Project KOPA

[bh49]

Tony,
With your Kopas I feel like a kid in a candy store. :) I already do not know, which one I like the most.

[tonydahose]

thanks everyone, especially you , Butch, since you do this for a living. i appreciate it. i am having a blast with this, although i have to admit hand sanding that iron wood was a pita and it smelled like an old person's house believe it or not..lol. as for the malachite it will be finished because it needs to go down under with these other 2 kopas to join in the Kabana :D . the hard part is finding material to top the last ones i made. you guys have any ideas?

[araneae]

I really like the redwood one a lot. Have you thought about trying bone? It may be a challenge, but i think it would suit the Kopa. Bocote is another wood I have always loved.

[The Deacon]

I't hard Tony, there's so much stuff to choose from. Problem with most of it is finding "the right" specimen. Can think of a number of species of wood that can be very eye catching, but many need a larger knife than the Kopa to show off their grain patterns.

Among the woods with smaller grain patterns, snakewood, leopardwood, masur birch, birdseye maple, curly maple, koa, zebrawood, and eucalyptus would work. But they all can either be very highly figured and very attractive, or relatively bland. To me, Gaboon Ebony, which is pretty much solid black, has very little character, but I've seen some Asian Ebony out there with a lot of creamy white in it that knocks my socks off. There are also some eBay sellers offering interesting laminated/marquetry wood scales, just not sure how well the joints would hold up in thin cross sections.

Most forms of horn and antler, would work, but again, the trick is selecting the right pieces. Ivory, either modern or ancient would definitely work, although on a Kopa the modern stuff would look a lot like the Evrina.

As for man made materials, tons of stuff out there. Heck, there have to be enough flavors of Corian alone to do an entire run of Kopas. :D

[skatenut]

excellent work Tony, congrats! like the ironwood and the corian best.

[aero_student]

I'm thinking some purpleheart would look fantastic.

[tonydahose]

I't hard Tony, there's so much stuff to choose from. Problem with most of it is finding "the right" specimen. Can think of a number of species of wood that can be very eye catching, but many need a larger knife than the Kopa to show off their grain patterns.

Among the woods with smaller grain patterns, snakewood, leopardwood, masur birch, birdseye maple, curly maple, koa, zebrawood, and eucalyptus would work. But they all can either be very highly figured and very attractive, or relatively bland. To me, Gaboon Ebony, which is pretty much solid black, has very little character, but I've seen some Asian Ebony out there with a lot of creamy white in it that knocks my socks off. There are also some eBay sellers offering interesting laminated/marquetry wood scales, just not sure how well the joints would hold up in thin cross sections.

Most forms of horn and antler, would work, but again, the trick is selecting the right pieces. Ivory, either modern or ancient would definitely work, although on a Kopa the modern stuff would look a lot like the Evrina.

As for man made materials, tons of stuff out there. Heck, there have to be enough flavors of Corian alone to do an entire run of Kopas. :D

i know what you mean by fitting the material to the kopa's small size, i appreciate all your and Dan's help with the photoshopping, it has helped in picking the materials. i am thinking of that purple one that you dii for me since the purpleheart is gone. as for the corian i know i will do another cobalt for my collection, i might check into the higher end corian, i forgot the name but they have some cool looking colors and it has more depth too. i also have to find some of that red quince, Sal never answered on that one and i dont want to bug him again.

excellent work Tony, congrats! like the ironwood and the corian best.

thanks

I'm thinking some purpleheart would look fantastic.

check out the first page of this thread. :D

[ozspyder]

Tony,

I like your work. We should stop calling you Endra-man but now Kopa-man :p

Now.... for the next question. Do you do any customising of any other Spydies ? say Chinese Lums, Delicas or Persians? I'm also thinking out loud for a Curly Koa Caly 3 ? :D

[Nifty_Nives]

you know i havent carried any yet..lol. i carry my endura at work, a centofante in my jacket and a waved delica when i am off duty. i rarely go anywhere were i would need a classy knife. i need to send one of my squashs to Jose in spain to cover up the clip hole so i can make a clipless kopa. that would probably get pocket time. what material to choose i have no idea yet. i am going to be getting some high end material soon, i cant wait to see how it will look in a kopa. as far as making them i am getting a lil quicker. i did the corian and the wood today but if the iron wood is a safe queen it could use a lil more sanding. these two actually might be sold already, so i will have to make copies so i can have the same ones for my collection.

Did you really just generalize your whole brawl of enduras into one? Dont you have like 50 of those? Hahaha, tony's a riot! (not the bear)

[JNewell]

Great stuff, Tony. You are inspiring me to get back to work!

[Chris_H]

The redwood burl & desert ironwood kopas are gorgeous. :cool:

[aero_student]

i know what you mean by fitting the material to the kopa's small size, i appreciate all your and Dan's help with the photoshopping, it has helped in picking the materials. i am thinking of that purple one that you dii for me since the purpleheart is gone. as for the corian i know i will do another cobalt for my collection, i might check into the higher end corian, i forgot the name but they have some cool looking colors and it has more depth too. i also have to find some of that red quince, Sal never answered on that one and i dont want to bug him again.


thanks



check out the first page of this thread. :D

I'm feeling a might bit stupid right now; pardon while I remove my keyboard from my mouth...

http://www.righteouswoods.com/woodmenu.html

They have some pretty darn gorgeous and different wood. I also have some Koa floating around from a Hawaii trip...

[tonydahose]

thanks for the link, i finished these last nite, they are in my kopa page in the picture section but i figured i shoould keep all the modded ones in here as well.


Green Malachite Kopa



Bocote Kopa

[defenestrate]

Oooh. The green Malachite is pretty! :D

[The CoPilot]

Tony:

Can I ask what type of adhesive you use to attach the scale material to the knife body? Some sort of super-strong epoxy?

[tonydahose]

yep, 2 ton epoxy, Butch recommended it.

[hiredgun]

Tony,

Nice work and you've got your technique down for that nice mirror polish on the bolsters. Me likey!

[tonydahose]

ok here is the hardest one to do yet. it is fossil, i don't know if it is considered dinosaur or not? so what should i call this one Dino Kopa, Fossilized Kopa?? the scales were very hard, literally to work with. woodworking tools just wouldn't cut it..lol puns abound..lol. i needed to use cutoff wheels and then hope it wouldn't break. i have a set of purple scales like this that snapped just when i unwrapped them. i will see if i can salvage them for this kopa's brother :) . another big problem i had is that the surface was pretty flat but as soon as i sanded down natural voids in the material showed themselves. i had to epoxy the holes, let them dry and then sand down some more. i did this 4X until i finally finished it about an hour ago. this was way more labor intensive and it took some guess work on how to complete it. anyways you aren't here for my dribble drabble, you want pics. here ya go. first some rough ones and then the finsihed product. i will post them in my kopa pictorial on the other side as well. here is that green i promised you Roman :D .

[defenestrate]

Wow! That is stunning! This might be my favorite yet!

[bh49]

Tony,
great job. I am impressed again and again. I will call her Dino zebra.