Finally, a knife for myself!

[Doc Mark]

After carrying a cheap Case knife with some very early engraving attempts, I decided to make a nicer personal one to show off to potential customers.

This is another relatively inexpensive (under $200) Lake Design made for him in China. They are very well made but lack a fine Damascus blade. This is the most gold work I have ever attempted and it was an eye opening experience! Setting this much gold and then removing the background was slow going but it came out pretty good. Learning how to shade soft gold was also fun after working in much harder steels.

I also replaced the rather plain Stag scales with mammoth tooth and that is a job I may not tackle again. What a pain in the butt! However, the results were worth it (I think).

Any critiques are welcome. I'm still learning.

P.S. I apologize for the cheap lanyard "toggles". For the life of me, I couldn't find any decent gold or gold plated ones that were large enough for the leather lanyard and still had some style. I had been able to get some in the past but the company that made them no longer makes the larger size! I have been to every bead store in my area and must have looked at at least 10,000 bead etc. on various websites. All to no avail. If anyone has any suggestions, please don't hesitate to mention them.

 

[dlilazteca]

Lucky you!

 

[scott99]

WOW! What a nice knife, when you show that one eyes will pop all over the place. It will certainly impress potential customers.

scott99

 

[Marrinan]

Doc, Just how are you going to use this as a personal carry. That beautiful gold work will never stand keys and change. HA HA You did a wonderful job on this knife. Congratulations. As for the beads, cast your own. I think you studied that in school didn't you. Carve your waxes and have a jeweler cast them for you. Fred

 

[glstrcowboy]

Very nice work, and good idea about a showpiece. It's something you always have with you. What did you use for magnification? In some earlier posts you had mentioned glasses mounted telescopes. Is that still working for you?

 

[Doc Mark]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. Fred, I carry in its custom fitted leather case when in my pocket. And yes, I did consider waxing my own toggles. I just didn't want the added expense of having someone else cast them for me. However, it will probably be the only way I will get the results that I want. Mike, I use an old Omano microscope. I don't use my surgical telescopes much for engraving, They are used for my cameo carving. At least until I get to some of the really fine details, then even the cameo goes under the microscope.

 

[JackJellies]

Wow. What a super show piece. Looks pretty super to me.

 

[thughes]

Doc,
Wow, that is beautiful. I bought a couple of those and put them away until I got better at engraving. After looking at yours, I might should just save myself the embarrassment and just sell them now. . Really cool.

Todd

 

[monk]

beautiful work, doc. did you pull this tooth from the mastodon ? must have required a come-along for the extraction !

 

[Tim Wells]

You just don't like gold do you? We should all do something nice for ourselves like that. Beautiful!

 

[Dave London]

Na Monk he , used a Clovis point spear and a flint chip.

 

[Chujybear]

All very nice. Love how energetic your designing is. Goes well w the rawness of that tooth

 

[graniteguy52]

Mark,
Really nice work! It should make a great "sales pitch" for you.
Gordon Alcorn

 

[Troy G]

beautiful knife Mark!

 

[Cmason16]

Source of knife

Mark,
Where did you get the knife from?

Chuck

 

[Marrinan]

I tried the show and tell piece when I looked for gun engraving work, Used both Bond Derringers and North American Arms min revolvers. Not nearly as nice as this work. No gold. People kept buying them. Tried to use them for display at gun shows. People kept buying them. You should enter this one in some knife and gun shows. Pro photo shoot and go for publication as the ultimate carry knife. I serious Mark. Get all the miles out of it you can before some collector talks you out of it with a check book. Fred

 

[Doc Mark]

Chuck, I originally bought it at Hanwei knives, but these seem to be discontinued. It was made by Rock Creek Knives for Ron Lake. You might be able to find one on Amazon.

 

[tundratrekers@mtaonline.n]

Mark,
was this wire? sheet? ??????

Looks great!
michael

 

[Doc Mark]

Michael, it was all wire. Some flat "ribbon wire" that I cut from a flattened Maple Leaf, but most was from drawn round wire of various gauges.

 

[tundratrekers@mtaonline.n]

Bet William Henry will be calling.

michael