Couple of Buck 501's with Tamworth nephrite jade

[southerly]

They are brilliant! Themore knives i see on here the more i want to try one! Can i ask where you got the blanks?

James, they are Buck 501 production folders, available from a wide range of shops and on-line (just watch out for fakes - the Oz sellers I have dealt with have all sold genuine product). They are very suitable for stone scales as the bolsters do not get in the way of the grinding wheels and the bolsters protect the stone well. Another popular knife for customising the scales is the Buck 110. Swiss Army Knives also look cool. Any knife will do, just take off the existing scales.

There are a few blanks you can buy from knife making supply places but I think a production knife that you remove the scales from are better. I brought a blank a few weeks ago supposed to be A1 from a known maker and it was crap, don't think I will ever build it.

Here is a link to a short tutorial I posted a while ago on creating a set of stone scales for a Swiss Army Knife.

http://aussiesapphire.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=2152.msg17539#msg17539

I have a lot of pictures for the Buck 501 and could post a tutorial for that if anyone is interested.

David

[pete]

Really nice work David 

[James]

I just read over your tutorial and I am definately going to give it a go! I for one would love to see a similar post for the buck, but dont stess if you dont have the time!

[southerly]

I just read over your tutorial and I am definately going to give it a go! I for one would love to see a similar post for the buck, but dont stess if you dont have the time!

Here is an excellent tutorial for a folder by US based professional customiser Michael Hoover (he also has a web site to drool over http://redrummdknives.blademakers.com/ ).

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/tutorials/art_in_stone/index.php

The Buck 501 is very similar but has different pins that need to be handled in a different way. I will post up a short tute for the 502 if I get a chnace over the weekend.

David

[Woodsy]

I'm going to give the swiss army knife a go. Got one on ebay for cheep so now just need to pick the stone.

Just finishing off my second faceted stone once done this will be my next project.

Much thanks for the tutorial and the idea.

I'll try to post images of both the knife and stones when done.


Thanks
Woodsy

[southerly]

I'm give the swiss army knife a go. Got one on ebay for cheep so now just need to pick the stone.

Just finishing off my second faceted stone once done this will be my next project.

Much thanks for the tutorial and the idea.

I'll try to post images of both the knife and stones when done.


Thanks
Woodsy

Good luck I look forward to seeing how you go. They are a great gift for the person who has everything.

David

[James]

Managed to do a Swiss Army knife! Thanks Southerly! Not sure I could have done it without your guidance!

[Woodsy]

Very nice!!

I have only just started my swiss army knife, hope to get it done before the club closes for the year.

[southerly]

Managed to do a Swiss Army knife! Thanks Southerly! Not sure I could have done it without your guidance!

Very nice James, I love the banding. great looking knife. Watch out, customising knives is addictive.

David

David

[James]

David, I wish you had of warned me of the addictiveness prior to me cutting this one. I have now ordered several more Victorinox knives, and I have also ordered a filleting knife and a bread knife blank to do up for my Mum for christmas. The blame lands squarely on your shoulders! I think Mick B has a lot to answer for as well as he is the one that did that fantastic filleter and provided the website for the company that does the blanks. Shame on you both! 

[MakkyBrown]

Hi Southerly,

Not sure if you'll read this, if you don't reply I'll pm you. I'm about to do a buck 501(when it arrives). I'm wondering why you and others are doming the scales and making the knifves a lot wider than standard? Is it just personal preference as I'm thinking of doing the 501 scales the same as my 110 scales as I was very happy with the fit and finished result.

Cheers
Andrew

[Aussie Sapphire]

A few of the glassworkers from the Jamfactory in South Australia are customers for some of our diamond abrasive products so I follow their facebook page.

They are a kind of co-op of artists with great diversity of crafts so was interested to see this post pop up in my feed about a knifemaker - the damascus steel is lovely but could not help thinking that this type of work would look so fantastic with stone handles:




Cheers Leah

[madworld]

I was lucky enough to get a few hours in the workshop with one of australias better Damascus knifesmiths, I forged a couple of blades on my own after a how to session while he was doing other things in the shed. have the perfect slab of mookaite that I was going to use for the handle, however life gets in the way and they are (hopefully) still sitting on his bench waiting for me to get down there and finish them off. I agree that stone handles although useless in an everyday knife would look amazing on a Damascus blade.

[southerly]

Hi Southerly,

Not sure if you'll read this, if you don't reply I'll pm you. I'm about to do a buck 501(when it arrives). I'm wondering why you and others are doming the scales and making the knifves a lot wider than standard? Is it just personal preference as I'm thinking of doing the 501 scales the same as my 110 scales as I was very happy with the fit and finished result.

Cheers
Andrew

Hi Andrew,
I have done it both ways, some are flush some are not, flush does look neater, personal preference really. It also depends on the knife, the bolsters on the buck 501 are very thin so grind more than 1-2 mm and you will put a hole in the bolster. Other knives like the CRCK I did have solid bolsters so they can be ground flush quite easily.
David

[southerly]

The challenge with stone scales on a working knife is that they add more weight than other handle options. This can make the knife handle heavy, so it depends on where you like the balance point on the knife.