Picture of a knife I finished for a customer, I was pleased with the way it turned out.

Very pretty, nice work there. Your grind lines look pretty even and it has a nice line and symmetry.

It's hard to get a good tight focus on highly reflective items with most digital cameras, isn't it? They want to focus on the background since it's easier for the image focus sensor to distinguish. If your camera doesn't have a manual focus system, you might try "locking-in" the focus on the background with a half-depressed shutter button and then moving the camera back by 1/2 inch or so prior to taking the shot, sometimes that works.

Agreed. Lock your focus on the edge of the handle over the cloth background, then recompose and shoot. Or, even better, use a DSLR with a manual focus lens.

-- Jim

Ah .... Guys ....

I think Joe was actually showing his nice knife there ...

Nice job Joe. Looks real nice.

And ... this is what happens when you show your work to a bunch of techno-geeks ... haha

Gary

Tekno-geeks? oooo the truths hurts

Beautiful knife. Clean, simple, elegant.

Thanks guys, I will try that, it is hard to to get good clear pictures. I do the half shutter but have not back the camera up slightly.

Gary thanks for the compliment it means a lot coming from you. Those guys can't help it, no more than we can help stopping to look at a new powertool or lathe, hehehehe.

Lordy Lordy...thats a beautiful knife.

Yeah, I guess we did the "nerd overkill" thing a bit there...sorry about that. Seeing as the closest thing I've ever done to the hand-made knife arena was a cocobolo letter opener, I guess I'll just say "nice work there" and mean it!

hi , really nice shape , nice looking knife , just to show my ignorance , whats the handle made from , and the rivets. look well together , but i cant see what its actually made from.
thanks tom

Hi Dyson, thankyou.

The bolsters are brass and are pinned with two 1/8 brass pins. The handle material is dyed stabilized Box Elder Burl wood. The rivets used are brass Corby rivets or bolts, they have 5/16 heads. Actually they are two piece, male and female, shaped similar to a screw or round headed bolt. They hold scales very securely, the thong hole is 1/4 inch brass. You are correct, I could have only used one corby rivet and the thong tube to secure the scales especially since the bolsters are dovetailed, but someone would have asked how come there is one rivet holding the scales. So I just make an estimated guess on which will be the worse of two evils and go for it, hehehe.

thaks for the info , it looks stunning , in the pic the scales almost look like some kind of stone . fantastic work ,

Joe, you're doing some fine work with the knives. Is it's nice to see hand craftsmanship. Can you picture the piece before it's finished, or does the beauty jump out at the end?

Thanks for sharing your work.
Kent

Thanks Kent, I'm learning and honing my skills as Gary likes to say. Actually I try to envision all my work as finished before I ever start it. The biggest problem I have found is that not everyone likes what I like, so I have started to think outside that box. Sometimes it works out well other times not so well. Thanks for the encouragment, I appreciate it.
Joe