The painter in the un-painted house
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: RJ Hunt
03-Jul-20
I am sure you all have heard that saying or the landscaper that has a yard that is a disaster or even the mechanic with all his vehicles broken down in the driveway. Well... I was the knife maker with the havalon (though they are good) in my pack last year. So finally I took a week off and made myself a pair of blades for this year. Both are Elmax steel hardened to rc61.5, ground to .004 behind the edge and will get hunter orange sheaths with reflective paracord. I didn’t draw any good tags this year but hope to be able to use these on a rosevelt this September in the Oregon cascades.
From: jstephens61
03-Jul-20
Nice blades. The left one reminds me of my Saddle Mountain Skinner. Love that knife.
From: 35-Acre
03-Jul-20
Really nice! Love the clover too!
From: Lee
03-Jul-20
Damn nice!
From: RJ Hunt
03-Jul-20
Not sure what a saddle mountain skinner is. Will check it out. When I make em I do all by feel with a finder and files before I harden so none are Exactly same and kind Of evolve into a design.
From: SBH
03-Jul-20
Bad ass! Go get em bloody!
From: RJ Hunt
03-Jul-20
Saddle mountain skinner... man that’s sad. Benchmade! The factory is 5 miles down the road from me. Doh. Anyhow. Thanks. Hope to get them a good workout soon. Can’t wait.
From: yooper89
03-Jul-20
Those are freaking sweet
From: RJ Hunt
03-Jul-20
Thank you.
From: Scar Finga
03-Jul-20
As always! Robs the man!
I am very happy you FINALLY made yourself one, or two!! Awesome work Rob!
From: Milhouse
03-Jul-20
House painter.... I've watched enough mob shows to know what that means....
From: Ucsdryder
03-Jul-20
Rj, those are really special. Top shelf! How many hours do you have into each knife? What do you do with them? Want to send me a Christmas present? I’ll use it to cut up an elk this year and tell everyone how amazing it is. Lol!!!
From: drycreek
03-Jul-20
I’m really liking that one on the left !
From: Stoneman
03-Jul-20
Well made knives are just cool! Very nice!
From: RJ Hunt
04-Jul-20
Hours wise I would think around 20-30 hours. I generally do in batches of 10-15 so hard to tell total time. That said I do everything in house, heat treat, wood stabilization and wood work. If I ever actually to make a business out of this I would track my time better. Right boy I am about 14 months in and still learning.
From: RJ Hunt
04-Jul-20
Thanks Scar... they got sharpened up today and a pair of sheaths made.
From: JL
04-Jul-20
That's pretty impressive!! I know a guy who made them in North Bend too. He used old sawmill blades for the blanks.
From: dakotaduner
04-Jul-20
RJ those are a thing of beauty. Always enjoy seeing the talents and skills of people on bowsite. Thanks for sharing
From: RJ Hunt
04-Jul-20
Thanks for the compliments. Is much appreciated. I did not intend to take it this far originally. My goal was to make myself what I wanted in a hunting knife as could not find what I felt fit my needs and was tired of being disappointed in what I bought over the years. That said has been an amazon journey thus far.
From: APauls
04-Jul-20
Very very nice RJ. Congrats on the growth you’ve achieved in this area - that’s the fun part! Those knives are eye candy though!
From: Bou'bound
04-Jul-20
Artwork to be sure
From: krieger
04-Jul-20
Very nice!!
From: Griz34
05-Jul-20
Very nice! Man I wish I had your talent. A few years ago I was inspired by Rancid Crabtree to try to build my own knife using a saw blade. I tried three different styles. They all ended up looking like prison shanks. It's definitely an art form.
From: RJ Hunt
05-Jul-20
Thanks Griz. I know the feeling and sometimes you just need to find your own style and go with it. I found that out when I was asked to make a “Kabar” style fixed blade and no matter what I did it never looked right to me. I ended up throwing in the towel and telling the guy I just could not do it. I ended up finishing the knife out of CPM3v and put in my daily backpack but is just not my style of making. Find what your eye likes and will feel better when you put out a finished product. Need any help send me a message would be glad to help.
From: Jasper
05-Jul-20
You’re a talented man! Beautiful work!
From: Paul@thefort
05-Jul-20
RJ , fun stuff and nicely done. my best, Paul. PS, I would be happy to put some blood on one of those knives but I hope you do this season. :).
From: nehunter
05-Jul-20
nehunter's Link
RJ, I thought at first you might be a friend who's a pretty famous knife maker. His name is RJ Martin and manufacturers very high end knifes.
If anyone wants any technical support questions answered, just contact him. He's a wealth of knowledge on knife making/design.
From: hdaman
05-Jul-20
Beautiful work! I love to see those home made pieces of functional art!
From: GhostBird
06-Jul-20
AWESOME blades... man, those are really, really beautiful. What are the scales, spalted myrtle maybe???
From: Beav
06-Jul-20
What a great talent. Absolutely beautiful, hope they get bloody.
From: RJ Hunt
06-Jul-20
Ghost, The scales are some Spalted Koa I stabilized. Was a lucky find at the local wood store. They had a few blocks in there turning bin. I also sure hope to get them bloody also. Would be full circle.
