Developing knife skills:

Developing Knife Skills: A Scandinavian Approach to Competence with the Blade by Jim Dillard.

When bushcraft students show up to class or camp, they are always anxious to begin to work with their knife. They want to make the things they have seen in books and magazines, and by the end of the week, they hope to have a fair level of expertise in knife craft.
Too often these are folks who do not have a solid foundation in the most basic knife handling skills. They may own a respectable collection of blades, but there is a better than even chance that they have never spent the hours of work with a knife that would give them the capability they need. And through no fault of their own, most of them don’t know how to go about gaining the experience that will make them the experts they want to be.
The answer to this is simple. With a little instruction and lots of pleasurable practice, anyone can develop a solid level of competence with the knife, and it can be done right at home. Once the time is invested, an individual can enter the bush with the knowledge that they will be proficient, quick and safe with their most important tool.

The Scandinavian Solution

For a great many years the Scandinavian governments and peoples have taken great pride in their knives and their ability to use them. Most of those governments maintain federal departments charged with encouraging traditional crafts, and although now a thing of a past, their public schools at one time offered manual arts courses centered around the use of the knife. The projects and techniques used in these courses can help turn most willing beginners into top-notch bushcrafters in a relatively short time. This article will take you through one of those projects.

The Tools

First, an admonition – there are all kinds of gadgets on the market that can keep you from learning the use of basic tools. Don’t use them. The only way to acquire the know-how you need is to work with nothing but the tools you carry with you in the woods. The chain saw and the angle grinder may speed up the completion of your project, but they will only get in the way of what you want to learn.
The basic tools you will need are ax, knife and crooked knife.
The ax should be one of a high quality such as those made by Wetterlings or Gransfors Bruks. These have a hardness of about Rc 57 as opposed to discount store axes, which usually have Rockwell ratings in the 40’s. Although most folks here in the Alaskan Bush tend to use axes with handles of about 30” because of their versatility, carving with handles of 17-19” or so is easier and a bit safer.
Since the main job of the crooked knife (sometimes called a bent knife) will be to hollow, you need one with a short, deeply curved blade. If you are going to hollow small items, the crooked knife blade needs to be no wider than 1/2 “ at the base and should taper to a sharp point. The narrow part of the blade near the point will let you reach into small places such as the bowl of an eating size spoon.
Although the above tools are essential, your knife will do 90% of the work, so choose it well. Look for knives with a spear, clip or drop point. The point shouldn’t be much above the middle of the blade. Blades with a big bellies and high points are difficult to carve with. A knife for an experienced user should be between 3 and 4” long. If you aren’t sure what length you need, go with the shorter blade until you know you’re ready for the long one.
Since most bushcraft work is done with wood, a full Scandinavian bevel is a must. Beginning carvers can get quite frustrated with convex or short secondary bevels. The reason is that with these bevels it is difficult to tell the exact angle that the edge will engage the wood. One cut may be too deep and the next too shallow. With the Scandi bevel, however, all you need to do is to lay the bevel flat against the wood, raise it a few degrees and cut. It doesn’t take long to learn to quickly judge the exact angle needed to make consistent, paper-thin shavings.
For beginning carvers it is hard to beat the standard Mora model 120 carving knife. It has a laminated steel blade with a hard core that will retain an edge, and its 2 3/8” blade is safe and easy to control. Even though I carry sheath knives with longer blades, I always have a Mora 120 with me for small carving projects. Most carving schools both in this country and in Europe require the 120 for beginning students. As you become competent with the 120, you might want to also use your regular sheath knife for part of your projects so that you can learn its full potential.

The Mora model 120 and a crooked knife with a point are two of the most versatile tools a carver can own.

Getting Started

You will be working mostly with green wood. Green wood needs special care so projects do not split as a result of drying too quickly, but it carves easily and is a pleasure to use. The special care will be covered later. For eating utensils a fine-grained wood works best. Here on Kodiak Island, the only woods we have that fit that description are alder and black birch, both excellent carving woods. If you aren’t sure which wood in your area to use, contact your local woodcarvers’ club. They will be glad to help.
For a first project try a simple spoon. Using safe ax practices, cut a piece of straight, green wood about 14” long and 3” in diameter. With baton and ax, split the piece end to end just slightly off center. Removing the center of green wood lessens the chance of checking (cracking) as the wood dries, so use the smaller side for the spoon. After drawing a spoon on the wood, use the ax to begin shaping the bowl of the spoon by rounding the end of the wood and notching at the rear of the bowl. Once the drawn handle line is reached with the notch, split off all excess wood parallel to the handle. Watch the wood carefully as you work. If at any time the wood begins to check (most likely on the ends) simply dip it in water.

After notching behind the bowl, split off the excess wood with axe and baton.

Once the roughing with the ax is complete, the fun begins. Use your knife for final shaping and finishing. In tight corners such as where the bowl joins the handle, choke up on the back of the blade and use only the tip. Force yourself to learn to use every inch of the blade to its fullest potential. You will eventually be amazed at the versatility of a well-designed blade.

When carving in tight corners, use only the tip of the blade.

Contrary to what your mother once told you, almost all carving of smaller projects should be toward you. With the edge pointed toward your body, use your thumb to pull the knife through the wood, keeping the thumb to the side of the path of the edge. This way the blade will only travel a few inches instead of the wide and dangerous sweeps associated with carving away from you.

Cutting toward yourself by pulling with your thumb is safe because the blade will only travel a few controlled inches per cut.

While carving your first project, work slowly and observe the edge as it enters the wood. You will find that cutting at a slight angle to the grain direction will make chips that are smooth and easy to pare off. A standard rule is that if the wood begins to split or the blade gets stuck, cut from another angle.

By carving at a slight angle to the grain, chips will come off smooth and clean. Carving parallel to the grain (shown by arrow) the knife will get stuck or will split the wood.

Once the outside of the spoon has been completely carved, you are ready to hollow. If you must leave it over night before hollowing, take precautions to prevent checking (cracking) by dipping the piece in water and storing it in a plastic bag. If you are in the woods, use the old Alaska Native technique of packing it in wet moss or wet grass until the hollowing begins.
Draw a line just inside the outer rim of the spoon bowl. Make it about 3/16 of an inch from the edge. Then using the crooked knife palm up (with the blade closest to your little finger) hollow all around the bowl moving from the rim to the center. By hollowing toward the center, there will be no chance of chipping the edge of the bowl. Once you have carved a half-inch deep or so, you can hollow in any direction without damage to the spoon’s rim.

Always hollow toward the center until the cavity is at least a half-inch deep. This will insure that the knife doesn’t slip and cut the edge of the spoon bowl.

Once hollowed, the inside of the spoon bowl should be sanded, but sanding is best done with dry wood, so the spoon needs to cure first. Slow drying can be achieved by placing the spoon in a plastic bag. Overnight, moisture will leave the wood and condense on the inside of the bag. Each day turn the bag inside out and place the spoon back inside. This lets the moisture evaporate from the wood a little at a time. If the bag is not turned on a regular basis the moisture will cause the wood to mold.
Once moisture no longer forms on the inside of the bag, the spoon is ready to be air dried for a week or so at room temperature. A more traditional drying method is to wrap the spoon in wet moss and let the entire bundle dry slowly in the shade. When the wood is dry, sand the bowl of the spoon, oil with cooking oil or a hardening food-safe oil and use.

The Next Project

After completing the first project, challenge yourself with more complicated designs of spoons, bowls and other utensils. Patterns for projects can be found in an excellent book titled Swedish Carving Techniques by Willie Sundqvist. Although this book is currently not in print, it can be found in most libraries. Examples can also be found by searching the internet with the words “Scandinavian crafts.”
With each project you will become more competent and more at ease with your tools. I have never known a bushcrafter or woodsman who, after completing several dozen such projects, wasn’t totally competent with the knife. Because no job in the woods is more complicated than making a fine ladle, skill gained doing traditional Scandinavian woodcraft will enhance every aspect of outdoor knife use.

After completing several dozen traditional Scandinavian wooden ware projects with hand tools, the average bushcrafter will have the skills needed to do just about any knife job the wilderness requires.

Once a high level of knife skill has been achieved, projects such as this camp-made leister will be a breeze. Although an axe and a gimlet were used in making this effective fish getter, the knife did 90% of the work.

The bushcrafter’s reward. Food gathered with devices you made cooks in a wooden boil box and will be served with a newly carved ladle. All items made in camp with simple tools.

Need a Sheath? Make Your Own! by Jim Dillard

A hand made sheath will last for years, and by making your own you will have an unlimited choice of options.


I wear a sheath knife all but a few days each year, and that presents a problem. Even though a good knife may last a lifetime, most factory sheaths have only a few years of daily use in them at best, and it is difficult to find a replacement that is a good fit for a particular knife.
True, there are some excellent custom sheath makers out there, but often their work will set you back more than the cost of a good working knife. The answer – make your own.
Another reason to learn to make your own sheath is the project knife. A large number of knife fans enjoy purchasing a kit or blade and putting together a knife that suits their own needs. But again, once the project is finished, it is often impossible to find a safe, durable sheath that is a good fit and actually looks good with your new knife. With a little practice, you can produce a quality sheath that will be equal to or better than one that comes with even a high-end factory knife.

The Project

My most recent project started with an Enzo blade from Ben’s Backwoods. The Finnish made Enzo is a high-quality blade that comes in O1 or D2. It is available either in a kit or as a blade only. I opted for the D2 because it is one of my favorite blade steels and has a hardness of Rc 61. And because my home area provides a wealth of natural handle materials, I decided on the blade only.
The blade was handled with reindeer antler that came from a feral herd that roams the south end of Kodiak Island, and it was finished with an inlay design that appears on ancient petroglyphs found in my home area.



Getting Started – The Sheath Liner

A hard sheath liner not only makes the sheath last longer, it adds a clear element of safety. Some makers prefer to carve sheath liners from soft wood such as pine or basswood. Making a sheath liner from hardwood only takes a little longer and will be much more durable.
Be sure to use wood that is not prone to splitting. For instance, although all varieties of oak are hard, most tend to split. My favorite liner wood is hard maple. It holds up well and the fine, consistent grain makes it easy to carve. Since a liner only requires small pieces, all the wood you need can usually be had for free from the scrap bin of your local cabinet shop.
The process is an easy one. Clamp the liner wood to a table or workbench and trace around the outline of the blade. Next, follow the outline with the tip of a small knife pushing straight down into the wood. This is known as a stop cut and will keep you from cutting past the drawn outline.



Carve deep enough to fit the blade and a little extra. A depth of the thickness of the blade plus 20% more is about right. Try the blade frequently as you carve to insure a good fit.



The next steps must be followed in sequence. Draw a line about 1/8” outside the carved area and cut along this line with band saw or coping saw (the line is shown in red ink in the photo). Then using wood glue, glue this piece to another board and clamp overnight. Saw out the shape of the liner using the carved piece for an outline. At this time the thickness of the liner should also be sawed to about 1/8” to 3/16” on both sides of the blade.



Now chamfer the opening of the sheath with the tip of your knife. This is an essential step. When the knife is put into the sheath, the chamfered opening will funnel the tip of the knife down into the liner. If this is not done, the blade may either catch on the top of the liner, or it may cut through the side of the sheath leather.



Finally, carve the outside of the liner to a round, smooth finish. Sanding is not necessary because the leather will cover up minor surface irregularities.



The Right Leather

The leather you use must be “bark tanned” or “vegetable tanned.” These leathers can be easily wet formed. Most sheaths are made of 6 or 7 ounce leather, with traditional Scandinavian sheaths made of about 3 ounce stock.
Small quantities of leather can be purchased from most knifemaking suppliers. Since I make a number of sheaths for gifts and for trade, I purchase a half hide at a time from Muir & McDonald of Dallas, Oregon. They have been tanning quality leather since 1863, and by purchasing in quantity I can save about half the usual cost. The sheath featured in this article had a total cost of about $3.00.



Choose Your Own Style

By making your own, you give yourself the choice of a sheath style that you like best. Most factory models are made with a belt loop which is an extension of the back of the sheath. The dangling Scandinavian models attached to a cord or outside belt make really good sense in winter when otherwise your knife would be under layers of clothing.



For the Enzo knife I chose a “high-ride” sheath style. I prefer this style in the summer because it keeps the knife out of the way while sitting on the ground or in boats or small planes.



Molding the Leather

At this point it is a good idea to make a paper pattern. Place the knife in the liner and form the paper around them. It makes handling easier if you tape the knife handle to the carved liner. Remember that due to the thickness of the leather, it will take a piece of leather larger than the paper. I like to leave at least 1 1/2” extra. It is better to trim off a little leather than to have to start over.
Transfer the pattern to the leather and cut. Be sure that your pattern is laid out in a manner that puts the smooth side of the leather on the outside, unless you are going for a period or rustic look such as the sheaths in the following photo, in which case you will want the rough side out.



Next, soak the leather in water or rubbing alcohol. I prefer alcohol because cuts down the molding and drying time to about half of using water. When the leather is limp, it is time to form it around the knife and liner.
If your handle material or finish is prone to staining or damage by the alcohol, be sure to wrap the knife with kitchen cling wrap before starting this step. This will keep the handle dry during the rest of the process.
If your purpose is to duplicate a typical factory sheath, simply take the leather out of the soak and holding it in your hands, form it around the knife and liner. In most cases the leather should be brought together along the edge of the blade. Since I opted for a compact hip-hugging style of sheath on this project, I put the leather on a cutting board and formed it with the back of the sheath as a flat surface.



It is important to work the leather around the handle. Keep forming the leather against the handle with your fingers until it stays on its own. A good job here will result in a snug fit that will hold the knife in place even when the sheath is upside down.






Drying Time

While the leather is drying, you will need to either clamp the two edges of the leather together or, in this case, weight them down to keep them from curling. Be absolutely certain the clamps or weights are placed only on the EXTRA leather. If anything is placed on the wet leather, it will leave a permanent impression, so clamp only the leather that is to be trimmed off.
Let dry over night at room temperature. Then remove the knife and liner and let dry another day or two. This can take longer if you used water.

Sewing

Due to the high-ride design I chose for this sheath, the belt loop on this sheath is made of a separate piece. No matter which style you choose, glue the belt loop to the back of the sheath using rubber cement. When dry, draw lines where you want the stitching to run.
There are two high wear areas where even heavy thread is likely to wear through. These are the back of the sheath and the inside in the handle area. This wear can be completely avoided by inletting the thread below the surface of the leather. The inletting can be done with a small woodcarver’s “V” tool, or since I am more used to having a knife in my hand, I use the tip of a very sharp blade to cut a groove the depth of the thread.



Once the grooves are cut, mark the stitching holes. This spacing can be marked with a ruler, or for a few dollars you can buy a stitching marker that will save time. An inexpensive stitching marker is pictured in the above photo.
Since this leather is too heavy to push a needle through, use a small drill to drill the marked holes. Although a 1/16” drill bit makes the job easier, a smaller number 58 or 60 wire gauge bit will make a hole small enough that it will grip the thread.
Using a needle with a fairly large eye such as a common embroidery needle, stitch the holes with waxed, nylon leather thread. If you have used the smaller drill bit, you may need to use pliers to pull the needle through the holes.
Once the strap is sewn on, glue the sheath liner to the inside of the sheath. Be sure to have the knife in the liner while gluing to assure good alignment.





Finishing Up

The process from here on is pretty obvious. Mark and drill holes on the outside of the sheath. Stitching can be in a simple straight line, or create geometric patterns within parallel rows or stitching as in the following photo. Be creative.



At this point, you have the option of using a leather dye or leaving the leather a natural color. Then embellish the leather with your own personal designs if desired. The ocean theme on my knife handle was carried over to the sheath by burning seaweed on the sheath using a common woodburner.
Last, sand and burnish the exposed edges of the leather and coat the sheath with a waterproof finish, either lacquer or acrylic. Then do the final stitching.

A sheath made in this manner will give you years of service, and of course for the average knife enthusiast, there are few things more satisfying as making your own.

Fine Tune Your Mora Part 2 - The Two Way Sheath by Jim Dillard

Although the Mora knife is one of the true bargains of bushcraft equipment, the plastic sheath does not always satisfy the needs of avid bushcrafters. Aftermarket sheaths such as the JRE are available, but of course one of the most rewarding aspects of bushcraft is to use your own self-made gear. The following is a step-by-step tutorial on a really easy sheath to make for your Mora. This particular sheath features a hard liner in the blade area, which will insure the safety of the user.
Photos 1 and 2 show the two-position use of this sheath. The handle up position is best when the sheath is worn beneath a shirt or jacket, and the handle down carry is best when the sheath is worn on the outside of the clothing. I frequently carry mine in the handle down position under my left arm. This provides a quick one-handed draw with my right hand.
Photo 3 shows the first step in the process. To use the plastic sheath that comes with your knife for a liner, cut the sheath at the same angle as the guard portion of the handle. Cut the sheath so that you have about 3/16” of free space between the tip of the knife and the inside of the sheath.
Photo 4 – bevel the inside of the plastic sheath to eliminate the possibility of the knife tip catching on the edge when the blade is inserted into the new sheath. Photo 5 – tape the knife to the sheath liner. This will prevent shifting when you are molding the leather and will make a more secure fit.

You will need a piece of thin leather about 6” x 10”. It should be 3 or 4 ounce, about 1/16” thick. This is a standard thickness for most Scandinavian style sheaths. Leather a little thicker will work, but will be harder to form. To form the sheath you can either wet the leather with water or with rubbing alcohol. I much prefer the alcohol because it evaporates quickly and therefore takes much less time to form. Soak the leather thoroughly until it becomes limp. With the alcohol this will take a half hour or so. Then wrap the leather around the knife and liner and begin to form it with your fingers. As the leather dries, it will begin to stay in place. Pay particular attention to the handle area around the guard of the knife because a snug fit in this area is what keeps the knife from falling out of the sheath.
When the leather begins to dry in the forming process, it will retain the shape of the knife and liner. When this happens you can clamp the edges and let it dry over night. Be absolutely certain that the clamps are put ONLY on parts of the leather that will be trimmed off. The clamps will leave permanent and ugly marks on the wet leather and you don’t want those on your finished sheath. When the leather has dried overnight, take out the knife and liner and let it dry another day.

After the leather is completely dry, trim off the extra, leaving it about a half inch or so larger than the size you want the finished sheath.This will give you room for adjustment if the leather shifts a little during gluing. Then take the tape off of the knife and liner and clean the liner of any tape residue. You will need a good rubber cement type glue such as Goop or E-6000. Spread glue over the entire sheath liner and where the leather comes together along the edges. It is necessary to have the knife in the sheath during gluing for good alignment, but be careful that you don’t glue the knife handle to the leather. When the glue is spread, clamp the edges, but be sure to use padding under the clamps to avoid ugly blotches on the finished sheath. Photo 9 shows the scrap trimmings being used as pads under the clamps. Have everything ready and laid out before you start to glue, because the glue will dry quickly.
When the glue is completely dry, trim off the excess about a quarter inch out from where you want the stitch line. You will need a knife with a narrow tip to cut the curves smoothly. Also notice in photo 10 that extra leather has been left in the tip area for the 3/16” hole that will allow for the handle down carry position. Once the leather has been trimmed, sand to smooth the edges. It is essential to use a sanding block under the sandpaper to do this, because sanding the edge with loose sandpaper will only enlarge irregularities on the edge of the sheath.

Before drawing the line for the stitching holes, pull the knife in and out of the glued sheath a few times to determine where the stitches should be around the guard area. Watch the guard bulge the leather as you pull it out. You want it to be snug enough that the knife can’t fall out in the handle down position, but not so snug that it is difficult to remove from the sheath. The stitching line in photo 12 is just right, but you need to make this judgment for yourself as the position of the stitch line can be influenced by differences in materials. If the knife ends up too loose in the sheath, stitching will need to be redone in the guard area, but if it is just a little too tight, a little bar soap and a few minutes working the knife in and out will usually fix the problem.
Once the stitching line is drawn, mark the stitch holes. At a cost of only about $6.00 a stitch marking wheel is worth the money. It will do an excellent job and makes quick work of marking where the holes go –also shown in photo 12. If you don’t have a stitch marker, you can use a ruler, making the stitches about 1/8” or 4 mm apart. Then use a small drill such as Dremel to drill the holes. A 1/16” but will work, but the thread will be loose in the holes. For the best job use a wire gauge drill bit size 55 to 60. This will make the thread snug in the holes.

To finish the edge of your sheath, use a commercial edge finisher such as gum tragacanth. This will eliminate the fuzzies. Apply the edge finisher to the rough part of the leather and burnish with a hard, smooth object such as a knife handle. Edge finishers along with the stitching marker and leather finishes can be purchased at leather suppliers or from knifemaker supply houses.

At this point you may stain or decorate the sheath. The sheath shown at the beginning of this article was left its natural color and was decorated with a common child’s woodburner, about $15. at a hobby store.

After decorating or staining your sheath, coat it with a leather finish. Since I live and play in a temperate rain forest, I really like two coats of an acrylic leather finisher inside and out. It lasts a long time and is waterproof, and it can be redone if necessary.

For the stitching, use nylon thread made for sewing leather and use as small a needle as possible. A needle that is too large will stretch the holes. I prefer to use a common small needle made for sewing cloth. To get the large thread through the eye of the small needle, set the end of the thread on fire and while it is still burning, smash it against a hard surface with the side of a knife blade. Then, as in photo 14, trim the hard, burned part of the thread to a point that will go through the eye of the needle. What you see in photo 14 is a macro shot of a very small needle. The knife blade in the corner is only the bevel of the Mora knife.

Although I have never had a problem with a knife cutting the stitching in a sheath, that is a concern with some. To protect the exposed thread in the upper part of the inside of the sheath, run a bead of the same glue you used before over any thread you can see on the inside of the sheath. The glue is actually tougher than leather and will provide excellent protection.

If your project isn’t perfect, try again. It won’t be long before you will have the skill you need to do an excellent job every time. The sheath in the first photo of this article cost me about $7.00 to make, and at that cost doing a few sheaths simply for practice is certainly reasonable. I have also found that sheaths make great trade items with other bushcrafters, and of course, the more you make, the more skilled you become.

Spoon, Cup and Bowl Patterns by Jim Dillard

Spoon, Cup and Bowl Patterns

There are few things more satisfying for a bushcrafter than to sit down in the woods with a few simple tools, and without plan or pattern, make a functional spoon or other woodenware from materials at hand. There are times, however, when a special purpose utensil or a special gift requires a little prior planning, and maybe a good pattern. One good way to come up with a plan is to draw the intended piece before starting to carve. Sometimes this is essential, because it is much better to discover mistakes in design on paper than in the wood after hours of work.

Some carvers may feel that the drawing is a bit of a challenge, especially while doing their first few projects. For those folks, I have provided a few pages from my own sketchbook. Some of these patterns are standard, traditional Native American or Scandinavian in origin. Most are original, but of course are influenced by looking at the work of others, and even by examining well-designed commercial utensils.

I would encourage anyone who carves to spend time drawing. But for those who are not quite ready for that as yet, please feel free to use the following patterns as you wish. You can simply draw them from your computer screen, or an even simpler method is to print a pattern and use a copy machine to enlarge the designs to fit your need.

Keep your tools sharp, and keep carving!

Using Epoxy Inlays to Personalize Your Bushcraft Equipment by Jim Dillard

Several months ago I was watching a Ray Mears video about Arctic survival (available from Ben’s). Ray had a beautiful kuksa (carved wooden cup) and I knew the second I saw it that I had to make one. I paused the DVD and grabbed my sketchbook and shamelessly started drawing a copy of Ray’s cup. I made my cup much larger than the one he had, but it has the same graceful lines and I’m quite pleased with it. As I was sanding the cup I began to think about decorating the handle. Should I carve it, or paint it? I decided to do an epoxy inlay. Paint can wear off with repeated washings, and relief carvings can gather dirt, oil, and probably germs as well. An epoxy inlay, on the other hand, is permanent, is completely washable, and can be done in just about any color. The inlays can be done in wood, bone, antler, stone or any other material soft enough to grind.

Materials needed for this project are simple. You will need a Dremel tool or some other small, high rpm drill. You will need small carbide burrs (grinding bits) – 1/16” and possibly a 1/8” size. You will need masking tape, a file, sandpaper and some slow cure epoxy. You will also need something to color the epoxy. Commercial epoxy colorant can be purchased from most knife maker supply houses, but you can also improvise. The first inlay I did was with copy machine toner. I found a toner cartridge that someone had thrown in the trash. It still had about a tablespoon of the toner in it. The toner is intensely black, and it only takes a little mixed with the epoxy to make it completely black. I have also used bone and antler dust, ground up rock, metal filings and even kitchen spices. Use your imagination and be sure you do a practice piece before trying a mixture on your favorite knife or cup.

Photo 1 shows the old cup I had been using for the last 7 or 8 years. It looks pretty crude and clunky next to the new one, but then of course part of being engaged in bushcraft is to constantly examine and refine your equipment. Photo 2 shows the pattern I drew to put on my handle. The design is from an ancient petroglyph found near my home. I have this design on many of my self-made items. It’s a part of the local culture, and was a symbol frequently used by the original bushcrafters in my area – a beautiful connection to both art and people. Choose any design you like for your inlay, just be sure that no part of the design is smaller than the carbide bits you will be using to cut the inlay cavity.

Photo 3 shows the two typical bits used for inlays. These are commonly found in hardware and discount stores. Photo 4 shows the first cut with the Dremel. The tool will tend to jump and crawl a bit, so again, it is wise to do a practice piece to learn just what you have to do to accurately follow the lines you have drawn. Photo 5 shows the left thumb being used to steady the tool. This is similar to the push-pull thumb cuts used in carving, and it adds a good measure of control that you won’t have with just one hand on the tool.

Once you have completed the cutting with the Dremel, you may find that you have some rough or ragged edges. You can smooth these out with a piece of folded sandpaper, but be absolutely certain that you keep the sandpaper COMPLETELY VERTICAL. The edges of the cut that you made with the drill must remain at a 90 degree angle to the surface. If you round the corner of the cut, the epoxy can chip out of that area and ruin your project.

Next (photo 6) you should use masking tape to cover any part of the piece that may get epoxy on it. If you are using a close-grained wood such as birch, the epoxy can be sanded off, but it will save work to protect the area with tape. Be sure that the tape does not overlap the edge of the cut. It’s best to leave a space of 1/16” or so between the tape and the edge of the cavity to insure good adhesion.

The next step is an absolutely essential step that is sometimes skipped by beginners to this craft. A tiny dam MUST be built all around the cavity (photo 7). Since most items receiving this kind of inlay are curved, the epoxy must be poured deep enough to eventually be sanded down to the original curvature of the item being inlayed. If there is no dam to hold back the liquid epoxy, it will run off of the curvature, and the design will have an ugly depression in it. Even though the cup handle has a only a slight curve, the dam is still necessary. In the acutely curved knife handles you see at the end of this article, the inlay follows the original curvature of the knife handle, making a smooth, seamless finished product. I make the dam by rolling bits of masking tape with the sticky side out. Any gaps between the rolls are filled with more tape. Just make sure that there are no spaces for the epoxy to run out. It is a fairly thick liquid so it isn’t difficult to keep it from leaking out if you close all gaps with the tape.

When the cavity and taping are complete, it is time to pour the epoxy. Be sure that you use ONLY slow cure epoxy. The five minute variety may set up before you are finished pouring. I use Devcon “Two Ton” epoxy with a 30 minute cure time, but any brand with a 30 minute setup time should be fine. Epoxy has a consistency similar to honey – and the warmer it is, the better it flows. To be sure that it flows to all parts of the carved cavity, it must be warmed before you mix it. A temperature of around 90 - 100 degrees is good. I usually warm it near the wood stove, or it could be set in the sun on hot summer days. Once the epoxy is warm, get everything ready and mix part A and part B on a piece of unpainted plastic. When the two parts are thoroughly mixed, add the color. Mix only enough color to reach the shade you want – no more. Then drool a thin line of it into the smallest parts of the cavity (photo 8). When the cavity has been filled to about 1/8” above its highest point, take a very thin sharpened stick and GENTLY AND SLOWLY push the epoxy into the narrowest parts of the cavity (photo 9). This is necessary because even when it is warm, it may not flow into narrow areas on its own. DO NOT use quick jabbing motions to do this – that will cause bubbles that will still remain in the completed inlay.

At this point make sure that the piece you have just filled is as level as possible while the curing takes place. Once you have set the piece down and leveled it, do not handle it while the epoxy is curing. In 24 hours you should be able to begin the final step.

After a full cure, take off as much tape as you can. Then using a smooth rasp, coarse file or coarse sandpaper, grind off the excess until you can see the outline of your design. When using sandpaper it is essential to back it up with something flat and rigid such as a file (photo 10). If you simply use your fingers behind the sandpaper, whichever material is softer will dish out as you sand, making your final inlay uneven and wavy. Once your figure has appeared, use progressively finer sandpaper to finish your project. I like to go through 600 or 800 grit sandpaper and then use a polish cloth. Another option is to keep sanding with grits to about 2000. If your inlay is done in bone or antler, a good hand rubbed polish is all you need to finish the job. If your inlay is in wood, use a hardening oil on the entire project, including the inlay. Be sure to use food safe oils if you are inlaying wooden eating ware.

Photos 11 and 12 show views of the inlay on my finished cup. Photo 13 shows two home made knives inlaid with the same process. The whale on the bushcraft knife was colored with copy machine toner, and the footprints on the hunting knife were inlaid with pieces of ground up shale found on a beach near my house.

Final photo: Last year I purchased a fine Enzo blade from Ben’s Backwoods. I used some local reindeer antler as handles, made a hardwood lined sheath and of course inlaid the handle with an epoxy inlay. The knife was then donated to a charity scholarship auction. The knife brought more action at the auction than any other item presented for sale that evening and it finally sold for $700. A bit of well-planned embellishment can add a great deal of personal value to your own bushcraft gear as well.