hand crafted knives from Cornwall

[Guest varmartin]

Here is the latest creation from Doug in Cornwall.

 

01 tool steel blade hand formed , heat treated and tempered to a Rockwell hardness of about 59. blade length is 5.5 inches/14cm.

Back of the blade has hand cut `sharks tooth` file work for thumb grip. and is sharpened on Japanese water stone to a scary sharp edge.

 

The scales are made from a very rare piece of Thuya Burl wood, (The Greeks named it thuya, meaning sacrifice).It is from the Western Foothills of the Atlas Mountains in North Africa.

which is riveted and epoxy bonded to the full tang blade with blue and red spacers. The rivets have been covered with `cats eyes` inserts.

The pommel is finished in a birds beak with brass insert for a thong with Cape water Buffalo horn bead. scale length is 12.5cm/5inch.

 

The sheath is of a Scandinavian design with brass swivel ring and fire steel . Tipped with white Buffalo horn handle. The sheath can be hung from a belt in a high or low configuration and is finished with a leg thong with the same Buffalo horn.

 

Overall length of sheath is 11.5 inch to top of belt fixing and 15.5 inch to top of swivel fixing.

 

The price for this work with took over 2 weeks to complete was £200 but now sold to a chap from the US of A £10 P+P insured.

 

 

 

[Guest varmartin]

Some other work by Doug.

Hi all , here are a few hand made knives from the man who makes the bolt holsters.

 

Laburnam scales, brass finger guard, carbon toolsteel blade rough forged and japanese whetstoned honed to scary sharp edge with hand made leather sheath.

 

this one is not for sale as it is made for a young man serving his country abroad.

 

this is my personal knife, Hand made from 5mm 01 tool steel heat treated with buffalo horn scales and home made liners with brass threaded rivets and made to my design.

Again shaving sharp.

 

Knives like these can be made to your design if you wish very well priced depending on time and materials.

[Guest varmartin]

Words by Sako75---

 

 

 

After reading the posts by Varmartin and seeing the pictures, I contacted Varmartin and we had a long chat about the style of knife I wanted, and he told me about his friend Doug who makes the knives so I ordered the small “Bushcraft Knife” there and then.

 

I decided to go for the dark Cocobolo wooden scales and have the blade back file cut. For the sheath I liked the look of the swivel design that Varmartin had done previously, so decided to have that style. I thought those little extra’s like black Buffalo horn rings for the knife handle tie and the sheath leg tie would just give it that personal touch The whole process only took a couple of weeks and Varmartin very kindly emailed me pictures of the bare 02 tool steel blade, the raw Cocobolo kiln dried wood and the leather that would be used for the sheath, Varmartin kept me fully informed of the knife making process as it went along.

 

Well this Friday the knife arrived and to say I was gob smacked would be the understatement of 2007!!

 

The quality and fit and finish of wood to steel if faultless, the blue handle liner just giving it that extra touch of class! The blade back is file cut for one inch and beautifully executed and allows you to apply extra pressure if needed when cutting into a carcase. The blade is highly polished and very sharp and I mean very sharp!

 

The length of the cutting edge is exactly 3.5 inches and the thickness of the spine stays at one eighth of an inch right up to where it tapers to the point, the inherent strength of this knife is obvious and it should stand up to a lifetime’s hard work. The Cocobolo scales have again been hand polished and fitted to the blade with brass and steel cutlers rivets, it’s the little things like this that make a hand made knife truly personal.

 

Now leatherwork is something I have had experience of myself, the sheath is fully hand stitched and wet block moulded to the knife, the quality of this workmanship is truly excellent, the colour of the leather is chestnut brown and it has been evenly applied throughout, and hand polished to a high lustre even the ties have been died to match the sheath; then we come to the buffalo horn rings, Doug being the craftsman that he is, has hand file the horn rings lengthways.

 

I have other knives made by such people as Harry Boden and Rory Conner and Doug is right there at the top of the class when it comes to craftsmanship, I am absolutely delighted with this knife, and when Varmartin said he would tell Dough that I was pleased, I had to tell him pleased is not the word I would use! The quality and workmanship that have gone into making this knife is outstanding!

 

So if you fancy a custom totally handmade knife you need look no further than Varmartin and Doug!!

 

I wanted this knife mostly for fox work, so the wooden scales do not pose a hygiene problem for me, I shall be taking this knife with me on my Coyote hunt later this year.

 

Price is depending on what you require, but I can say at twice the price I would have been very happy man!!

 

I have taken the liberty of using Varmartin’ S pictures as he takes a far better picture than me!

 

Bob

[JR__]

0-1 tool steel? I thought I was the only user in this country of that type, was a bit hard to find, but good steel to work with. Shapes well under machining, and after hardening behaves well under the grindstone.Briliant steel to work with.

 

JR

[Guest varmartin]

JR,

01 tool steel sure is nice to work with, not personally done a lot but have got quite involved with design etc of these knives.

A couple of the blades are crafted from antique spring steel of some sort that holds an edge like you would not believe!

the finish of the blade is also very nice, having that `aged look`

 

 

Martin