"Trapper" knife project

[Jason Fry]

I've had it in my head to do a trapping themed knife. I've got some cool elements to include this time: original Schrade trapper blades, a vintage Newhouse trap spring given to me by famous photographer Wyman Meinzer, an antique trap tag, and a set of coyote jaws.

I ended up making a deal with another knifemaker, Bubba Crouch. I'm going to make the steel and a bowie, and he's going to make a slipjoint trapper that we'll try to sell as a set.

This project should take a few months. My first attempts at welding up the blades was a failure, so I took my show on the road.

Here's a video I shot about the first steps. I put the Schrade blades in a canister with 1095 powder, and the trap spring in a can with 1080+nickel powder.

https://youtu.be/fFPTQRWBrqY

Next I'll send Bubba his steel and figure out what I'm going to do with the bowie. More progress over the next few weeks.

[Jason Fry]

Here are a few preliminary drawings. Haven’t made up my mind yet.



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[crittergetter76]

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this one.

[TxHamJello]

Very interesting. Looking forward to seeing the jaw used on the handle, and how the pattern turns out on that blade! Very cool.

[ATXArcher]

Following. Can’t wait to see the finished products.


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[Jason Fry]

Here’s me and Mr. Meinzer. He gave me the trap spring, I gave him a copy of my book.

[3ChordTruth]

This is going to be cool, good luck with it. Thanks for including your drawings, I really admire the ability creative folks like you have to get an idea, put it on paper and then build it.

[Jason Fry]

Made some progress on this one. Forged the billet into a blade, rough ground, hardened, and finish ground this weekend. Lots of long steps with no interesting pics lol.


Here it is HT and ready to hand sand. 4 hours later it looks the same but more shiny lol.

I did put together a video on how I got stamp the blades.

https://youtu.be/MxoccyIpcrU

I also worked some on the handle. My thought was to kind of inlay the jaws into some 1912 bois d’arc fence post. Here’s a rough shot of the inlay. Not clean and tight yet… may not get it to clean and tight. I've got both sides fit, and am still working on the handle geometry. Still not satisfied.



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[Jason Fry]

Got this from Bubba. Trapper damascus blade and he’s going with copper frames that he will age and texture.



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[Jason Fry]

Few more hours generates small changes. I got the guard fit up, although not to shape, but that allowed me to mortise the handle and finalize the profile.




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[PoppinPiggies]

wow those jaw bone handles are going to be amazing

[sharpshooter1]

Now that’s going to be cool!

[Tannercall]

This is super cool!

[Jason Fry]

Next step is to glue the jaws to the handles. Black epoxy will do the trick and fill the gap bit in a rustic goopy kind of way.


Also shaped the guard a bit. This time I set up my work rest with my 1/2” small wheel to cut the curves on the back of the guard. First time I’ve done that, but won’t be the last.

In the mean time I’m waiting on glue to cure on the jaws plus two other knives. Have some leather to do today also. Probably shift to that while I wait.


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[Jason Fry]

Here it is “in the white”, put together for test fitting prior to etching. Still a bit more fit work, then I’ll start the etching and glue it up. May finish tomorrow



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