Antler dirk build-along

[Nighthawk]

I was asked by a couple different people if I had kept a photo log of the building process of my last couple of knives. Well, no, I hadn't. It didn't occur to me to do so. SO- with that in mind, I started on my next project today. I'm making a stag horn dirk.

Here's what the antler looked like originally. I used a rasp and a medium grit sanding head drill bit to clean the antler surface. (I thought about doing this build-along right after I had cut the handle piece. I apologize for not having a picture of the complete antler.)



There was a tine at the base of the crown, near the button. I cut it off and carved the base of the tine to a shape that feels really comfortable as part of the grip.



This is the initial cleanup of the handle:



This is what I plan to use for the pommel. You may notice that it's the same as the pommel on my sgian dubh. I did this so that the dirk would match it.



The seat for the button (Notice the super glue in the background! ):



The button seated, but not epoxied:



More to come!

[Bugbear]

Be careful with that super glue and epoxy, Nighthawk; there's all kinds of horrible possibilities...

[artificer]

Thanks for taking the time to shoot pix 'in progress'. I never have the patience to do it myself, but I do so enjoy to follow along with them.

[Nighthawk]

Thanks for taking the time to shoot pix 'in progress'. I never have the patience to do it myself, but I do so enjoy to follow along with them.

I'll be carving it down to smooth ivory. I need to find a carving knife that's hard and sharp enough to do the job. I have a field trip with my daughters school today, and I will be back at it this afternoon.

[Iainkp]

it's lookin pretty good! it makes me miss my sgian dubh handle that I started but misplaced when I got my kilt and set it aside -however that was made from wood (somewhere in my closet mixed with my tools I beleive)

Keep us posted!


Iain

[Nighthawk]

Next installment! This is the button and butt cap polished and sanded.





I used a rasp to do the rough teardown of the antler to the ivory look, a grinder to smooth is, sand paper to fine tune it, and a rotary polisher on my drill to do the polishing. I wanted to make it look as much like ivory as I could, but this antler was a shed and there were too many impurities to sand out. It's got a lot of character, though, so I really think it's working out well.





By the way, the lovely model is my niece Hannah. She was over to visit me yesterday for Memorial Day, and saw me taking pics. Needless to say, the little ham wanted to get involved.

SO- blades came today. I got a modern dirk blade and an Arkansas toothpick blade. The toothpick blade is very similar to a primitive dirk blade. I plan on making a primitive out of it. That's one of my many summer projects! More on that later.

[artificer]

Looks great so far. I like the antler with some 'roughness' to it. Especially if you're going for an ancient look. And then after a few years of a hand polishing it and buffing in skin oils it will have really mellowed out.

Makes me wish I needed a dirk

[Nighthawk]

Looks great so far. I like the antler with some 'roughness' to it. Especially if you're going for an ancient look. And then after a few years of a hand polishing it and buffing in skin oils it will have really mellowed out.

Makes me wish I needed a dirk

I do a lot of camping and fishing and reenactment stuff. Otherwise I wouldn't need one, either. It will look great hanging from my Renaissance belt!

[BoldHighlander]

Can't wait to see the finished project!

[Bugbear]

That will be good for when you get attacked by Colorado stinging butterflies, Hawk.