Long time no post! (Many run on sentences ahead.) A handful of you have checked in to make sure we are OK over here. We are!! For as weird as 2020 was, it was actually a very stabilizing time for us here at NORA.
For those that don’t know, Steve transitioned back to full-time work for a large company and so we are no longer full-time knife makers over here. (Hence the lack of inventory lately,...More
I'm finding that posting pics of work onto Instagram is so much easier than onto Blogger that I can't help but pu more up there than here.My Instagram page is: https://www.instagram.com/stewartjlightknives/As the end of 2017 is drawing near, I did the usual use of 'Best Nine' to see what mine have been over the last year.Here are the top nine liked posts out of the 115 I made in 2017:So top row numbers 1 and 2 are an Enzo necker I handled in Carbon Fibre over thin orange G10 liners. I don't have a picture of it done and it's still waiting to be sheathed (and sold!)Top row number 3 is where I'm setting up to make two sheaths - one for a TRC and one for an Entrek (while watching a Lego film):The middle row 1 and bottom row 1 are a rehandling an EKA in Yew plus a new sheath:Middle row 2 is a rehandlng of a Habalis Bushtool in Australian Goldfield Burr. That picture shows how much the wood colour changed after soaking in Danish Oil, with the unoiled part to the left.Middle row number 3 is a James Wood blade that I had part handled some time ago, not liked the handle and then rediscovered. I started a bit of reshaping but it go put to the side aain so there is nothing more to show....yet.Bottom row 2 is a blade I won from Barmond . It's an RWL-34 blade and I have plans for the handling but can't find the bits. As it's one I'll be keeping for my own use I want to use some o my stash of handle materials that I don't want to sell - I have some Merino horn that I would like to try use but I can only find one side at the moment! If not that then I have various bits of Desert Ironwood or Yellow Mallee Burl that are candidates.Bottom row 3 is a picture of the wooden surfboard I made at the start of the year. I have detailed some more pictures on it's own page here: http://www.stewartjlight-knives.com/2017/12/wooden-surfboard-76-magic-carpet.html
A pair of Fieldcrafters for sale.The blade on each is O1 steel, 5.8mm thick with a sabre grind.The brown knife is handled in Richlite, which is a synthetic material used for guitar building. It is similar to tufnol and micarta. The handle pins are carbon fibre.The leather sheath has been dyed black with vinegaroon and treated with Ko Cho Line. It has a dangler belt loop.The green knife is handled in Canvas Micarta with carbon fibre pins. The leather sheath has been dyed striped brown with vinegaroon and treated with Ko Cho Line. It has a dangler belt loop.Cost is £110 delivered in the UK for each. International delivery is possible for an extra £10.Handle choice Green Micarta Handle £110.00 GBP Brown Richlite Handle £110.00 GBP Handle choice Green Micarta Handle £110.00 GBP Brown Richlite Handle £110.00 GBP
The Dartmoor Survival knife (CSK185) was made by Wilkinson Sword before it stopped operating. At that time, a number of the blanks were sold off, and this is one of those that has been rehandled by me with Coyote Brown G10 scales, green micarta spacer and carbon fibre pins. I've put a second blank in some of the pictures to show the tang underneath - on that blank it still needs bevels and I've removed the saw blade. The original design had a removable handle that hid a survival tube underneath. My version isn't removable and is focused on having a comfortable handle first. I felt that the handle was too narrow and straight to be practical for a knife this size so added an extra spacer to allow it to be made wider. Initially that spacer was the same brown G10 but after two attempts, I had run out of spare G10. By going for the Green Micarta, it makes a feature of that addition and makes it stand out rather than trying to pretend the joint isn't there. Internally, I was concerned that the amount of free space would cause the handle to shift so I cut and shaped a piece of tufnol to fit. No one will (hopefully) ever see it but I know it's there.
A Killrathi fixed blade I have handled and sheathed. The blade is 80CrV2 3.2mm thick carbon steel, hardened and tempered to 58-60 hrc The handle is layered black and green G10, textured in a random pattern. This gives good grip but is not rough in the hand. The sheath is leather dyed brown in a striped effect to mirror the scale pattern on the blade and it is finished with Ko Cho Line leather grease. This is offered at £70 posted in the UK
This is the second Staniforths Lofty Wiseman Survival Tool I have rehandled. The first was in Yew and can be seen here: Yew Handled Lofty Wiseman Survival ToolI have a feeling these are all under the Trueways Survival umbrella, with the design tweaked by Chris Caine but may be incorrect!For the handle of this one I reshaped the profile to do away with the poor quality guard and used Red Mallee which has a subtle chatoyance / ripple in the grain. Under the Mallee is micarta made from black denim and the pins used are black carbon fibre.The blade of this one had quite deep grind lines from manufacture so rather than trying for a perfect finish that would have involved removing a lot of steel, a random forced patina was applied using vinegar.
A relatively simple build but quite needed!Rough Rider's Ulu model, "The Great Alaskan Ulu comes ith out a sheath but has a super thin slicey blade so if it's going on camp wth you it needs some sort of cover.The blade shape is similar to an axe so need a similar sort of cover that has a flap over the end due to the blade widening to the edge.
Here we have two customised Martindales that I rehandled in Bog Oak. One is the Paratrooper model and the other is the Golok. Green self-made micarta liners have been utilised between the Bog Oak and tang.Leather sheaths compliment the look with a fold over flap held by a chicago screw.Its quite satisfying to put a new handle on Martindales - the originals have lots of gaps as the desire of manufacture is obviously to keep costs low rather than put out a quality product. Hopefully now they're a tool that is now desirable!
So I was doing some sorting in the workshop earlier and came across this knife I started back in 2011. (An update, long overdue) The blade is by James Wood and for the handle I had fit a Mammoth Ivory bolster with a Desert Ironwood spacer and Curly Birch handle.I had put it to the sidebecause on that initial shaping I felt that the handle would end up too small and 'wrong'. When I came across it today I figured that I may as well have a play with the handle and see if it would work as is.The results are below, and I think quite promising. I'm going to persist with it - it still need the handle thinning a bit at the front as well as general smoothing.I think I'm also going to play with some dye on the Birch. It's something I've been meaning t try and this would be a good candidate as the wood isn't as Curly as some Curly Birch.