WaddWatsonEllis Belduque WIP

[Josh Dabney]

That's all for today Pards.

We are dwindling down to the very final finish work now.  Building up coats of Tru-oil on the sheath body and final assembly will take place over the next couple of days.

Of course I still also need to do a once over on the knife itself and sharpen but that's really about it, other than getting some finished pics.

-Josh

[Shotgun Steve]

Josh that is fantastic work. You have done yourself proud. That is one awesome knife and sheath
combo. WWE you are one lucky man. And by the way pards, I have been using the knives that
Josh made for me on a variety of different chores, and they are doing the job, and asking for more.
You won't go wrong with a Josh Dabney knife. Take care.

 Shotgun Steve

[GunClick Rick]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qrjtr_uFac

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Really funny Rick,

But I am no 'Mack the Knife' ... I am going to have to learn how to keep such a nice knife ... when I ordered it, I had no idea of what a superb knife I would be recieving .....

[kflach]

WWE, why are wanting to carry it edge forward? Are you going to cross draw it? Do you have some secret ninja knife technique that you use?

[WaddWatsonEllis]

kflach,

I am going off the only picture I have seen ... a painting by James Walker of a Bearfight among Californios ... In it he shows a kinfe worn just so. It looked like a rather clumsy draw until I tried it. Working with a bended knee, by placing the fingers forward and the outside of the knuckles against the pantleg, it is actually a very normal move (for me ayway...

[kflach]

I guess that wouldn't be 'difficult' per se, but, at least as I picture it you'd have to twist your wrist as you pulled it out?

I'll just categorize this as a Ninja move. They were around during that time period, so it's period correct.

<grin>

[Forty Rod]

I have always preferred carrying a knife with the cutting edge forward when carried on the right and to the rear on the left.  That way when I draw it the cutting edge is just naturally up, good for fighting, cutting string, etc., and is easily turned to cut my meat or spread cream cheese on a bagel.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

4TBar;  Or sharpening a pencil?  Then again you need a different grip when cleaning your fingernails.

[Josh Dabney]

Well Pards,

I epoxied the toe and throat onto the belduque sheath today and started looking at it.  Looking and thinking,  hmmmmm.   I'm confident that the sheath isn't goint to slip down into the botas......  BUT ....   Whats to stop it from pulling out when drawing the blade  ?    The polished silver surely isn't going to provide the best gripping surface.   I decided I'd better make myself a pseudo-bota and test out how the sheath works.


WWE could probably get by the way things are but I got an idea to make a leather collar to go around the sheath and accomplish a few goals.
1.  Pad the back side of the throat where it digs into the leg in an uncomfortable manner.
2.  Provide better security against unwanted removal by having leather above and below the bota strap

I got started with a paper pattern to get down the sizing

[Josh Dabney]

Now that my pattern is done I put that on a piece of leather and traced it out.


Here you can see that I used my hole punch in the corners of the window and used my trusty utility knife to finish the cuts off


Now that I've got my leather cut to size I'm holding it as tightly as possible and marking where the overlap comes to.


Here I've marked out where I need to skive down the thickness of the leather where it overlaps just to prevent the bulk of a full double thickness

[Josh Dabney]

Now what I'm shooting for is for this collar to fit TIGHT  on the sheath body but still be removable if wanted.   So my method for tensioning is to go about 1/8" past where my overlap mark was effectively making the collar smaller than the sheath body.  It can get difficult to properly line things up with glue on the parts so I lined it up dry and punched a rivet hole where I want the final allignment to be.


Now I dampened the leather with water and used an antler tip to burnish the inside of the window a little bit.  The water is gonna help the leather soak up the dye and also make it soft enough that I can stretch the collar over the sheath while it's still pliable.


I dyed with dark brown pro oil dye and put some glue on both sides of the leather that overlaps.

[Josh Dabney]

Now we get it stuck and set the first rivet in the hole we punched earlier


Here you can kinda tell how tight this thing is and how I worked it up to the position I was hoping for




Now this will be the best explaination as to how the collar will lock the sheath in place once the botas strap is cinched down around it.


You know I had to wear this bad boy around the house for awhile      I do think the leather collar is needed mainly for the comfort factor as once this addition was made I'd go as far as to call it comfortable to wear around.



I still have to do the final clean-up of everything but I do feel MUCH better about the functionality of the sheath now so it was worth the extra day IMHO  

I should have this one finished up tomorrow and hopefully in the hands of the post office on it's way to WWE.

-Josh  

[Will Ketchum]

It occurs to me that the beautiful sheath is going to be hidden by the bota.  

Almost a shame.

Will Ketchum

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Josh,

What beautiful work and attention to detail ... I don't even think I could have put exactly what was important into words ... and now you not only nailed it but came up with a lovely slouton  ... I can't wait!

Will Ketchum,

When reading the paper on South American knives, the author said that the Gauchos carried a short sword/long knife against their backbone, held in place by their thick belts. I would imagine that the Californio would do much the same, especially if he had sucha lovely scabbared/sheath as mine, with its silver tip to show off...

BTW, the whole paper can be found here:

http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/facon/criollo.

While searching for an appropriate Gaucho pic, I found this sight:

http://www.gauchoknives.com/the_knife_history.htm

[Josh Dabney]

Well it sure has been a long road to Belduque Pards but all good things must end they say     And such is the trip from billet to belduque.

Here we have the final pics

[Ned Buckshot]

Just Beautiful Josh!

Thanks for letting us tag along on this adventure.

Ned

[Gun Butcher]

  Josh, I don't know when I have enjoyed something as much as this. You did an absolutely beautiful job on the knife and sheath, and your explanatin of the process was first rate.
You can be justifiably proud of your work its great.

[kflach]

STANDING OVATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Josh!

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Josh, 


I am truly humbled by your knife. I have never owned, nor probably ever willl again, own something that is quite such a work of art  ... and your labor of love rings through in every detail ....

Is it okay to keep in touch with an email every so often?

I mean, I am so not up to owning this that even keeping it sharp is going to be a learing experience. Up 'til now, I just used the diamond stone that I use for my kitchen cutlery to sharpen all my other knives ...

Is there a sharpening system that you prefer?  Especially for this Damascus?

[Josh Dabney]

Sure appreciate the comments Pards !

WWE, 

Of course feel free to drop an e-mail anytime Pard.  Fer that matter anyone can contact me at dabneyknives@yahoo.com any ole time.


As for sharpening your new knife,   it won't take anything extrordinary to sharpen this knife and you'll be best served using the method your most comfortable with.  I cut the initial edge on a slow moving 400 grit belt but then hand sharpened on medium and fine stones then stropped on a leather strop.   The fact that the blade is damascus doesn't make it any different or more difficult to sharpen.  Your diamond stone should give you the same results you typically get with it.

Of course if you ever feel it's needed I'd be happy to sharpen it for ya anytime.  Of course the shipping makes that kinda expensive but there won't be any charge on my end 

-Josh

[Shotgun Steve]

 Fantastic Josh...absolutely fantastic!!!!!

 Shotgun Steve

[Mogorilla]

For once, I am speechless, have been the entire ride.  Amazing. 

[Messerist]

Well that ride is over...sniff.  I wanna go again!!!!!

[WaddWatsonEllis]

The great thing about it is that , if one gets to feeling a little less without the ride, all 30 pages will be here online ...

And then there is the possibility that Josh and his new client might grace us with an entirely new 'ride'.

Besides, there is that skinny Damascus 'Belduque'/fish fileting knife that is inside attemp # 1 just waiting to come out  ...

Josh, when you are done with that , I if no one else would love to see what becomes of it!  If no one else is interested, send email!

But I can't imagine that I would be the only one interested ...