Handle: Australian Tiger Iron Gemstone (Australia)
Sheath: Hand-carved, Hand-dyed Leather Shoulder inlaid with black glazed Caiman skin
Knife: The Golden Eagle is a favorite design of
mine, and this custom knife was a great pleasure to make for my
client. He had a lot of input on the knife: the design, the steel,
the handle material, sheath inlay, and stand type, and it all came
together in a magnificent way and striking work of edged art. The
blade is CPM154CM, a powder metal technology tool steel, a
high carbon, hypereutectoid martensitic stainless steel high in molybdenum. The powder metal
process produces a steel with incredibly uniform alloy element
distribution, and the high percentage of chromium and molybdenum
insure that the knife is highly corrosion resistant, wear resistant,
and tough. This steel deserves my premium heat treatment, so I
performed a 60 hour deep cryogenic aging at -325°F for full
martensitic conversion and maximum nucleation and creation of fine
eta carbides. I followed this with triple tempering with deep
cryogenic soaks in between for intense thermal cycling, creating a
blade that is several times more wear resistant, much tougher, and
more stable than conventional or even sub-zero treatment can
produce. Simply put, this steel is in the absolute best tool steel
condition it can be. The blade is accurately hollow ground, matched
side to side, and I made it with a very thick spine for tremendous
strength. The mirror polish is flawless, and the full vine filework
extends completely through the tapered tang and inside the front
finger groove. I bolstered the knife in zero-care high nickel, high
chromium 304 austenitic stainless steel, the best stainless for this
application. 304 is so corrosion resistant, there is no chance of
rusting, pitting, staining, or discoloration on this material, ever!
It's so tough that it's used in nearly all stainless steel nuts,
bolts, machine screws and fasters (18-8 stainless steel). I hand-engraved a linear leaf and tendril pattern on the
bolsters to accentuate the straight lines of the knife axis and the
pattern of the gemstone handle. The bolsters are dovetailed,
permanently secured to the tang with zero clearance peened pins, and
rounded, contoured, and polished for comfort. The handle scales are
Australian Tiger Iron, a favorite gemstone, which is tremendously
tough and durable, and will completely outlast the rest of the
knife. Australian Tiger Iron is hematite, quartz, jasper, and tiger
eye, with chatoyant light play (the cat's eye effect) when the stone
is viewed from changing angles. A fixed photograph can't reproduce
this effect, but you can get an idea from the photo set below. I
chose the cuts of the stone and oriented the scales so that the
abundant streaks of the gem emphasize the straight profile of the
blade-to-handle linear relationship. There are hints and flows of
the deep rust-red jasper in bright sunlight, and the gray, metallic sheen of the
hematite in the stone can be seen in the photos. The handle scales are solid, strong,
polished, and comfortable, and the knife balances exactly at the
forefinger placement in the front handle groove. The knife feels and
is incredibly strong and substantial, with significant weight and
mass deserving of its purpose, inspiration, and use.
Sheath: For the sheath, my client
requested Caiman skin, so I procured the finest finished black
glazed Caiman skin I could find. I chose black to blend with the
dark, metallic hematite in the gemstone handle. I hand-carved and hand-dyed the
9-10 oz. leather shoulder sheath body, welts, front, back, and belt
loop, and stitched the sheath with black polyester for durability. I
hand-dyed the leather with a fading graduated color scheme, using the
bits of dark red jasper and the black hematite in the handle as a
color match to fade from the inlay pockets to the edge of the sheath. The
inlays are shaped exactly like the linear and lobed leaf pattern of the
bolster engraving, and the sheath is fully lacquered and sealed for beauty and
endurance. The sheath alone is a work of art, and I'm very happy
with the way it all came together.
Stand: My client requested a burl stand, and I
was lucky enough to have a unique and weathered Ponderosa Pine burl
piece for the project. The burl is curved, eroded, and distinctive,
and I oriented it in a way that allows numerous positions and
angles of display. The knife can be displayed with the sheath,
nested in the curved wing of the burl, or the knife can be displayed
by itself; even the sheath alone in the burl is imaginative and
bold. See the photo set below for some of the display options and
orientations. I mounted the burl to a base of antiqued red oak with
stainless steel screws, and inset neoprene feet to protect any
surface the piece rests upon. It's fully lacquered to bring out the
rich and bold pattern and texture with a permanent sealed surface
throughout. I even included an engraved artist
plate in black lacquered brass screwed to the underside of the base.
This is a rich, strong, masculine piece of visual art; more so,
it is an incredibly tough, durable, and reliable knife and sheath
made with premium materials in the best treatment possible: an honor
to make! Check out the extensive photo set I made below to see all
the detail.
Copyright 1996-2024 by The Jay Fisher Company. All rights reserved. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines up to $25,000 for each violation.
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