Prototype Knife Stand.

[Nate Davey]

A little back story before I get to my "point". I've been in he Army 22 years. Every unit, Battalion or larger, has a Family Support Group (FRG). A battalion is about 1000 soldiers for those never exposed to the military. The FRG raises money through a variety of mechanisms; bake sales, car washes and auctions. The money raised by the FRG is used for unit picnics, flowers for births and other events and family retreats for the redeploying families. One of the guys in the unit is a very talented knife maker and made this style of knife in honor of one of our fallen guys. The original knife, #1, will remain on display at the unit, then there will be a serial numbered run that can be purchased by the soldiers of the unit with proceeds going to the FRG. This knife is one of 3 prototypes.

I wanted to make a knife stand for the original and started this mock-up. I'm not at all happy with the base or stand design, just wanted to see what I could come up with and what was involved. This started out with an absolutely horrible piece of cherry and by the time I got it "finished" ended up being one of the most figured I've ever seen. I know John Jordan says "Life is too short to turn bad wood", but all my bad wood has turned out to be beautiful. I also used the uprights for Skew practice and that is the only tool I used. Did a little finishing practice as well. A few modifications I've thought up, aside from redoing the entire design was, cover the magnet on the upright with black felt and inlay the unit coin into the base for the tip to sit on.

I would love to hear some other ideas and your thoughts.

202157

[Peter Fabricius]

Beautiful Knife and stand Nate;
A couple of suggestions for what it is worth.
Place the Unit Coin set in the base between the upright and the knife tip. (metal knive tip and coin will not be good for either).
Place a dark dowel insert (about 3/8" diameter) under the knife tip. Set it flush with the base and with end grain facing up so the knife tip will sit slightly into it.
Very nicely done. If you cover the magnet it may not hold as strongly as you need to keep the knife upright.
Peter F. P.S. Make the base thinner, about 3/4" should do the trick and in a diameter sufficient to support the knife.
IMHO