Project KOPA

[araneae]

Lookin good!

[Pneumothorax]

Looks good, Tony. What the estimate on total time spent? I know there is a ton of work put in before each set of pics. Just curious if I ever get that brave. :p

[tonydahose]

probably 2-3 hours per setting at 4 different days so i'd say 9-12 hours. now i understand why santa fe wanted $250-300 to rescale them.

[The Deacon]

Tony, you've done a great job on your Kopa.

now i understand why santa fe wanted $250-300 to rescale them.

Guess I should be thankful the clipless Kopa never got produced. Saved me a few grand, because even at those prices, I can think of at least a half dozen materials that would have been "must haves" for me. :o

[FLYcrash]

Very nice work, Tony! :)

[Rob]

Thanks Rob, i know what dovetailing is in drawers and cabinetry but i am at a loss on knives...sorry :confused: i didn't really look at how it was held in place to the rest of the knife either.

Strange... actually I answered in this thread yesterday with a little drawing of what I meant but somehow my post disappeared. :confused:

The sketch was bad anyway. Please take a look at this website. You can see the dovetailing on the bolsters very good on the pictures that are showing the spine. That's exactly what I meant - if the bolsters on the Kopa are dovetailed like the ones on the pictures on that website or if they build a straight line with the scale material.

A bit difficult to describe, so I hope with the pictures it makes some sense :rolleyes:

Cheers, Rob

[ozspyder]

I thought they were slightly dovetailed but now I am uncertain. Will have to check in the morning.

[The Deacon]

Rob, I really doubt the factory scales on any of the Kopas were dovetailed. Doing that on a single bolstered knife with straight bolsters is "relatively" easy. Doing it on a double bolstered one with straight bolsters is somewhat harder, but still doable. But doing it on a double bolstered knife with arced bolsters would require the scales be put in place before the bolsters at the time the knife is being assembled as there would be no way to slide the scales under the angled edge of the bolsters.

[Rob]

...doing it on a double bolstered knife with arced bolsters would require the scales be put in place before the bolsters at the time the knife is being assembled as there would be no way to slide the scales under the angled edge of the bolsters.

That's what I was thinking too. In one of the pictures it looks as they might be slightly dovetailed but it's hard to tell and on all other pics you can't see it at all. :confused:

Cheers, Rob

[tonydahose]

sorry for the late reply, i am going to the store for the sand paper and finishing products and i figured out what you meant with the dovetailing. the answer is no, like Paul said it would be impossible unless the scale material was pliable(sp?) and you could bend it into place. i am guessing it looks that way because of the very good fit of the scales into the knife.

[tonydahose]

Done!

ok, here she is, sorry i didn't take any pics of the finishing process but all i did was tape up the bolsters and wipe some boild linseed oil on the scales. let them dry. taped up the scales and polished the bolsters with the red rouge that comes with dremel kits. i used electrical tape, it came off easy and i used it again on the other side, i just needed to add one small piece on each side to completely cover them. my one question is how do you get a uniform finish right next to the scale without messing up the finish, you can see what i mean in the last pic.









i already took off the scales on kopa number 2 :D , i am going to go start cutting the wood. hope you guys liked the project. it was laborious (big word for me huh..lol :p ) but i liked the end result and i think i can cut alot of time down now that i have done it once. Number 2 will be 30,000 year old New Zeland Yellow Kauri :cool: .


Edit: hey Rob, definitely not dovetailed.

[bh49]

Great job Tony. Looks nice. Is this wood treated or it is hard and dense enough so don't have to be treated?
I am looking forward to see your second work. May be after that you will start to take custom orders :)

[angusW]

Awesome job Tony. Looks great. If I had a Kopa I would be sending it to you for new scales.

[CanisMajor]

Tony, that looks really good, I hope you have more to come.

Canis

[tonydahose]

Great job Tony. Looks nice. Is this wood treated or it is hard and dense enough so don't have to be treated?
I am looking forward to see your second work. May be after that you will start to take custom orders :)

Thanks Roman, it isn't treated, i just used some of the linseed oil. i also have some tung oil that i might try next time. i went with the linseed because the dry time wasn't that long :p . after i get a few under my belt i probably will take an order if someone is brave enough to send me their kopa :D . i have one more definite material that i want to try after the kauri and just a few others floating around in my noggin. thanks for the compliments everyone :) .

[ozspyder]

Awesome job Tony :p

I think you'd probably just want a rough polish with paper wheels or something similar that'll do both the scales and the bolsters at the same time. Then buff all at the same time. I think that might do the trick :)

NZ Kauri was this why you were asking me about that? I might be getting the green swamp kauri later but they are bloody expensive. Might be worth getting a larger slab to do half my Persians and Kopas with :D Maybe a Delica as well. I love the greenish colour !

Keep up the good work Tony, can't wait to see Kopa v2.0

[The Deacon]

You did and excellent job Tony. The purpleheart looks great and I think you made a good choice with the boiled linseed oil finish. Regarding tung oil, unless you know for sure that it can be used safely on top of linseed oil, it might be a good idea to check with someone knowledgeable. I'm not, but I do know that not all finishes play well together. On the other hand, multiple coats of boiled linseed oil work fine. In my younger days I did a number of gun stocks and handgun grips that way.

[tonydahose]

i meant on the next knife not this one Paul. i dont plan on mixing them, thanks

[kankryb]

Looks real good I´ll buy one :) .

[JT]

Congrats, it looks awesome! A true gentlemans knife, for sunday church pocket time.. :)

Did anyone know, what was that other wood you had on the pics on pg 2? it looks good..