Drop point Hunter
Ever since I saw a documentary and bought the book about Bob Loveless, the legendary American knife maker who single handledly usured in the modern age of knife making, I have been intrigued with his drop point hunter style knife. I figured that trying to make one would be a good step in my development, much as aspiring artists go to the art gallery to make copies of the old masters. It seemed relatively simple when they showed it on the documentary, but parctice makes perfect and there were many steps along the way where my skills meant that the reality wqas not as simple as in the film.
Over the last few years I have gone back to this design a few times , and each time, I get a better understanding of how all the bits fit together. Fitting the brass guard has always been a sticking point for me until I realised that it is attention to detail, and a slow methodical approach was what was needed to file the metal just enough that the blade fitted, without there being any gaps between the blade and the guard. I am happy to report that while I am getting better, there is still room for improvement!
I have also been practicing my sheath making skills (probably should say I have been building my sheath making skills!) I learnt saddle stitch from the internet, and have been experimenting with leather designs and using leather dyes to give the sheath a multi-dimensional feel rather than the flat look I was getting in my earlier attempts. I( have just read a bit about doing mini etches on the blade as you are grinding the bevels so that you cantry and match the pattern on both sides of the blade, especially the dark line at the cutting edge where the carbon steel has been exposed from between the damascus cladding , so that is something for the next one.
