Could Have Been a Sgian

**O'Neille** · 28th December 07, 11:54 PM

After jmercier and Panache showed off their sgian like knife building skills I thought I'd share this. In reality it could be a sgian.

An Army friend of mine gave me a complete six point deer mount and an eight point shed for future sgian projects. He expressed interest in getting a knife and I offered him a choice of some blades I had lying around. He chose this one even though he could have gotten a sgian (it's deer season). I decided on moose scales, plain brass pins, no liners, and a decent finished size. He's got some big hands so I used a good size chunk of moose antler.

The finished knife is 6.25", blade is 3.5"

Here are the basic components. One old unknown blade with a great edge. Some bullwinkle and a couple of pins.

Rough shaped with pins holding it all together. I taped the heck out of the blade because it was already very sharp. I have a piece of kevlar tape I put under the masking tape.

Checking the fit to my hand. The new owner has even bigger mits.

A finished useable knife.

Finally, I made a heat molded plastic sheath that can accomodate a 2 inch belt. The finger hole holds it perfectly.

The final finish is just 1000 grit then some grey rouge on a wheel. A spot of hand rubbed beeswax and buff.

**James MacMillan** · 29th December 07, 02:07 AM

Kresent, do you epoxy and pin, or just pin alone?

How do you hold everything together when you pound the pins?

**O'Neille** · 29th December 07, 02:27 AM

I fit one scale, clamp and drill through the tang. Insert the pins on one side. Fit the other scale and clamp. Remove pins one at a time, drill and replace pins through both scales. With a friction fit I rough shape the handle. When I'm close all around I remove the scales and pin them together to true them up on the sharp end.

I then epoxy the scales and pins in place. When the epoxy is set I do the final shape and poish. Depending on the material, I may use pins, cutler's pins (threaded), or just epoxy. As this is a knife that will see some heavy work I elected to pin it. On large full tang knives I always use cutler's pins.

I have an aircraft rivet gun. I just filed these pins down and finished them with the the gun and a die. This isn't a required step. On smooth finished knives you smooth and polish everything.

**James MacMillan** · 29th December 07, 02:34 AM

Thanks for the details.

As always, you do great work. Hope to drop in some day.

**Jerry** · 29th December 07, 02:57 AM

That blade looks like what they called a finger knife. I believe they were made by Gerber. They were great small knives for skinning. Yours looks much better than the original though.