Knife #4, a test

[maialetto]

I wanted to test if I'm able to work with the scales attached on the knife. Working with flat laps I'm quite limited, but I wanted to try.
I bought a "Rough rider" knife and I used two small pieces of Noreena jasper.
Now, the quality of the knife itself is pretty bad. I can get the small victorinox for ~ the same price. Well, very different knives, but the victorinox is clearly built to last a lifetime, or more. The rough rider fell apart when taking the scales off... :) The blades at least look nice, though.
I also thought that the jasper pieces for the scales would have been nice since there's a yellow band I placed close to the bolsters. Noreena it's very easy to work with, but it does not take the polish I like.
I gave bolsters a brushed finish for two good reasons: I like that finish, I scratched one bolster and I would have had to sand it a lot to get it shiny... ;P
All in all working with the scales attached on the knife is not that easy, but doable. The problem is that, with my setup, I can only work on small knives, when scales are glued on the knife. I'm happy with the results, form the "practical" point of view. Not perfect, but there's no appreciable gap between scale and bolster and scale and the metal parts of the handle. So if I'll find a knife of this shape I like, I'm positive I can work on it. Anyway I'll stick with the victorinox for a while.

Now, the pics:



Next knife, a better knife and a better material for scales too. :)

[spirit bear beads]

Very Nice!  I like it. 

[hulagrub]

Cool!

[DonniesTreasures]

Looks good to me!

[maialetto]

Better pic:

[Michael S Hoover - Redrummd]

You are really limited with having to use flat laps so I think your results are very good.   

[maialetto]

Yup, flat laps are a serious limit... that's also why my first attempts for knife scales were on knives where you can/have to glue the scale AFTER all the cutting and polishing. No perfect fit needed, and somehow easier to do.
Anyway it's because of your tutorial that my first experiment is, all in all, successful. I made treasure of your advices written there. :) I do appreciate your time in writing that tutorial and make it public.

Anyway, I need more practice to improve my scales. Michael, didn't you say that after the 1000th knife things get easier? 

[Rockoteer]

I hae like 5 different knives and all I am trying to finish with scales attached.  I think I might try one by grinding to fit.

TOG

[MrsWTownsend]

That is great!  It must have been hard to do~

[Taogem]

Nice job Marco...

Neat little knife