Indians For Guns

my latest... MU(c)K (Mini Utility Knife)

length - 4.75"
blade length - 2"
thickness - 2mm
blade material - saw blade
handle - teak scales and padauk sandwich.

a few firsts for me...
1. hidden tang
2. hidden pins (there are 3 pins, two are hidden)
3. sandwich handle
4. the blade was edge quenced (it worked, the tang was as soft as in the annealed condition ) the sheath is 2.5mm thick veg tanned leather dyed in black and brown.
any guesses as to what the button in the sheath is made of and what i used to dye the leather?

Beautiful work there Marty!!

Simple, practical yet adorable blade profile. Since you mentioned it as a Hidden Tang and I dont see any pommel screwed at the bottom wonder how the tang is secured inside the handle. The rivets do their job but doesnt the blade still be held weakly due to absence of the pommel screw-on.

Looks like useful design and well made too. Nicely done marthandan!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

Great work! Simple yet functional.

ak27 wrote: Simple, practical yet adorable blade profile. Since you mentioned it as a Hidden Tang and I dont see any pommel screwed at the bottom wonder how the blade is secured inside the tang.

He mentioned 3 pins and a sandwich handle. This I guess means that the wood slabs are on both sides of the tang ( thus the term sandwich and tang = the part of the blade which goes through the handle) are fixed with the help of metal pins, the tang is fully covered on all sides and is thus hidden.

Let marthandan throw more light on your query.

Ok, the sandwich handle secured with the rivets is enough for holding the partial tang in place especially considering the dimensions of the knife.

A nicely illustrated DIY on Hidden Tang Knife construction...http://www.britishblades.com/forums/sho ... ep-by-Step

I guess you employed the same procedure...Please shed some light on the handle and tang design

Rajat wrote: He mentioned 3 pins and a sandwich handle. This I guess means that the wood slabs are on both sides of the tang ( thus the term sandwich and tang = the part of the blade which goes through the handle) are fixed with the help of metal pins, the tang is fully covered on all sides and is thus hidden.

You are right Rajat ji, got it myself with a careful look at the pics of the handle in the 1 minute time difference between our posts.

I guess you hit the post button first!

Still wonder how well the tang will hold on if the blade were to be pulled out of the handle. An awkward action but not completely irrational

Yeah, let Mr. Marty throw some light on the handle and tang design...

ak27 wrote: You are right Rajat ji, got it myself with a careful look at the pics of the handle in the 1 minute time difference between our posts.

I guess you hit the post button first!

Does not make a difference AK ji as to who hit the post button first as both of us reached the same conclusion at the same time!

Lets call it a draw

The rest we will wait to hear from marthandan.

Marthandan, my man. You are an inspiration !!!!. Lovely lovely work.. What is PAduk wood, locally available timber ? Got a very lovely grain.

P.S: Not sure if you have recorded the making process. I wanted to see how the pins were put in place..

P.S 02: One dodo query, Why do you have to temper the blade, I would assume the saw blade's i.e tool steel is already heat treated and you are doing stock removal and not any forging work ?

P.S: Gents, don't call him Marty, Sounds very gay for a knife lover...

Regards
Moin.

nice knife.
Though it is very small , it is so easy to carry & hind it.
But i thik it is very useful.

Are you carry it ? ?

the picture is a length wise cross section of the knife.
grey - blade
brown - teak scale
maroon - padauk sandwich
white - pins
(dont mind the black borders). hope this clears how the hidden pins were placed.
rajat...you got it right. the link posted by ak27 shows the process. i did the same except for one difference which i have explained below.
ak27....yes the construction is very similar to the tutorial posted on BB, but with one important difference. the pins go through both the the wood and the blade. one properly placed pin is all that is necessary to prevent the blade from coming loose. this is because if there is no gap between the handle and the blade, only possible stress that the pin will experience is shear stress. even this happens only if you bury your entire blade in some hard material like wood and then yank it. it is more likely that you will fail to remove the blade before the pin fails.
moreover, such a small blade will generally be used for slicing and cutting...not chopping. there is absolutely nothing to worry as far as the strength of the pins.

personally...i prefer just pins to hold everything together. no epoxy...no sticky mess and no cleaning up of the blade/bolster junction.

moin...padauk is a good timber that is deep orange when freshly cut which later ages into a dark orange or dark maroon. it is easily available. it generally is very plain and does not have any figure. i prefer to anneal them for 2 reasons. the temper will almost definitely get ruined when you work on it, especially at the tip and if you use machine tools. its far easier on the tools (lesser wear and tear) in the annealed state.

what no guesses for the button or the dye...come on...give it a shot!!!

thats a beauty !!

marthandan wrote:just pins to hold everything together. no epoxy...no sticky mess and no cleaning up of the blade/bolster junction.

From it's color and texture, the button appears to be carved out of bone. I guess you have coated the veg tanned leather with liquid shoe polish.

Nice job there.


Best-
Vikram

Marthandan...

You are an artist.....



TC