That is great Gary. A big learning experience there. Still have not finished my attempt. A lot of pins involved. Great work.

Brion

That looks like a real challenge! Looks great to me! I would give it an A+!

Gary I enjoy looking and reading your posts. Thanks for posting!

Russell

Having never seen the original, I cannot comment on how well you managed the replica. However, the replica is a fine looking knife. A few questions, if I may.

The sides look flat to me, as if the cross section of the handle would look like a square or rectangle with four straight sides. Is that correct?

Is there a frame between two scales, then wrapped with a silver case, or is the apple wood a solid piece with an outer shell of silver?

Please elaborate on the construction of this and let us all know how you decided to put it together. What was the research that went into it?

|quoted:

Having never seen the original, I cannot comment on how well you managed the replica. However, the replica is a fine looking knife. A few questions, if I may.

The sides look flat to me, as if the cross section of the handle would look like a square or rectangle with four straight sides. Is that correct?

Is there a frame between two scales, then wrapped with a silver case, or is the apple wood a solid piece with an outer shell of silver?

Please elaborate on the construction of this and let us all know how you decided to put it together. What was the research that went into it?

The handle is a frame tang. There are hidden through pins beneath the silver overlays attaching the handle.

The two scales were attached to the frame tang with 1/8" stainless tubing. This enabled me to add the silver pins w/domed heads later. The domed heads were turned & center bored on a lathe.

The handle wrap is attached with silver pins going into the frame tang. The silver wrap on the back of the blade was soldered to the blade with a low temp solder. The edgewise piece of silver between the blade & handle was slotted like a typical cross guard would be.

The research that went into it consisted of conversations with the owner and photographs that he supplied.

I hope that this all makes sense.

Gary

Here's a better photo of the knife by Chuck Ward:

Gary

Outstanding work Gary!

Excellent work Gary!! I'm impressed!

Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you this weekend.

Gary

Great looking knife! Are you a Mason?

Johnny

Thanks, Johnny. I'm not a Mason. I just admired the original when I saw it last winter at The Arkansas History Museum.

Gary

Gorgeous Gary!!! A work of art.

I cant believe I did not comment on this knife Gary.

I really like it. You did a great job of imitating the original. Again, your work is inspiring. I'm glad this came back up.

Thanks again. Mark helped me a lot with photos & dimensions of the original. There were so many knives like this at the exhibition last winter that I'm sure that I'll have plenty of inspiration for some time. B.T.W.--Has the brochure from the exhibit been printed yet?

I believe that the hardest part of this one was cutting out the star as it was so small. I later heard from a Mason that a star in the center of the square & compass wasn't correct. Not being a Mason, I can't say why the original had the star but in being faithful to the original I used it as well.

All my best & Merry Christmas.

Gary