Finaly finished

[Piet.S]

Damasteel Two Sides pattern.
Bronze and nickelsilver fittings.
Amboina handle.

[TheKnifeCollector]

WOW, that is BEAUTIFUL!! WOW!! That is simply spectacular!!

[Piet.S]

Some details.

[Piet.S]

Some more pics.

[Piet.S]

It's just handwork, simplest of tools.

[Cameron23]

A...W...E...S...O...M...E...!

Are those marks on the left side of the blade Rockwell tests?

Again, awesome...and sweet pics too.

C :spyder:

[The Deacon]

Very nice craftsmanship and a truly beautiful knife that looks like it coud be quite practical as well.

[Monocrom]

That is NICE!

Also, in the first pic, I love how the knife seems to be floating above the glass.

[Axlis]

W o W!!!!! That is AWESOME Piet, thank you very much for sharing with us :)

[rcbalt2]

very nice wow. Thanks for sharing pics of that knife are going in my harddrive

[Piet.S]

The marks on the blade are on request of the customer.
It represents Libra.
He really wanted this as a personal touch.
The overall design is by the customer and myself.
The hump on the back off the handle works out good, it fills the hand nicely.

[smcfalls13]

If the customer changes his/her mind, you can always send it to me :p

That is one sexy knife...well done :D

[Crafft]

That's a beauty Piet!

[HoB]

That is beautiful. Tell us a little bit more about how you did it! What exactly do you mean by "hand tools"?

[Jimmy_Dean]

fantastic knife!
this is damasteel as in stainless damascus?
If I may ask, where did you find that?

[SoCal Operator]

You made that?!? :eek: That is absolutely incredible! Great work.

[Piet.S]

Thanks everybody for the kind words.
Damasteel is made by Damasteel ab, a part of Sandvik.
It is a powdersteel, containing RWL-34 and PMC27.
These are powdersteel variants of ATS-34 and 12C27, they have the same contents.
So yes it is stainless, can be hardened into the 60's HRc, easy to work on and takes a fine edge.
Downsides are that it is expensive, as all damascus, and the purists among us do not considder it true damascus.
It is available in a number of patterns and I bought it from a fellow knifemaker in Holland who also sells materials for knifemaking and factory made knives. www.gatherwood.nl
In the US it is available at www.texasknife.com among others.

Handtools are just that. Some good files, rasps, a hacksaw, a vice, needle files and rasps and a whole lot of abrasive for sanding and polishing.
The only power tools I use are a cheap drill press and a electrical drill.
You don't need a lot of expensive tools to do the job though some could be handy to save time.

[spydutch]

WOW , that's a beautiful piece of cutlery art.

Geweldig!!!! ;) :D

[butch]

fine piece of work there
so have you started the next knife :D
i know you will have to
butch

[Piet.S]

It's pretty addictive isn't it Butch?
There are some designs on my "still to make" list.
And I have to finish a few blades I made for myself some time ago.
But at the moment I'm thinking about a folder, for that's what you can carry and use most of the time.
Besides, I don't want to make the "same knife" over and over again.

[CKE]

Piet

Amazing workmanship. I can really appreciate what you have done with just handtools. Your fit and finish(especially around the guard/bolster) is awesome.

Thanks for sharing.

Craig

[potterma]

That is awesome work! Awesome craftsmanship!

[ghostrider]

Very nice work! So beuatiful it almost left me breathless.

Thanks for sharing.

[uhiforgot]

That is some BEAUTIFUL work!! Don't think that I've had goosebumps like that since the first unveiling of the Lava!!! Thanks for posting the pics!!!

-Jeff

[psimonl]

W :eek: W Never I would see a fixed blade as sexy as a Schempp Persian one day...

Very well done ....

One question.... How can you part with this.... Don't you want to just give the poor man his money back and say you couldn't achieve it so you can keep it?!"?!?!?

Simon

[Piet.S]

Thanks everybody for all those kind words. I hope some off you will take up knifemaking yourself. It's like eating an elephant, bite by bite.
Just buy a finished blank and fit a couple of scales to it.
Everyone can glue two pieces of wood to a piece of steel and make them fit.
Try and see where it leads you.

Hmm, yes Simon, you do touch a nerve there.
It allways hurts a bit, but I think it must.
If you don't feel anything about the knife how could you have give it the effort and care to make it special.
It's not the money, doing some overtime pays way better.
It's doing the best you can.
And wether it's making knives or running or shooting or doing surgery, or work as a LEO or CO or loving your wife and children, at some point you just must do the best you can.
But hey, I'm getting too serious.
So on the bright side, I'll get me some nice materials from the money and the next one will be for keeps.
Btw, its pay on delivery.

[butch]

Hmm, yes Simon, you do touch a nerve there.
It allways hurts a bit, but I think it must.
If you don't feel anything about the knife how could you have give it the effort and care to make it special.
It's not the money, doing some overtime pays way better.
It's doing the best you can.
.
i know those feelings
but yes selling knives feeds the monster by alowing more steel in the door :D

what kinds of steel are you going to get?
butch

[spydutch]

I'm very curious how your folder will turn out ;)

[DAYWALKER]

Aloha Piet.S,

WHOA!!! Now THAT is beautiful...Geweldig ontwerp :eek: ;)

Keep up the great work and God bless :)

[Piet.S]

Thanks guys, your Dutch is geweldig too Chad.
Most likely to be a backlock Arend but I can't tell much more about it now, still designing.
The steel I allready have Butch, no damascus this time but RWL-34.
But I do need some stuff from the US.
English sized reamers are allmost impossible to get here and I think I'll get me some micarta and G-10.
If it proves to be a good knife I can make a dressed up version later.

http://www.hondenhuys.nl/forumsmilies/s34.gif