Alright, a few months back a fellow board member posted up some rather nice Damascus bowie blades in the classifieds section. I mentioned to him I would like one and he was nice enough to give me one free of charge since I was currently serving oversea's in Korea.

Well now im back home and I have this very pretty and nice blade just sitting here on my desk and it desperately needs a handle and the touch of a knife craftsman (proper terminology?).

So My current buddy who is also a knife maker is in Korea and there for a year. And he gave me some looking points to find something I like. Well, I was browsing Ebay and came across some really nice looking Buffalo horn knife scales. And I tried to place the picture in my head what it would look like and I think it would be down right awesome! The only thing that is killing me is he wants more for the shipping than he is asking for the actual knife scale. So I think I will be passing on this auction, but I will also keep an eye out for the right scales.

Mainly what im looking for here is a suggestion on someone I can get to finish my knife for me once I get the scales I want to make the handle.

Here is a picture of my blade when it was given to me. My blade is #5...

Keep it classic looking & use ebony with german sliver guard & pins or ivory micarta with a brass guard & pins.

buffalo horn scales tend to warp? if I remember correctly. if I'm wrong someone please correct me. ebony coffin handles look great on bowie as D Humbarger said. and the german silver or nickel silver looks great too

Lots of knife making supply houses have tons of stuff available, check out what they have to offer. Also track of the wolf has quite a bit of stuff, pins, scales etc.

Go to Blade Forum.com, go to the exchange forum, look under supplies. Anything and everthing you could possibly want.

Definitely going to keep it classic looking, this is going to be a showpiece anayways. I dont see myself doing anything serious with this blade from a working man point of view.

Im completely open to suggestions here and input from someone with more experience than me in the subject.

1 question...qill stand size knife scale work well for a handle for this thing? Seems like most scales im seeing are about 4-5" long, about 1-2" wide and then 3/8" thick.

Almost any natural handle material can warp. Horn might be a little more prone to warpage because it is really just densly matted hair but I have used a lot of buffalo horn and as long as you pin it down well and over a layer of epoxy to keep moisture from between the tang and the scale it does just fine.

If you want a glossy black handle but don't want buffalo horn you could use black paper or linen Micarta.

It would look something like this with brass guard and pins or nickel silver or stainless steel bolsters, guard and pins.

I would guess that man was Frank Martinez.

He lives near Ferguson Knives in CAL I think.
I have a couple of their damascus fighting knives.

Rich

African blackwood is a good replacement for buff horn. Its very very very dense polishes easy and doesnt shrink and grow like horn can.

try the center one. I think you can get a rifle stock to match

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Carter:
Almost any natural handle material can warp. Horn might be a little more prone to warpage because it is really just densly matted hair but I have used a lot of buffalo horn and as long as you pin it down well and over a layer of epoxy to keep moisture from between the tang and the scale it does just fine.

If you want a glossy black handle but don't want buffalo horn you could use black paper or linen Micarta.

Not to hijack the thread but this knife of yours I saw on your website is gorgeous, Mike.

Thanks.

Regarding the blades at the top of the thread, I don't know anything about them but they look a lot like the Remington Damascus blades that Smoky Mountain Knifeworks was selling. If they are, don't waste your money. A customer sent me one to finish for him and it was really poor Damascus. I didn't expect much from a $30 Damascus blade but this thing was terrible.

Just to add to what Mike said those blades are If i remember correctly only 5/32" thick. Too thin for a bowie which needs to be 1/4" to 3/8" thick.