fancy craft knives

[duncsuss]

I saw something on penturners.org that looked perfect for my turning club Christmas gift swap, so I bought a few simple craft knives from Amazon ("X-acto" would be the X-pensive brand-name version) and tried it out.

I thread the body and cap so it screws on, meaning it shouldn't fall off like the push-on variety they come with. The grip section operates the collet to release and clamp the blade as usual. Here are pix of the 4 that I've made so far ... the cream acrylic with swirly bits went into the gift swap.

The red-dyed wood came from @Tclem several years ago - I think he told me it was "perhaps sycamore". Thanks, Tony - I knew I'd get to use it eventually. The olive wood has a black ebonite core.

 

[Tony]

Saw those on FB, cool idea Duncan, nicely done!

 

[T. Ben]

Those are awesome,a pretty fancy exacta-knife.

 

[DKMD]

I like ‘em! Nicely done!

 

[trc65]

Great looking knives! Fantastic gift idea.

 

[Nature Man]

Such a great idea! Wonderful wood that you used! Chuck

 

[ripjack13]

Very cool Duncan! I love the last one, what name blank is that?

Do you drill a hole and glue in the knife body or take them apart and just use the knurled grip, glued in?

 

[duncsuss]

Very cool Duncan! I love the last one, what name blank is that?

Do you drill a hole and glue in the knife body or take them apart and just use the knurled grip, glued in?

Marc - I thought the blank was called "Copper Lava Explosion" or somesuch - from memory it was made by Rhinoplastic, and now I checked at Exotic Blanks the nearest I can find is called Molten Copper Swirl. (There's a similar one called Molten Bronze Swirl.)

I take the knives apart, so I have a collar, the collet, and the handle. Saw off the handle somewhere between 2 and 3 inches, that gets epoxied into a drilled hole in a 4" or longer piece. The collar gets epoxied into a short piece that's drilled. I shape the handle, and clean up the end then thread it with a hand die. The collar gets shaped like the grip section of a fountain pen, and the cap is also made like a fountain pen cap (except I took the lazy route and didn't make clips for them.)

 

[ripjack13]

Marc - I thought the blank was called "Copper Lava Explosion" or somesuch - from memory it was made by Rhinoplastic, and now I checked at Exotic Blanks the nearest I can find is called Molten Copper Swirl. (There's a similar one called Molten Bronze Swirl.)

I take the knives apart, so I have a collar, the collet, and the handle. Saw off the handle somewhere between 2 and 3 inches, that gets epoxied into a drilled hole in a 4" or longer piece. The collar gets epoxied into a short piece that's drilled. I shape the handle, and clean up the end then thread it with a hand die. The collar gets shaped like the grip section of a fountain pen, and the cap is also made like a fountain pen cap (except I took the lazy route and didn't make clips for them.)

Ah, nice. I need to get a couple of those blanks. I had one, but used it up and forgot where I got it, and forgot all about it.

I have been meaning to make one or 2 of these knives, I have acquired a bunch of em over the years but really only use 2 or 3 of em. May as well but them to use...
Thanks Duncan.

 

[Mr. Peet]

That last one is beautiful for sure. The red dyed one looks to be an oak on that angle (based on ray shapes).

 

[Mike Hill]

Love em!

 

[rdabpenman]

They look very functional.
Nicely done.

Les