Alchemist Bone Knife.

I wanted to make a unique antique/primitive style knife with sort of a mysterious theme about it. I had a piece of bone to work with & a piece of white oak from a long gone tree that grew on the mountain above my childhood home. I really didn't know how it was going to turn out exactly but I knew basically what I wanted so I got to work. My comfort zone is making stuff out of cardboard, painting, etc... so this was new materials I worked with. I learned that bone is nasty to work with so having the proper safety such as dust mask, cutting cabinets to further avoid breathing in the hazardous bone dust, & as with working with anything safety glasses. I also learned that with wood, especially an old piece, you really have to make several cuts to get a workable piece because it subject to break when cutting since there are weak spots inside so it takes a lot of work to get a workable block the size you need.

Remember if you are going to cut bone you want to avoid breathing bone dust because it lines your lungs and will not ever come out. Not only did I wear a high grade dust mask but I also made a cabinet out of a cardboard box and lots of tape and cut a window in it taping in a piece of plastic and I cut arm holes & taped shirt sleeves around the holes. Here's everything else I needed.

Safety glasses

gloves

dremel rotary tool with sanding wheels, fiberglass cutoff wheels, rotary cutting bits.

knife

flexible super glue

1/2" wooden dowel 6" long

bone slab

80, 100, 150, & 400 grit sandpaper

pencil

drill press & various bits

files both flat and round

Miramax prestain, wood stain, polyurathane, and spray clear coat

gel pens for alchemy symbols I drew on the blade

blocks of wood

towels & cloths

pliers

One of the hardest things was cutting out the bone inlays to place in handle and sheath. Once I got the inlays cut out of the bone using the dremel & various attachments I had to use 2 different sizes of rotary cutting bits to cut the recesses in the wood to accommodate the bone inlays. This required many trail fittings & going back and take a little more out until they eventually fit flush with the wood. I then used a generous amount of flexible super glue to hold them in place with it actually oozing out around the edges of the inlays & used a cloth to wipe off excess. I then sanded over top of them before the glue was dried to make the edges blend in nice & flush.

With inlays in & the sanding done I was ready to stain. I used miramax prestain, stain, and polyurathane. I drew the ancient alchemist symbols around the blade using gel pens. Gel pens gel smudges off very easily so I spray 4 coats of clear coat over the symbols to keep them protected because sliding the sheath on friction holds it in place & the symbols would never remain without being well protected. I really didn't have the alchemist idea until I had the knife finished & since the bone inlays I made and overall ancient look of the knife seemed to have a alchemy feel about it & I wanted some sort of drawings on the blade I had the idea to just go the alchemy route. I really had no idea that would happen but I'm very happy with how it turned out. It should long outlive me & I actually wrote my name and date inside various parts of the knife before assembling it because who knows where it might end up one of these days.