My Green River Knife

[PetahW]

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I gathered a Russell Green River 5" Hunter blade & some handle materials, to see if I could fashion a nice hunting knife.








I cut out some spacers for the handle.








And epoxied the spacers in place.






I thought the bone scales too heavy, so I attached  burl Maple scales and shaped the handle.

This is what I came up with:









Like me, it's not perfect - but I like the way it turned out. (It's OK if YMMV     )



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[rollingb]

I like it. 
Are those bone scales something you made?

[amm1851]

That dog will definitely hunt. Nice work. 

[Bigsmoke]

No doubt that is one of the best looking RGR Hunters I have seen.
Good job.
Nice piece of wood, too.  But I did like the looks of the bone a bit better.
John

[Uncle Russ]

I like "spacers" on a knife, any knife. 
This is a very nice and very tasteful piece of work.

FWIW: I was also going to put bone handles on my 12" RGR Butcher knife, but I broke one side when I was installing the brass rivets, so I went to walnut and it turned out pretty good, looked somewhat similar to the old ones I have seen pictures of.

I fully intend to do another one, a smaller one, and from what I've seen in the pictures above, I think I will try my hand at some spacers too.

Uncle Russ...

 

[Ohio Joe]

It looks real good! I've thought about getting a kit and doing one myself as a winter project. Just might have to follow through on that if I remember to do it! 

Again, very nice! 

[PetahW]

I like it. 
Are those bone scales something you made?

Thanks, folks - And, no Sir, the bone scales came with the blade & 3 huge rivets (from Crazy Crow Trading Post).

They have a ceramic feel, and in fact clinked just like ceramics, when I accidentally slid them to one side as I was working on making the spacers "flat".

That, and the perceived extra weight (when I taped them temporarily to the hilt) led to my decision to switch to the Fiddleback/Burl Maple scales.


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[PetahW]

I fully intend to do another one, a smaller one, and from what I've seen in the pictures above, I think I will try my hand at some spacers too.

Uncle Russ...

That's exactly why I posted how I did the spacers - Godspeed, with making yours, Russ !   

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[rollingb]

I like it. 
Are those bone scales something you made?

Thanks, folks - And, no Sir, the bone scales came with the blade & 3 huge rivets (from Crazy Crow Trading Post).

They have a ceramic feel, and in fact clinked just like ceramics, when I accidentally slid them to one side as I was working on making the spacers "flat".

That, and the perceived extra weight (when I taped them temporarily to the hilt) led to my decision to switch to the Fiddleback/Burl Maple scales.


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I think you made a good choice by goin' with the wood scales,.... your knife looks great. 

That must be some pretty dense bone that the bone scales are made from.

[Bigsmoke]

When drilling the holes for the rivets, one must drill them a bit oversize to make up for expansion when the rivets are set.  The male rivet presses into the female rivet causing it to expand.  If the side the male rivet is on is not drilled a tad oversize, well, it's gotta go somewhere.  As you found, it usually cracks the male side scale.
Also, most knife supply businesses (like Jantz) have a neat little tool for sale.  It is a step drill sized to drill the right size hole into the scale so the rivet head mounts flush.  You don't need to go through a bunch of trouble to drill that hole in the scale and have it perfectly centered.
I really enjoy putting the knives together, said the man that has had a beautiful Damascus blade just waiting to have a set of very curly maple scales installed for over 3 years.  I guess I wouldn't be doing anything with that knife if I wasn't delaying working on it.
John

[Uncle Russ]

When drilling the holes for the rivets, one must drill them a bit oversize to make up for expansion when the rivets are set.  The male rivet presses into the female rivet causing it to expand.  If the side the male rivet is on is not drilled a tad oversize, well, it's gotta go somewhere.

John, you described my own situation to a "T".....
That's exactly what happened!

And, much like PetahW, I'm pretty sure those scales are of a ceramic material, very heavy, very "brittle"....I sanded a bit of the edge on one before trying to mount them, and they actually sanded and polished very nice, much like the Buffalo Horn that I've used quite a bit in the past.
However, the material in the scales from Crazy Crow, which is described as "Bleached Bone" is IMO extremely brittle.

http://www.crazycrow.com/knife-making-handle-supply/bleached-bone-scales-5inx1.25inx0.25in

On the proper blade, and following Bigsmoke's advise, I do believe they would make a beautiful handle.....I've not completely given up on 'em yet.

Uncle Russ...

[PetahW]

That must be some pretty dense bone that the bone scales are made from.

Now that I think on it - I dunno............. 

IDK how the "bone" scales that Crazy Crow sells were made, but I now have some suspicions........... (Crazy Crow is notorious for outsourcing their knife items to India & other SE Asian "makers")

These "bone" scales really feel like & sound ceramic - very unlike any other bone or antler material of the same size/etc - which makes me wonder if they were investment cast from old glass ashtrays, and are really only "bone" colored.

 


I guess it's a good thing that they came with the blade...........



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