A 9″ hand forged blade mounted in an elk handle with iron guard and pommel.
Leather sheath created by Dave Lougheed.
This was a commission piece for a fellow Creston valley resident. She wanted a hunting style knife with an antler handle for her husband, engraved with the words “Irish” and “Wrath” as a testament to his heritage. Otherwise the design details were left up to me.
The knife design was based on a outdoor survival book I picked up a few years ago called “Bushcraft – Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival” by Mors Kochanski. Accordingly, I asked the client and her husband to stop by so I could measure his palm width, and both the handle and blade length were created to suit (being 4 1/2″ long for each).
Kochanski advises that the spine of the blade be flat or slightly dropped at the tip, and I decided to use a tanto kata that was generously given to me by Dave J Friesen of Crossed Heart Forge to help me shape the profile of the blade. Since the handle was made from an elk antler (also from Dave), I decided on a rat tail tang with a flat iron pommel so that I could rivet the knife together.
The knife was forged from an old carriage spring dating back to the 1800s, using a charcoal forge and Japanese fuigo bellows. I have finally started making my own charcoal so I’m proud to say that this knife was forged using fuel I made earlier in the year.
I chose to use yaki-ire to temper the blade, and the hamon can be seen from the hardening process. This is more thoroughly explained on the Elk Knife Process page.
Scrap 1/8″ plate steel with a hammered pebble texture form the guard and pommel. They were left just slightly oversized to the elk handle, and handle itself has had nothing done to it.
