# Sorry, Big Rob, But This Is The Best I Could Do



## wdcav1952 (Jul 25, 2007)

Big Rob was kind enough several months ago to add some Koa knife scales to an order.  I finally gave up trying to get this perfect.  The blade is called the Sensei (Japanese Style Tanto).  I did learn alot from my mistakes on this one and hopefully can do better next time.  Please show mercy with your comments,  and try to concentrate on the beautiful piece of wood BigRob supplied.


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## TBone (Jul 25, 2007)

The handle looks great, love the grain in that koa.
Knife looks a lot better than I could do....but then that isn't saying much  
Seriously good start, you learned how to make the next one better.


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## jtate (Jul 25, 2007)

I don't see any issues with it at all.  I'd be happy with it!  Send it on if you can't stand to be reminded of your early efforts!

Julia


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## Jim15 (Jul 25, 2007)

I don't know anything about knife making but it looks great to me.


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## ahoiberg (Jul 26, 2007)

nice one cav. did you grind the blade and make the pins and everything?


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## wdcav1952 (Jul 26, 2007)

Andrew, no, I don't have any of the talent required for that.  I bought the kit, cut and worked the handle scales and assembled it.


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## TBone (Jul 26, 2007)

Cav....I was referring to the blade, not familiar with that style.  I thought you ground the blade.  The handle looks great.  Sorry for the confusion.


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## ahoiberg (Jul 26, 2007)

but you did have to hammer the pins in, no? or did they fit snugly and then you cut them off?


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## wdcav1952 (Jul 26, 2007)

Tommy, I would like to eventually get into grinding my own blades, but that is in the future.

Andrew, I used a bit of epoxy on the pins, then cut them a bit long.  I peened them a bit, then ground them off and polished the metal with some scratch off polish left over from dental school. (I graduated in 1977!)  Pack rat, me?????


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## Glass Scratcher (Jul 27, 2007)

The Tanto looks great.  If you don't mind, from where did you order/buy the kit?


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## wdcav1952 (Jul 27, 2007)

Thanks, Charles.  I got the kit from these folks: http://www.knifekit.com/

BTW, where in NE Florida are you?  I lived in Jacksonville from '77 to '82 and loved the area.


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## Glass Scratcher (Jul 27, 2007)

> _Originally posted by wdcav1952_
> 
> Thanks, Charles.  I got the kit from these folks: http://www.knifekit.com/
> 
> BTW, where in NE Florida are you?  I lived in Jacksonville from '77 to '82 and loved the area.



Out in Atlantic Beach down the road from Mayport NS.

Jacksonville has changed so much in the last 20 yrs you might not recognize it.  I drove into town a few weeks ago(probably the 1st time in 10 yrs, you know how we beach people don't like to cross the bridge at the Intercoastal...) Under the flyover/loop-d-loop at Millcreek Rd down the Arlington Expressway from Atlantic Blvd past Regency Mall and discovered some of the stores and malls along Arlington towards Jacksonville University had been bulldozed.  The Expressway mall is now a grassy field awaiting new construction.  Same all over town.  I suppose that it is progress.  Jacksonville couldn't stay the largest little town in America forever.

Sorry to jump your thread about J'ville.


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## wdcav1952 (Jul 27, 2007)

I lived in Mandarin.  I spent two years on the old Saratogo CV-60, and drove to Mayport many times.  I loved the beach out there; it was great for finding shark teeth.  Yeah, times change.  I definitely considered Jacksonville a big little town.


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## GaryMGg (Jul 27, 2007)

You guys are talking about my old stomping grounds. I was in Jax from around '78 'til '90.
I lived at the beaches and worked in Arlington.
Back then, I was racing bicycles and we used to do training rides from Atl. Bch. into town, thru
Mandarin, then back across Racetrack Rd., thru Palm Valley and back up to the beaches.
Mandarin was pretty undeveloped back then.

Gary


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## Glass Scratcher (Jul 27, 2007)

> _Originally posted by GaryMGg_
> 
> You guys are talking about my old stomping grounds. I was in Jax from around '78 'til '90.
> I lived at the beaches and worked in Arlington.
> ...



During non-peak time it can take 15min to go from Atlantic Blvd to Beach Blvd and that is just 3 miles.  I remember back when you could go the distance in 5min.  During rush or when the schools get out, it can take 30mins or more to go the same distance.

They built a bridge out at Mayport from Wonderwood Rd to Ft Caroline Rd.  They built another span on the Intercoastal bridge on Atlantic making it 6 lanes, and are building a replacement bridge for the Intercoastal on Beach.

You would not recognize Palm Vally anymore.  There's a new huge bridge on 210.  Most of the stump jumpers sold all their acreage and made out like Jed Clampett.  They cut the land up into 1-2-3 acre parsels and have built huge monstrosities that for some reason the buiders didn't consider they were building on semi-swamp and used stick construction.  One house had to be torn down 6 weeks into construction because it had already been ravaged by termites.  They had already gotten the sheathing on the buiding, 2 stories...


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## MDWine (Jul 27, 2007)

I see nothing to complain about William.. nice!


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## BigRob777 (Jul 27, 2007)

Cav,
I'm glad I found your post.  I just happened to see my name in a customer's "recently posted" section on his bio page.  

That looks great.  I'm glad to see the wood put to good use.  I think I'll do the same for at least one or two, of my 3 kits.  The axe would look great with it.
Rob


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## Dario (Jan 30, 2008)

Looks good as far as I'm concerned.

I love tanto edged blades. [^]

How thin are the scales?  I have some scraps that may be of some use now.


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## wdcav1952 (Jan 30, 2008)

Dario, IIRC, they started out as 1/4" thick.

Thanks for the kind words.


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## Kalai (Jan 31, 2008)

Cav, that is a very nice knife, I like the tanto style and the curly Koa, aloha.

Kalai


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## jwoodwright (Jan 31, 2008)

Very nice knife.  Turned out great.  Woulsd like a smaller version as a marking knife...


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## R2 (Jan 31, 2008)

[]Great effort Cav. Beautiful timber!!


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## airrat (Jan 31, 2008)

I don't see any problems Cav.  It looks great, maybe you can enlighten us as to some of the difficulties you came across.


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## wdcav1952 (Jan 31, 2008)

Tom, it looks good because I didn't take a close-up shot!  I had some trouble smoothing the transition from the koa to the bolsters and never got it as good as I wanted.  I guess that penturning and the margins we expect there spoil us for other projects.


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