece will certainly outshine that redwood IMO.

Some great fiddleback Bastogne would work.

Hell yes, post additional pics along the way!
Thanks, Lee.
Zeke

My knife arrived Saturday. I am very impressed. Compact, well balanced and beautifully finished. Just what I wanted. Not to heavy, not to thin, not to long.
Outstanding work.
Trust me guys, you will see this knife next in a picture of me smiling with a dead ibex this fall. Perfect birthday gift to myself!
Hmmmmmm. The girls don't know about the gifts. Maybe I will use them for a few years and gift them as wedding presents someday.

Ski+3

Progress Update...

Toni's knife has been heat treated, ground, and polished. This morning I started work on the handle. The material I selected for Toni's knife is Tamarind. This particular piece is spalted and has been stabilized.








Tomorrow, after the epoxy has cured, I will begin shaping the handle.

Lee
baumgartknives@gmail.com
http://baumgarthandmadeknives.blogspot.com/

And here's Toni's knife. This particular piece of Tamarind is pretty dark. It also has a little bit of everything going on...there is spalting, a couple of little knots, a bug hole or two, and a couple of voids I filled in. It is definitely unique. Once I have made the sheath and sharpened it, I'll move on to Erica's knife which will be handled with Eucalyptus.

Lee

Awesome!

Please help. Where is a Tamarind tree found?

Check in the mail Lee.

Ski+3

India.
I think I recall seeing a report where the nut of the tree was ground, oils extracted and was subsequently used for about everything you could imagine.
Zeke

BTW: beautiful knife

OK, I'll correct myself. The Tamarind tree is indigenous to the tropical climes of Africa and the "fruit" is like a brown pod.... which again is used for about everything.

According to the Wood Database, ZekeShikar is correct. It is indigenous to tropical Africa, but has also been widely planted in tropical regions around the world.

Spalting is any form of wood coloration caused by fungi. Spalting primarily occurs in dead trees. In the case of Tamarind, it usually shows as black or gray streaking.

Lee

Hello from across the Pond

Love Your work Lee, looks like great Hunters!
Can you update a bit about the steel you use?

By the way, in my younger days as a mariner I visited Vancouver WA a few times (as well as Portland OR).

Sailing the mighty Columbia river inland with big cargo ships was really something else

Arlid,

Thank you for your comment. I am currently using O1 tool steel.

Regarding the Columbia River...Getting across the bar (or bars) at the mouth can really be something too. I believe the number of vessels that have sank in the general area is around 2,000.

Lee

Lee.
The O1 steel see a lot of use here as well among knifesmiths.

I really like the design on your blades.
From a hunters point of wiew it must be a perfect blend of beauty and usefullness.

I use a couple of knives from Busse in INFI steel for field dressing, but find the blade profile a bit to pointed.
Your design seems to be a better one.

About the Bar Pilots on the Columbia River, those guys really know how to guide a big merchantman trough the breakers

And then we changed to River Pilots at Astoria.
I really loved sailing up the river, so different from the long over sea passages we usually had.

Sorry for stealing your thread, but memories start to roll

That's a great looking knife. I'd be proud to carry and use that.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
I wouldn't give up on bocote, a good piece will certainly outshine that redwood IMO.

Here is a link to a seller of some figured bocote. There are several pieces in here which would make superior knife blank material and lots of them so their relatively high prices work out to be pretty reasonable for the number of blanks you would get. I'm tempted to buy some, but know that I would almost certainly never use it, so am posting it in here.

bocote

DesertRam,

Thank you for your comment.

Gatogordo,

Thank you for the link to the wood supplier.


I'm on the home stretch with Rob's knives. From top to bottom: Eucalyptus, Bocote, and Amboyna




Thanks for looking,
Lee

baumgartknives@gmail.com
http://baumgarthandmadeknives.blogspot.com/

While Lee is making them, I am using them.
Thanks for sharing Lee. I used your knife on a fishing trip this weekend. Performance was just as expected. Sharp, balanced and light.
Exceptional workmanship.

Thanks,
Ski+3
aka Rob Braig