# Collaboration knives



## TRfromMT (Jul 21, 2016)

I have had the awesome opportunity to do a collaboration knife with a custom maker. These are a very lightweight titanium blade he calls the backpacker, and he sells it as a skeletonized neck knife. The edge is carbide coated, and wicked sharp. They weigh about zero point nothing. Truth be told, these blades are only 0.070" thick, so without a handle there is a bit too much flex for my liking and just not enough to hang on to.

In general, this maker has very nice lines in his knives, and I personally really like the way he incorporates bevels and flat grinds on his handles of his other knives, instead of simply rounded/smooth shapes. It really appeals to me. And, I love mimicking the original maker's design aesthetic when I do a handle. For these knives, I used the skeleton opening in the tang to do the layout on my handle scales.

One trick was that he sent the blades completely finished, as he would sell them. So I did not grind/sand the handles to the tang. I want to leave the tang untouched. I had to do all the fitting, final sanding and everything, then carefully glue the handles (G Flex epoxy) and clamp them and clean off the excess epoxy on a finished knife.... yikes!

These are walnut, koa and maple burl. All stabilized. Fixed with 3/32" stainless steel pins and a 1/4" lanyard tube (also SS). Each is finished with tru oil.

Thanks for looking. Questions and comments/critiques are welcome.

Reactions: Like 6 | EyeCandy! 5 | Way Cool 4


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## tocws2002 (Jul 21, 2016)

Those are awesome, what is the overall length and blade length? 

I like the shape of the handles, nice job!

Are they for sale or trade? 

-jason


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## TRfromMT (Jul 21, 2016)

I'll send you a PM


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## NYWoodturner (Jul 21, 2016)

Nice job Tony. Is that a bead blast finish?


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## TRfromMT (Jul 21, 2016)

Thanks! Yes, bead blasted.


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## manbuckwal (Jul 21, 2016)

Nice


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## Molokai (Jul 22, 2016)

Very nice!


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## Foot Patrol (Jul 22, 2016)

Very nicely done. I like the bead blasting finish. Pretty cool.


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## TRfromMT (Jul 22, 2016)

Thanks! 
These are being auctioned this weekend. If anyone is interested, message me and I'll shoot you the link.


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## robert flynt (Jul 23, 2016)

Did you acetone to remove the excess epoxy? It works real well.


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