This started off as just a blade I wanted to make. Then someone expressed interest in it, and wanted the handle to match (as close as possible) an ivory look. I had some elk antler on hand, so I was able to split a fairly straight section and used that for the handle.
Knife is approximately 8″ overall in length. Started off as another section of leaf spring (5160) that was forged to shape. As usual, 1/8″ diameter brass pins were used, along with a 1/4″ diameter tube for a lanyard to pass through. I did not buff/polish the handle since I didn’t want to risk discoloring it. I did progress through to my high grit sanding belts on it though (up to 800 grit at the time). This is the last blade that I put the final edge on by hand (sharpening kit and wet stones). After all that effort, I decided to try using the belt sander instead (I used to do that back in the 90’s, and remember it being mentioned on FiF at least once). Using the belt sander makes a TON more sense between time saved and how easy it is to get a razor edge. You just need to be careful to NOT let the blade (or tip) get too hot in the process. Which is easy to learn and so not really an issue.
I have a slightly different version of this blade that still needs to get handles and final buffing and edge put onto it. That will be posted as soon as it’s finished. I was going to go with more elk antler, but the piece I have left doesn’t want to cooperate with full tang blades. It might work with a future stick tang blade though.