Last year, I found a 1/4-inch maple plank at Lowe's that had a wonderful amount of curl to it. I didn't want to use it until I had a project that could do it justice. For me, that typically means knife scales, since they show off a broad section of the thin cut.
I selected some modern "patch" blades because they're inexpensive (being made in Pakistan), stainless (thus low-maintenance), heavy and sturdy, pocket-sized, and have a neat rustic look to them.
The blades themselves required a bit of cleanup. They came with a machined finish which I polished up as best I could (removing the PAKISTAN etching in the process). The "Spanish notches" had a very mechanical, straight-sided appearance with a small round hole drilled at the top of the middle notch, giving them a profile like a lollipop; either they were produced with a minimum of effort or the smiths had never seen a Spanish notch in person and didn't know what one should look like.
Additionally, both blades had very sharp, square edges everywhere. Along with the notches, the shoulders required a bit of rounding, to make them comfortable against the index finger. The spines, thankfully, were already smoothed enough to not feel ragged against the fingers, although they are still square. Some but not all of the holes had to be filed to accept the 3/32-inch brass pins.
My Orapik skated over the surface while I was attempting to feel the etching. I think therefore that the steel is hard enough. However, my overall impression of quality, and most of all consistency, was rather poor. I am aware that Pakistan has a poor reputation with regards to blademaking. These ones are okay for my purpose but I might choose a different project next time, though the small blade does make a fun little project for showcasing various scale materials.
The seller's specifications are as follows:
Overall length: 6-3/4 inches (medium blade), 5-1/2 inches (small)
Blade length: 3-1/2 inches (medium), 2-1/2 inches (small)
Thickness: 5/32 inch (i.e. a hair under 4mm)
Tang holes: 3/32 inch
In fact the medium is the advertised length, but its cutting edge is just under 3 inches and the blade only reaches 3-1/2 inches if you count the ricasso. The smaller one, meanwhile, is 5-11/16 inches and has a blade of 2-11/16 counting the ricasso with a cutting edge of about 2-1/8 inches.
I didn't do anything special with these in furnishing.
Lesson one: Use the section of the wood with the tightest curl for the smallest scales, and looser curl for larger ones.
Lesson two: A knife with an un-flanged slab tang requires scales shaped to fit with extreme precision. As you can see, the slightest imperfection is obvious in the finished object. They may also slide a bit when epoxied on.
Lesson three, the real challenge this time around, was the stain. I originally wanted to obtain or make some "magic maple," a noxious mixture of acid and iron which reacts with the wood when heated to produce a rich brown. I've seen people speak highly of magic maple for bringing out the depth and contrast of figured wood, but it's costly and using it is complex and dangerous. Also, since the scales were very thin, I worried that heating them might cause them to warp, as a sample piece did when subjected to a heat gun.
After sitting on my hands about it for months, I recently decided to just go ahead and use the Minwax red mahogany I already had on hand. This was a very bad idea.
My Minwax was about 12 years old and had become a thick, molasses-like blob that a brush bounced off of. I just scooped up dabs of it and rubbed it into the surface. The first application looked great, producing a deep reddish-brown with almost black bands that rippled wonderfully when turned under bright light. But it never dried. When I went to apply some oil varnish, the stain wiped right off.
I then put some of the Minwax in a disposable bowl and thinned it down with varnish. Again it went on beautifully and never dried. At this point, I realized the Minwax was a lost cause. I wiped the old finish off with mineral spirits and got a new can.
The new can was "red sedona," and while it was nice and liquidy and seemed to stain the wood, it looked... well, awful. Too light, almost pink on top of the pale maple, and opaque. I hoped a layer of linseed oil would darken it, but no such luck.
Finally I went out and got another can of the red mahogany, sanded the sedona finish off and started over. Again I followed the directions for the darkest possible finish. This time the result was acceptable; not fantastic, but not bad-looking either. I finished it with a couple applications of linseed oil and then tung oil varnish for a semi-gloss finish.
I wanted to go for an "early American" frontier-esque look on mine, with the understanding that this is not really a historical knife design and so I didn't feel obligated to stick with only documented embellishments. Thus, the brown dye, whipstitching, spots, and carved wooden beads. The thin Greek leather cords holding the beads in place are simply looped through the stitch holes and knotted on the other ends of the beads, a method used by several commercially-finished versions of this knife. I secured the knots and stopped the ends of the cords from sticking apart by slipping each pair of ends through another bead temporarily and applying a drop of epoxy to the knot. The thicker leather cord braided under the belt loop will allow the knife to be tied to a belt if desired without having to take the belt off first.
I consulted with my mom about how she wanted her knife sheath done; she chose to keep most of the same details I used on mine, but with red dye and no beads or additional belt cord. She also chose a necklace charm from a craft store to attach near the top; I sewed it on with heavy brown button thread.
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