A local man came by my shop, he carried with him a spring steel seat bracket, from a late 1800's McCormick's reaper and an elk shed his grandfather had bought back from a trip out west.
He wanted to know if I had any interest in making him a Scottish dirk from the materials he had in hand. "My granddad harvested grain with that old reaper; I hope you can make me a knife out of this steel and horn"
"My family came from Scotch Highland stock and the knife would be a nice reminder of that.
I told him I would see what I could do.
The shape of the handle is stylized and only has characteristics of the original , the elk antler is very pithy and could not be cut down much. I spark tested the steel from the reaper and it looked good.
The length is 20 inches tip to tip. The bade is 14.5 inches.
The rough grinds are complete; I'll finish the blade this week if the heat doesn't drive me out of the shop.
Fred
