Working on a 2-fer now. Another "cutlery" project since I did not make or shape the steel for these... just fabricating handles and sheathing. Easy breezy.
These are taxidermy scalpels. Knife of choice for my taxidermist friend to fully and quickly dismantle Bear and Elk in the shop or field. He requested orange so that it doesn't get lost in his work.
I picked up the blanks from my vendor and chose orange/black G10 material for the scales which will outlive us all... extremely tuff stuff.
He only needs one but I'm gonna make the other for myself to see what all the hoopla is about with this little dagger.
These are the same knives as the one pictured on page 14 of this thread but I lost the one in that shot before I completed it! I've turned this place inside-out twice looking for that damn thing but never found it. Last seen when I took that pic on page 14.... so this is the replacement (plus one for me ).

Ok.... here's how this sheath turned out. It goes out the door today. I made this knife for a friend a long while back (way earlier in this thread somewhere).
Skinner Sheath 1 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

Skinner Sheath 2 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

Skinner Sheath 3 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

very nice picture presentation! it adds a lot of zip to the already quality knife!

Top notch work Chris!! That turned out incredible, great looking sheath also. That's one lucky friend to get such a sweet gift made by you. They will love it!!

Thanks!
I gave that knife to my firewood provider guy a year or two ago. It had a sheath but my leather skills were not near what they are now... so I had him bring it back and upgraded his sheath. He's a good tester and wore it every day for the last couple years or so... I was surprised that the knife still looks like brand new.

I have finished the pair of taxidermy scalpels and am now creating sheaths for them. I'll post pics when the sheaths are completed.
This is a press that I made for the sheaths which is essential for wet-forming leather to the shape of the knife. A total of 10 clamps on this one.
Leather Press 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

Chris, do you just soak the leather in plain water or do you add chemicals to the water?

Just plain ol water for a few minutes before working it over the shape with my fingers and then clamping it down.

Holy cow, that is an intricate clamp setup you have going on there Chris! Bet it took lots of patience to just get that clamped and setting up like that. Looks like you have it standing on the T handles of the clamps? Looks like it works great!!

Clamping it is easy.
Making both parts of the die press to the correct shape (of the knife) is the challenge of wet-forming. Overall not too difficult but takes good measuring, cutting and a lot of sanding of the wood pieces. It can be re-used if I make more of these particular knives.

Here's how it turned out and a better look at the press. The orange/black material that I used for shaping is leftover G-10 handle material. It is adhered to the male end of the press. Usually wood is used for that but the G-10 is easy to shape and extremely durable... and a good use of scraps!


.... and this is the flip-side of the leather. It fits the knife perfect! Just need to make the rest of the sheath now.

Ok... here are the results of the pair of taxidermy scalpels.

Taxidermy scalpel pair 2 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

Taxidermy scalpel pair 1 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

This one goes to my taxidermist and this is the sheath I made for it.
Taxidermy scalpel and sheath 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

Taxidermy sheath back 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

Chris I swear if I had your talent........ Well I'd be better off than I am now anyway.

Nothing less than professional and that is some really great looking product. I hope you are rewarded well for your efforts. Woody.

Thanks Woody! I don''t think it's all that difficult.... just requires patience, attention to detail, and a lot of trial & error. Lots of "Texas two-step" if ya know what I mean.
I encourage anyone to try it and I'm always glad to help. Many have helped me and I still have a very long way to go with both knives and sheaths. It's a really fun road!
You will definitely be the benefactor of something from my bench in the future Woody. I owe this madness to you because of the machete!
It needs to be something special though and I won't be able to create that until I get a 2X72 to work with for the benefit of shaping steel the way I want to.

Can anyone identify the Colorado mineral I used for the background?

Very nice work Chris, those turned out great!! Really cool how you got the color mix on the handle. Did you get that look just by shaping it down into different layers of the G10 material? Excellent work, looks really cool!

Really love the Colorado petrified wood that they are displayed on also.

very professional looking display and knives!

russ, thanks!
Denise, ya that G10 material is like thinly layered pressed woven fiber in a hard resin (that's the best I can describe it). Will take a buff and a nice polish readily.
It acts like wood grain when I sand it and I used jeweler's files to do the mild texturing on Kevin's knife. It comes in a lot of different colors and color combinations, inexpensive, and exceptionally durable. They make a carbon fiber version of it too. The only drawback is that you have to wear a respirator and glasses when working with it, highly toxic when sanding.
Sort of like fiberglass.

Good call on the Petrified wood and this one's a chunker! Coincidentally I found a very nice one of about the same size TODAY here in Grand County! It's a beauty and I'll eventually have to get it cleaned up and post pics in the Fossil section perhaps. Different looking than this one.
Petrified Wood 2 1600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

So you have to work that material dry? Very cool stuff that I can think of many uses for.

Fantastic piece of petrified wood Chris!!

I did all of my sanding dry. I took it down to about #120 grit then applied white polishing compound with the Dremel and a buffing wheel. Easy but respirator required.
Here's a link to my supplier for G10.... they have two different category links here for it, one is "textured" which looks pretty cool too. Jantz G10

I just found that taxidermy scalpel blank that I lost a couple months ago. Thanks Denise! Because of you I was looking at the G10 in my Jantz catalog and the knife blank was tucked in the middle.
Looks like I'll be making another one. I have some nice stabilized California Buckeye Burl I'll try for the scales on this one.

I have to clarify this. I took it down to about #120 on the 'belt sander'. I took it down to #400 grit by hand before Dremel buff.

That was actually a great place to put it till you use it. Wouldn't have thought of that!

Good things come in small packages!

Almost done with it.... I'm getting faster.

Swizz, time flys when your having fun!

You got that right russ!
I'm finished with the knife and sheath pictured above. I will do a photo session with it soon.
Meanwhile.... I'm making my own scales out of this rough block of Walnut that someone sent me. It's difficult to work but starting to reveal some nice looking grain so I think it will make some purty scales for future knives. Pictured with yet another taxidermy scalpel that I'm going to build as a small kitchen knife for myself. I think I'm gonna use the one above as a small camp knife.

Sliced diagonally.... quarter-sawn Walnut!
I don't have a band saw so very rough cut for now with the circular saw but these will make good workable scales.
A good pair of bookend Walnut scales runs $30-$40 and I bet I get at least 5 sets out of these. It'll still be a lot of hours on the belt sander before they are ready. A good amount of work but worth it I think.

Taking orders to keep you busy of the winter?

Looks like I'm gonna have a plowing gig this winter.
Hopefully I'll have enough time to crank out a few knives. I still don't have a 2X72 so I'm limited to blank builds.
Have something in mind Mike?

I thought your knives were cool before I knew you; now that I know you, they're even cooler! As you saw, I'm just running around with an off the shelf, mass produced knife. Would be awesome to have a custom swizzmaster hanging from my hip! Something like that Bowie you restored would be sweet. I want something heavy like that which can actually be used in the field. Would finding something similar to what you started with there be a good way to go?

I can look at Bowie blanks and run some options by you this winter. I think we can get you into some good steel.

Wait! The.swizzmaster knives are for sale?!

No, not yet.... but I saw what Crusty was wearing on his hip at the mine... an official "Bear Grylls" knife.
I'm doing this out of pity.

Knowing how you types (super talented awesome friends) work, as my wife does the same thing, I'm sure you'd give me some insanely lowball price for your time, effort, and talent, which of course isn't going to work for me. :)

If you've got time to come up with something, I'd be highly honored to have a swizzmaster "blank" to get me by until you start turning out swizzmaster originals!

You want a BIG bowie? I can go 9-1/2" blade if you want. It would be "now THAT'S a knife" size.
If you want smaller let me know.

Go big or stay home, right

Seems like something bigger like that would be a good knife to actually use in the field. Once you get set up to go full custom I can get something smaller :)

Not sure what you're thinking for a handle; seems like leather is a better option for a "utility" blade, but if you are thinking wood, here's an interesting idea... think the handle would be big/thick enough you could inset one of my coins in it?

Ok, big it is!
I like the coin idea but your coin is a bit big for that. A better option... when I get an etching machine.... would be to have a stencil made of the coin (or whatever you want) and I can etch it into the steel. That's a year or two down the road for me.

I just told my wife that and she's cracking up!

Nice "Crocodile Dundee" reference!

Think something like this would be something you could work in to the handle of a knife?

Cool coin! That would be super difficult. There isn't much on a knife handle that is flat. Can I make you a charm bracelet or something?
I had my Dad send back the knife I made for him a while back so that I could craft a sheath for it. I should have this wrapped up in the next day or so. I'm also working on a couple of more knives and sheaths right now. Crusty, we'll talk bowie soon.
20141226_075146 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

20141226_075200 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

This is the face piece that I made for it and will be sewing on later. I just finished stamping, dying, and setting the snap.
20141226_114455 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

This is the back of the snap. I recessed the back of the snap so that it cannot scratch the blade when sliding in and out of the sheath.
20141226_114511 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

No hurry, whenever you get inspired to take it on! Cool sheath on your pop's blade!

Thanks! It's more of a "knife holster" though. 6 layers thick... I'll post different views later when it's done. The odd shape of the Nessmuk tip renders it to an odd shaped sheath for a snug fit. Fun and challenging sheath project.

I just spent a whole day making this piece....
It's a finger guard for one of the next knives I'll be finishing up soon. Made from a chunk of #416 Stainless.
20141228_165324 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

work of art!

Well... thank you. It'll look nicer once it's installed to the blade and I can finish the sides and curved portion. Those portions remain in the rough state until installed and are then shaped and finished along with the handle scales (so all surfaces are flush). I still have a lot of work to go. That shiny face has to be perfect prior to install because it is flush with the blade once fitted. Any finish work on that face of the guard after the install would damage the blade finish. Hope that makes sense.
Meanwhile, I'm working on another wet-form style sheath for a different knife that I just finished (not pictured). I just pulled this from my jig after two days of forming.
20141230_080600 by ghostcreekmine, on Flickr

Thanks for sharing the details on what it takes to put these together. For us layfolk that have no idea all the steps it takes to make these works of art it is interesting.