Ordered a Helle blade

[indianalongbowshooter]

Put in a order for a Helle Odel blade yesterday and they said it shipped yesterday, great service. Anyone have any pics. of a Odel blade that theyve done their own handles for, would be very interested in seeing what everyone came up with.

Thanks. Dean

[shawnee]

Here's a couple of the ones I have done.  The first is the knife that went with one of the St. Jude's auction bows.  It has an osage/purpleheart handle, with a brass finger guard and a hand knapped bird point inlaid in the handle.





This one is one I made for my Dad for Christmas last year.  It is a walnut,antler handle, with a brass finger guard.  They are a lot of fun to make, and not that hard if you take your time.





Good luck, and be creative.  You will be happy with the results.

[8th Dwarf]

Hmmm?  I didn't know they did that.  You mean I can buy the blade and do the handle myself?

The Helle knives I have are AWESOME, but this sounds really cool.  How do I find out more about this?

Too Short

[Naked in NH]

This isn't the blade, but here's a couple Helle's that I did as presents a few years ago.

The wood is osage- I should have oriented the grain the other way to strengthen that little piece next to the blade there.  Whitetail antler that I found on one and compressed leather rings that were contact cemented together first for rough shaping.  The one with the leather rings was designed as a hardcore working knife.

I put the little nubbydoo on the tang of that one- you can see that it's for a positive catch on the sheath.  Works great.

[drewsbow]

8th :  Look on the left side of Chads page and you will see them .  Drew

[drewsbow]

Dean :  I e-mailed you some pics.  Drew

[indianalongbowshooter]

Shawnee, Those are just plain neat looking knives. Naked, like the osage/bone handled knife. Drew sent me a pic of a really neat knife made from a turkey/leg with spur attached. Will try to download them for him later.  

Heres a pic of Drew knife, pretty neat looking.  

[Joe Subler]

Paul,
Try out this link:

https://www.darktimberdesign.com/helleknife/

Joe

[Chad Sivertsen]

Dean, Normally you could expect your blade today but with the Christmas mail volume it might take a bit longer.

Most orders are still arriving in 2-3 days but we have a few areas in the Midwest where it is taking longer.

Some great work here guys. The neat part is no two are alike.

Too Short, I thought you knew we had blades.

Thanks all

[the Ferret]

Here's one I made a few years ago for Dianne from osage to match an osage selfbow I made for her

   

   

[PrarrieDog]

I think the dwarf is pulling ya'lls leg. He has to know Helle blades are available.  I wish I had the talent to haft them into the beautiful knives I see here.
Prarrie Dog

[Joe Subler]

Chad, can you get the Harding kit with a handle material other than birch?

Thanks,
Joe

[manyletters]

Great blades...have some of them myself...gave some away to friends...great steel...Chad's a great guy to deal with...too short..get the short blade..no pun intended...I have 2 of them...stay sharp a long time!!

[Chad Sivertsen]

Joe,
The Helle Kit comes with just birch. It is a nice piece of wood often with curly grain.

I can put a "kit" together with the blade, fittings and wood of your choice from what we have on hand. We have Helle sheaths to fit most blades, this sheath would be completed and would not need assembly. Price would depend on the items you choose.

You could also make a sheath from material you have on hand, many of our customers do that.

Mickey, that is a cool matched set. The wood looks very light colored for Osage.

[indianalongbowshooter]

Chad, No blade yesterday, hopefully tomorrow. Nice knife Mickey..

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Great blades!!!

This past September I used a Polar blade to skin not one, but two moose...without having to resharpen. I've got a lot of other knives I like, but none of them hold an edge half as good as a Helle.

[Chad Sivertsen]

Dean, Delivery times are slowing a bit, most areas are a day behind and some areas of the midwest are two days.

Jason, Moose? Did I miss one your stories? Skinning moose is a lot of work....but sweet work I guess. I heard from an Alaskan guide that gutted and skinned several moose a year. With his Helle knife he was into the third moose before it was necessary to sharpen the blade and all it needed was a quick touch up.

Of all the positive comments we get from customers "holding the edge" is the most common.

[Tom Anderson]

Shawnee,
Nice looking knives - can you tell me how you make the brass guards?

[shawnee]

Native,

I started with a piece of 3/8" x 1" brass bar stock that you can get from knife making suppliers.  Cut it the length  you want, and lay out a small rectangle the size of the knife tang in the location you want the tang to go thru.

Drill holes at each end of the layout the same size as the width of the tang...on the Helle blades, 2 holes is usually enough.  If the tang is wider, drill as many holes as you need.  Now's when the hard part comes.  I use a combination of a dremel with a small grinding tool, and a couple of very small files to square out the holes and make it to where the tang will fit thru the brass.  It's not real difficult, just real time consuming if you want a good fit.

Also, some blades are not square where the tang joins the blade...some have a radius.  If they have a radius there, you will also have to dremel/file the brass so that the radius will fit inside the brass also.  I mostly use the dremel for that.  It's not real important that it is a perfect fit...only that the back of the blade fits tightly against the brass, and the hole in the brass doesn't show any more than it has to.

Once that part is done, the rest is pretty easy.  Drill a hole in your handle material and any spacer material you are using, and epoxy the whole thing together.  I also like to pin the handle thru the tang with 1/8" brass rod.  If you do that, make sure you anneal the tang where you are going to try to drill it.  If you don't, you won't be able to drill it.  I ruined about 5 drill bits on my first one trying.  I leave everything square until it's all glued up and I have the pins in, then start sanding and shaping the entire handle.  The brass will work with most woodworking equipment...I've even roughed shaped it with my bandsaw and a woodcutting blade.

Sorry this took me so long to explain.  I've been meaning to do a build-a-long, but just haven't had time lately.  Maybe after Christmas I can find time to do one and take pictures as I go along.

[Chad Edgar]

Chad at DarkTimber is A#1!  Here is a Harding blade from them that I fitted onto a peice of antler: