Jade knife - Finished at last.. final photos

[hulagrub]

Wonderful work David!

[Cowboy]

Hmmm . . . I guess the thing we can take away from your "fail" drilling holes that came out off center is that this is one of those times when you need to drill a hole from both sides and let it meet in the center.

One other potential method of fixing the problem is to ream the holes out bigger and use a larger pin, aligning the holes in the process.

If you want to try that route, I'll even contribute a decorative pin you can use.  I recently started experimenting with making my own composite pins for knife handles.  Here's an example. I have a leftover piece of this same pin.  If you want to try enlarging the holes and getting them centered in the process,  shoot me a message with your mailing address, and I'll send you this pin. It's 1/4 inch diameter, and about 2.5 inches long, so it should be plenty long enough to make two pins for your jade knife.

[Cowboy]

My next challenge is to finish the hollowing out of the cross and to cut a very small jadeite cross with the narrowest dimension only 3mm wide to fit, I have already cut a few small thin jadeite slabs in anticipation of a breakage or error or two. My current preponderance is how to get a good template of the cross onto the slab. Siena suggested using a mould which is a great idea, just not sure what to use. Any suggestions how to do it?

David

I would print a copy of the photograph after you finish carving the recess. Then use a photocopier to enlarge or reduce the photograph until the dimensions are right, then use an exacto knife to cut out the cross from the photograph. Now you have a template to mark your slab.

[lonelygems]

Woow...i just see these posting, what the great project David. All jade dagger a very chalenging work, i'm not sure i have my patience to do that, it looks almost done and you did very well. Looking forward to see the finish dagger...

[southerly]

Thanks Michael I started it before the symposium so it is out of the comp. I do have other things planned. Also too many errors in it for my liking, another learning piece.

Cowboy thanks for the kind offer, I think 1/4 will be too fat this time round, lovely mosaic pin btw. I will try photocopying the cross, using sticky tape on the flour has also been suggested.

[dickb]

Hi:

Nice job on the dagger so far. Way to save the piece that you may consider.

Drill four oversize counter bores that are in perfect symmetry on the center axis and cover the mis-aligned pin. Then epoxy white or jade disks into the counter bores to cover the shortened pins that don't extend into the counter bores.  Grind and polish the handle and no one but you will know that the pin hole were not aligned properly. and it will still be an all jade knife.

Just a suggestion and good luck.

Dickb

[Cowboy]

Hi:

Nice job on the dagger so far. Way to save the piece that you may consider.

Drill four oversize counter bores that are in perfect symmetry on the center axis and cover the mis-aligned pin. Then epoxy white or jade disks into the counter bores to cover the shortened pins that don't extend into the counter bores.  Grind and polish the handle and no one but you will know that the pin hole were not aligned properly. and it will still be an all jade knife.

Just a suggestion and good luck.

Dickb

Ooh, that's a great idea, Dick!

[southerly]

Excellent idea dickb, thank you. I love the brain power and expertise in these forums.

Thanks,
David

[dickb]

David:

After waking up from a long nights sleep. I realized that I didn't do a very good job typing my idea. Should read, white, black or green jade. It would be some doing trying to correct it, but way less that starting over with a new handle. Good luck and keep that beautiful work coming.
Remember a professional makes mistakes just like an amateur, but can correct the mistake to make it look like it was intended to be that way from the start.

Dickb

[southerly]

Well I have finally finished. I really struggled with the inlay and that is the weakest part, I ended up cutting the cross then enlarging the hole in the handle to take it, the cross was not 100% square and I sometimes used the wrong side to determine what material needed removing on the handle so I ended up with some over cuts. I struggled with the small scale as the width of the cross is only 2-3mm and my smallest ball bur is 1mm and smallest wheel 5mm so it was a struggle to work at that scale, I also has to use my loupe continuously while carving. I also did not take enough care with getting the air bubbles out of the glue when gluing the cross in, which I discovered when hand polishing as the diamond powder filed all the tiny air bubbles and looked awful, I had to go back to the belts and polish the handle on that (at least I learned my lesson). I enlarged the holes for the pins to hold the blade on on the back as they were out of alignment, I stuffed one of the holes up and had to make an oval plug for it, it looks OK and the fit is nice and snug so the glue does not show. There was lots and lots of micro sanding adjustments to get rid of scratches etc. The last step before assembly was to sharpen the blade, it wont cut much other then fruit but I would not like to be stabbed with it.

Once I had polished everything up it was time to put it all together, I took great care and used minimal epoxy so it came out really well and there are no glue lines visible to the eye.





The back side..








I see from my first post this project took just on 6 months. I am currently making a wooden presentation box to store it in.

David

[itsandbits1]

I admire your dedication and persistance The finished peice is something to be proud of and has given you a lot of experience to use on the next project :).

[dickb]

Well done, nice save. 

Dickb

[mehoose]

    
 rockin it southerly! Love the wave down the middle of the blade. Admire your persistence, paid off big time.

[kjsspot]

Beautiful work!  And the patterns in the jade translucency makes it awesome!

[lopacki]

David,
I have only been a member for a short while and for sure have not seen everything on this forum. This said I think this is the finest piece of lapidary work I have seen posted. Many most likely do not understand all of the complex cutting that is involved in a piece like this, it is truly a lapidary piece of art.

Thanks for posting it ............. All my best .............. Danny