The Ultimate Irish Hunting Knife

Fozzydog3

bradnailer wrote: »

Chadwicks Building providers have standard fire bricks used for the back of fire places.

thanks a lot where is it exactly? their website isnt great

Grizzly 45

Fozzy,
Try any builders providers.They are becoming less common,with fireplace inserts tho.Failing that you can also make a makeshift furnace out of half a Chimmney liner as well.

Fozzydog3

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Fozzy,
Try any builders providers.They are becoming less common,with fireplace inserts tho.Failing that you can also make a makeshift furnace out of half a Chimmney liner as well.

or how about a stainless steel beer keg ?
if this is too off topic people just tell me , bearing in mind its so i can make knives and possibly rip off tourists

Grizzly 45

try www.instructables.com there are acouple of projects there on building DIY furnaces.

Fozzydog3

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

try www.instructables.com there are acouple of projects there on building DIY furnaces.

thanks a lot some good stuff in there

bradnailer

Fozzydog3 wrote: »

thanks a lot where is it exactly? their website isnt great

Thomas street 01 4542200
Sandyford 01 2954601
Walkinstown 01 4600166

The bricks are still readily available

If you looking to heat treat a blade http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57990

It's off topic for this post if your looking for more advice maybe start a new thread

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

How's it going folks, got back from bristol today.

Couldn't do any better than third place myself ... BUT... Paul Donnelan won best knife in his class so the Irish had a good drink.

Gave the blade to Suart Mitchell and will have it , heat treated and back home by next weekend hopefully .

Regards

Davy

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

Lad's I am in no way against helping each other out with regards to knifemaking links or advice etc. In fact I welcome it greatly.... but if you don't mind ... can we try to keep this thread on topic.

Davy

bradnailer

davymoore wrote: »

How's it going folks, got back from bristol today.

Couldn't do any better than third place myself ... BUT... Paul Donnelan won best knife in his class so the Irish had a good drink.

Gave the blade to Suart Mitchell and will have it , heat treated and back home by next weekend hopefully .

Regards

Davy

Congrats "Third place" sounds pretty good to me. Which knife was it.

Is there nowhere to get heat treating done in Ireland ?

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

No afraid not. Or at least not that I can find. SPS in Shannon used to oblige but since they got bought out they don't entertain small orders

On the positive front I am hoping to have my own heat treating oven by the end of the summer.

Davy

Mellor

Maybe, I don't know yet.

Hey Davy, glad you're still going with this.
I've been away do couldn't give much input to the later stages, but reviewing the thread gets the thumbs up anyway. Good work

Offy

davymoore wrote: »

No afraid not. Or at least not that I can find. SPS in Shannon used to oblige but since they got bought out they don't entertain small orders

On the positive front I am hoping to have my own heat treating oven by the end of the summer.

Davy

I know one or two places that heat treat metal, pm me if you want the details.

droc

Maybe, I don't know yet.

Great thread, I'm totally new to hunting and knives and wen't googling for an Irish hunting knife. This thread has been a real education on knife making (I must be mad Davy because I've real all 39 pages)

Can't wait to see the 100% finished article, it already looks great.

DROC

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

Your a paitient man to read all those pages.

The first of the blades arrived back from heat treating this week although I am still waiting for the main blade (The Full tang Suminagashi) to arrive.

Once it does I'll be posting the build , hopefully sometime in the next week or so.

Davy

lordarpad

Maybe, I don't know yet.

davymoore wrote: »

The first of the blades arrived back from heat treating this week although I am still waiting for the main blade (The Full tang Suminagashi) to arrive.

Once it does I'll be posting the build , hopefully sometime in the next week or so.

Davy

Hi Davy

_seriously_ looking forward to that I wonder how you feel about where this process that you starte several months ago has taken you?

droc

Maybe, I don't know yet.

I read fast and was waiting for the missus to get ready to go out, so had a few hours

Good question Lordarpad, how do you feel about the (almost) finished article Davy? Any big differences from what you envisioned when you started the project (apart from the full tang)?

Also,

Do you plan on making these knives available on your site? Will you be making a more affordable version using something other than the Japanese steel?

Thanks

DROC

J.R.

Maybe, I don't know yet.

Davy -
does the finished knife (nearly!!) resemble anything like you had in mind starting out ....I know it was a clean slate .......but you must have had some far off incling / preference for a certain shape, materials, design, length, etc?

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

Originally I had imagined something like a Saami (scandanavian) style knife. I thought this would be the case due to the fact that we are European and that due to our history of trading with Europe over the centuries we would develop a celtic style of European knife.

We didn't though .. what we have wound up with is a very western looking blade with our own unique handle style.

Is this a good or a bad thing ?

Personally I think we developed the blade based on our exposure to knives from all over the world and in particular knives from America. But it wasn't just because they looked good, it was because the shape of the blade was the most practical for hunting uses in Ireland. It was well thought out and debated and in the end I think it was a great choice.

My romantic idea of a Scandinavian knife adorned with celtic engraving or scrimshaw went right out the window and what we wound up with is a very useable practical hunting knife and it's big brother the Trapper (Skinner).

So no... it's not what I though it was going to be.... It's far far superior

Mellor

Maybe, I don't know yet.

Glad you (with help from Boards) got to see this out Davy

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

Ah were not finished yet .... Sure I still have to build the thing and then theres the whole topic of a sheath to design

Mellor

Maybe, I don't know yet.

And I hope to keep up the input

lordarpad

Maybe, I don't know yet.

me too

macadam

Yes, Sun 23rd only

ditto

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

Well folks

The blade arrived back from the heat treating and it looks great. I'll post some pictures later.

In the mean time I was thinking about a sheath for this knife.

It's normally easy for me to do a sheath the client will tell me that they are, let's say right handed and prefer to carry vertically on their belt. No problem I just design and make a sheath to do just that.

This time it dawned on me though, that because it's a group commission, the knife could end up in almost any persons hand. The new owner might have their own particular style of carrying the knife. With that in mind and the fact that I really don't know what the persons personal preferences are or might be then the sheath should be made to cover all bases.

We had some brief discussion about the sheath earlier in the project and putting everything together in my head I came up with the following shopping list.

• The sheath must be Ambidextrous (Left or Right Handed)
• Must be traditional hand sewn leather
• Has to contain a fastening mechanism to hold the knife in place.
• Should be belt mountable
• Should be horizontally belt mountable
• Should be shoulder mountable
• Should be "Cross Draw" compatible (Carried on left drawn by right hand and vice versa)

A couple of other thoughts I had on this were.

• It should be a snug tight fit.
• It should be compact and achieve all of the above without being cumbersome.
• It should be unique to the project
• In keeping with the idea behind the project it should be recognisable as the "Irish sheath"

So with all this in mind I came up with this.



The sides of the sheath are symetrical.
The rotating strap will allow the knife to be placed either left or right handed.
The strap is finished off with a brass snap to securely retain the knife.
The belt loop allows for a standard hip carry position
The additional mounting slots enable the sheath to be carried on a shoulder strap or belt mounted in a horizontal position.
Some simple Celtic tooling or stamp will give us that extra "Irishness" and make the sheath and knife instantly recognizable


Any thoughts.
Did I miss anything ?

Anyone hate this ?

Davy

lordarpad

Maybe, I don't know yet.

works for me, with one change - make it pointy, not round?

davymoore

Yes, Sat 22nd only

See ... hmm ... I like the rounded base ... because it's different

Everyone else does pointy ones

But we'll see what the other comments bring

Davy

Grizzly 45

Add a retaining system that does not consist of a snap button:(.They give up at the most critical time.A loop/pouch for a small sharpening steel is nice.
The mounting slots should be re enforced with some sort of metal "mouths"?as eventualy your belt will rub thru lthe leather slots.

TRIPLE stitch everything!

riflehunter77

Maybe, I don't know yet.

Keep it roundy, I feel the pionty ones sometimes have a tendency to dig into you when you are working at something maybe its just me.

Hibrion

Maybe, I don't know yet.

I'll second the bit about getting rid of the button, but haven't really got an alternative though, ideas?
How about adding a fire steel on the side like some of your knives on the website Davy? Some of us might find it useful, I know others won't.

Hibrion

Maybe, I don't know yet.

How about a more Scandinavian style sheath?
Probable what you had in mind at the beginning anyway Davy.
Will the finger guard of the knife be straight across the blade or at an angle??