Hunting knives and related projects

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  • Von Gruff
    Chieftain
    • Apr 2012
    • 1078

    Hunting knives and related projects

    I was having a chat (PM) with Dan about a modified chamber that takes the data from my Grendel-Max chamber and alters it slightly to be AR friendly and after we discussed some possible specifics I mentioned that I had been making a few more knives lately and sent him the links to the threads on other forums. He sugested that you guys might like to have a look and maybe start a conversation on the subject so I will edit and post up a few of the threads over the next short while as we all use knives for our hunting, dressing and breaking down the animals we hunt.
    Last edited by Von Gruff; 01-16-2017, 05:44 AM.
    http://www.vongruffknives.com/

    sigpic Von Gruff



    Grendel-Max

    Exodus 20:1-17
    Acts 4:10-12
  • Von Gruff
    Chieftain
    • Apr 2012
    • 1078

    #2
    I have knives to do just about all chores that I need them for but have never had a dedicated skinning knife. I was put off the skinning design when I worked on the first high country station after leaving school in 1967, as the knives provided for keeping the farm houses in meat and the dogs fed were of the skinning design and I found them to have way too much belly for much of the work that needed doing, so I bought a straight bladed knife with much less belly and have never used a skinning knife again.
    Recently I was talking to the farrier and I asked him if he had any worn our farriers rasps and we got onto talking knives as he is also a beef worker and the upshot was that he dropped off a broken rasp a few days later.
    In the meantime I had drawn up what I thought a skinning knife should be and after a couple of tries I came up with this

    Then transferred it to a piece of 3/8 thick hardwood wood that would be used to scribe the pattern onto the steel.
    When the rasp was dropped off I was pleased to see that the longer end of it was just long enough for my pattern so I got the fire cranked up and annealed it before I did anything else.

    http://www.vongruffknives.com/

    sigpic Von Gruff



    Grendel-Max

    Exodus 20:1-17
    Acts 4:10-12

    Comment

    • Von Gruff
      Chieftain
      • Apr 2012
      • 1078

      #3
      The rasp was 5mm thick which is way too thick for a knife so I started the grinding off of the teeth. The fine side was easy but the coarse side took quite a bit to get back to the depth of the teeth dimples. I wanted to just leave the suggestion of the rasps origin in the finished knife so eventually bought it back to 3mm thick.




      At this stage the fine side was almost clean so I scribed the pattern onto it and proceded to grind it to shape.
      After a while I had the shape nearly right


      So then proceeded to grind the rest of the thickness of the coarse side to get rid of almost all the remains of the teeth dimples. It has been ground flat and is now ready for the next stage so with just two hours into it I am quite pleased with how it has gone so far.
      http://www.vongruffknives.com/

      sigpic Von Gruff



      Grendel-Max

      Exodus 20:1-17
      Acts 4:10-12

      Comment

      • Von Gruff
        Chieftain
        • Apr 2012
        • 1078

        #4
        Spent an hour on it this morning and got the handle drilled for the rivets and the lightening holes. Got the start of the grind done just to mark in the rear lines.



        You can see the difference between my design and the typical skinning knife that is seen on most farms and many hunters carry. Way too much belly length and not ideal for opening up down the legs in the blade up position. A clumsy knife in hand for me.

        http://www.vongruffknives.com/

        sigpic Von Gruff



        Grendel-Max

        Exodus 20:1-17
        Acts 4:10-12

        Comment

        • Von Gruff
          Chieftain
          • Apr 2012
          • 1078

          #5
          Finished the bevel grind which leaves the edge at .025-.03 then polished it back with 220 grit paper. The top edge of the grind was almost at the spine so I blended it all together. Will stay at this stage until it gets cold enough for me to light the fire for the heattreating.
          Not sure what I am going to handle it with yet but suspect I may just do a plain hardwood one without the contrasting buttcap and bolster.

          http://www.vongruffknives.com/

          sigpic Von Gruff



          Grendel-Max

          Exodus 20:1-17
          Acts 4:10-12

          Comment

          • Von Gruff
            Chieftain
            • Apr 2012
            • 1078

            #6
            It looks like the handle material has been decided as I was talking (email) to Gert in South Africa . We correspond frequently and I mentioned this knife and he suggested Girafe bone which is a highly prized and very desirable handle material in many quarters. Seeing as it will have something exotic, I cant do it as a single slabbed handle which might detract from the visual, so will do my usual double curved bolsters , but for this one I will use Buffalo horn with hidden pins for them matched with brass pins for the giraffe bone inserts.
            http://www.vongruffknives.com/

            sigpic Von Gruff



            Grendel-Max

            Exodus 20:1-17
            Acts 4:10-12

            Comment

            • Von Gruff
              Chieftain
              • Apr 2012
              • 1078

              #7
              In case you think I have a sophisticated set-up for knife making Ijust have a 2 in belt grinder on the end of my bench grinder and had a couple of wings welded on the central plate which the blade can rest on to keep it at a constant angle to the belt. Primitive but it has worked well enough since I got it done in about 1978.
              http://www.vongruffknives.com/

              sigpic Von Gruff



              Grendel-Max

              Exodus 20:1-17
              Acts 4:10-12

              Comment

              • Von Gruff
                Chieftain
                • Apr 2012
                • 1078

                #8
                I had got the two rifle projects I was working on, up to a stage where I could spend a little more time on my knife so with the tip from a buff horn and two halves of a length of Giraffe bone, I headed up to the nshed


                First chore was to grind a flat on the bottom of the horn so it would sit flat on the bandsaw then grind two flats on the tip so I could hold it with a pair of vice grips s I could run it into the fine hacksaw blade (24tpi) on the bandsaw. Then it was a case of shaping it while the two sides were still together. The pin holes were drilled and the two halves could be seperated. I used a pair of pins that were fractionally smaller that what will be used for the final assembly so the holes stay nice and tight

                http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                sigpic Von Gruff



                Grendel-Max

                Exodus 20:1-17
                Acts 4:10-12

                Comment

                • Von Gruff
                  Chieftain
                  • Apr 2012
                  • 1078

                  #9
                  The next step was to grind a flat on one edge of the two halves of giraffe bone so I could run that through the bandsaw as well. For this I set a fence and with one stick to hold it against the fence and another to push it through they came out the other end with a flat)sih) side that can then be rubbed on a piece of sandpaper on the bandsaw bench to perfect the face .
                  http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                  sigpic Von Gruff



                  Grendel-Max

                  Exodus 20:1-17
                  Acts 4:10-12

                  Comment

                  • Von Gruff
                    Chieftain
                    • Apr 2012
                    • 1078

                    #10
                    A couple of hours after lunch saw the handle slabs shaped to fit the buff horn bolster curve. A generous margin arround the edges and even the bolster curve is not a perfect fit at this stage. They wont get the final fit untill after the blade is heat treated and the bolsters are fixed in place.


                    It was way too hot here but I lit the fire and got the blade heat treated. At the same time I annealed another file so I can make a decent boning knife. Then I ground the griaffe bone thinner from the marrow side so I could keep the aged drying fissures on the outside of the bone which I want to retain in the finished handle.
                    I will get the blade polished this afternoon and fix the bolsters in place. I have drilled right though the horn but I will have to set the brass pins 3/16 into one side and let them set before fixing that side to the blade with 3/16 of pin through the steel for the second bolster to fit to. That way when the epoxy has all set I can fill the rest of the hole with black epoxy so that when it is all shaped and polished the holes should just about dissapere. That will look better to me than seeing the ends of the brass showing through the black. I will be able to do the handle slabs with hidden pins without the through holes though as I will have the bolster edge to hold the bone against to drill the pin holes.
                    http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                    sigpic Von Gruff



                    Grendel-Max

                    Exodus 20:1-17
                    Acts 4:10-12

                    Comment

                    • Von Gruff
                      Chieftain
                      • Apr 2012
                      • 1078

                      #11
                      This is the blade after it came out of the fire



                      And with the scale off and (nearly) cleaned up with 240grit W&D



                      This is one side of the horn bolsters with the pins set 3/16 into the inside face.
                      http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                      sigpic Von Gruff



                      Grendel-Max

                      Exodus 20:1-17
                      Acts 4:10-12

                      Comment

                      • Von Gruff
                        Chieftain
                        • Apr 2012
                        • 1078

                        #12
                        First job today was to cut the pins on the one bolster to the correct lengths.

                        Then it was a case of mixing the epoxy and clamping it all together where it will sit till tomorrow when I can do the final fit of the giraffe bone handles.

                        Whie I had a little time to spare I made an aid to stoning in the primary angle. It is the same angle as my
                        bench stone stand but with it being able to be held in the vise it will be easier to form the edge. Sort of like a Lansky but easily made in any shed.



                        http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                        sigpic Von Gruff



                        Grendel-Max

                        Exodus 20:1-17
                        Acts 4:10-12

                        Comment

                        • Von Gruff
                          Chieftain
                          • Apr 2012
                          • 1078

                          #13
                          This morning the bolsters were set so I could finish fit the bone handles. With the hidden pins cut and a little bit of bone dust in the epoxy it was time to get them clamped together for the day.

                          http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                          sigpic Von Gruff



                          Grendel-Max

                          Exodus 20:1-17
                          Acts 4:10-12

                          Comment

                          • Von Gruff
                            Chieftain
                            • Apr 2012
                            • 1078

                            #14
                            A little bit of filing and sanding just to see what was inder the surface with a light rub with BLO just for effect
                            Still have the finishing to do but getting it to this stage is a visual confirmation that what I saw in my mind has translated into reality


                            Then it got a workout and came through with flying colours. I got a few more goats so I could make some sausage so there were four goats to dress and break down and I was most pleased with how it performed.



                            http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                            sigpic Von Gruff



                            Grendel-Max

                            Exodus 20:1-17
                            Acts 4:10-12

                            Comment

                            • Von Gruff
                              Chieftain
                              • Apr 2012
                              • 1078

                              #15
                              When I ground the bone to shape it took off all the surface character that I had thought might stay in the finished handle and it ended up quite white but over the next few days there were some beautiful mottled golds have come through in places with dark streaks that look to be the underlying edge of the surface cracks. I will try and get a decent pic of it in the sunlight soon.
                              We ground all the meat taken off the goats except for the back legs that were kept for roasting and I had another 10lb of sheep shoulder meat in the freezer that I thawed out to mix in with the sausage and salami mix. The backstraps were made into mince so there was 15 lb of that and then with the sheep meat there was just over 20 b for saudages and 15lb for a few more salami's

                              http://www.vongruffknives.com/

                              sigpic Von Gruff



                              Grendel-Max

                              Exodus 20:1-17
                              Acts 4:10-12

                              Comment

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