It's not what I'd want the finished product to look like–I worked with what I had on hand, and that included a beat-up old butterfly knife and some one-inch PVC pipe and caps. I'd want the blade to be wider, thicker, as in the original drawing, and I wouldn't have the caps, just a rounded butt and some kind of guard; however, it does give me enough of a feel for the design to tell me that it will work like I wanted. Proportions are off, I'd have the handle be a inch or so shorter, too, but there you go.
The knife's handle fit snugly into the pipe, and I cut slots at the top for the tiny guard that flares a bit at the base of the blade. With the knife pushed firmly in place, I cut a slot in the top cap for the blade, squirted a fair amount of epoxy into the handle to set everything, glued the caps on, and voila! It doesn't have to work, save to see if I can manipulate it.
I'm sure a knifemaker could produce something ever so much more elegant.
I thought of this: http://www.atlantacutlery.com/p-863-knob-sword-cane.aspx
ReplyDeleteYeah, sword canes are in the realm, but I'd hate to have to ruin one cutting it down. Plus most of them seem to be narrow-bladed and double-edged, and I don't want a dagger.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a dimple to indicate blade orientation is excellent and addresses my concerns quite elegantly.
ReplyDeleteIf I were building this, I'd probably be unable to resist building it as a flashlight --- just pull the base off to get the knife / handle --- have the working part of the flashlight separate / function as a sheath --- looks to me a 4 cell C-cell Maglite would work quite nicely as a shell --- just replace the flashlight workings w/ an LED bulb and a bunch of AAs or AAAs (whatever would fit around the blade) and you'd have a very nice tool.
William
I like the flashlight idea. I can see how it could be done like you posit it. Neat thought. I know a flashlight guy who could put it together, though I'm more inclined to the bare knife. You can carry a knife on your belt in these parts, but a flashlight with a knife in it would pretty much have to be considered a concealed weapon.
ReplyDeleteYeah, concealed weapon laws would be a concern if it functioned as a flashlight.
ReplyDeleteMaking it as a simple cylinder though would be an interesting thought --- especially if one were willing to slightly off-set the blade from center so as to allow one to make two matching knives each of which would function as the sheath for the other and which when combined would simply be a featureless (save for two metal dimples) cylinder.
It should be possible to work up a locking mechanism where both dimples would have to be depressed to allow the knives to come apart.
William
This is very similar to the Chris Reeve One Piece knife, have you looked into that?
ReplyDeleteHe makes nice knives, but they seem to be opposite what I'm looking for, viz the balance. He's hollowed out the one-piece handles, and the blades are longer than the handles, so the balance is going to be forward, or maybe right at the guard. I'm thinking that the balance point should be a hair forward of the middle of the handle.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Adams,
ReplyDeleteI've seen that somewhere...
Here: http://budk.com/Swords/Double-Blade-Fantasy-Swords
26" closed, 23" each separate, 46" as a twofang.
I'm not wedded to the tsuba guard, though I think there needs to be something. I'm thinking that the blade should be 3-3-1/2" long, thick and stubby, and the handle about 4-1/2" long, with the diameter somewhere between 1-1/4"-1-1/2" or so, the butt rounded. (I have small hands; the distance across my R. palm is under 4".)
ReplyDeleteIt would be useful to have some way to index the edge by feel, a dimple, indentation, a groove, under the edge on the handle just behind the guard. I like all kinds of wood, light or dark -- I've got a guitar with an Indian Rosewood back, but another one that is Osage Orange.
I like matte-finished, stone-washed, on steel, and carry is usually strong-side (right, for me), saber grip; however, because I sometimes go strapped and that's where I keep my boomware, I tend to like a belt knife a little further back, closer to the hip pocket.