Let's Finish the Bobcat Knife

I was able to get the Bobcat knife project finished up over this last weekend.  I'm tickled pink over how this piece turned out.  Here's a quick look at the final steps.

The knife was practically done at the time I left off last week.  Just a couple of things were left to finish up.  The above picture shows the blade in its completed state.  I put the final sharp edge on the blade and branded it with my maker's mark.

The next step is to anodize the liners to give the knife a little punch of color.  This photo shows my setup for anodizing.  It consists of a DC power supply, a couple of electrical leads with clips, a tub full of electrolyte solution (just water and Borax), and a sacrificial piece of steel suspended in the tub by the negative lead.  The positive lead gets clipped onto the liner, the power supply gets set to the right voltage, and the liner gets dunked in the tub for a few moments until the color is complete.  It's really a fascinating process.

Here is my little color chart for anodizing.  It's just a starting point as each setup effects the outcome.  I can't remember where I downloaded this chart, but a quick internet search will bring up tons of them.  I have written in a few voltages that work for my setup for the colors I use most.  It's pretty amazing the number of colors that can be achieved by the anodizing process.

For this project I chose a nice dark bronze color.  This color is on the verge of purple and in certain light and at certain angles, the purple color comes through.  I chose this color to compliment the blue scales.  I think it turned out real nice.

Here's the knife in its completed state.  You can see that I have turned and installed a little thumb stud which makes single hand operation possible.

Here's a spine view of the finished knife.  Obviously my cell phone pics don't do this knife any justice at all.  I'll get my good camera set up and take some good pics in the next few days and post them for your viewing pleasure.

I'm very pleased with how this knife turned out.  The design is definitely a keeper and I think it showcases the extent of my skills at present.  I hope whomever gets this knife in the drawing appreciates it.  It's going to be hard to say goodbye to this one.  I hope you enjoyed following along with this build.  Thanks for stopping by the Robinson Edge.

-  Brandant Robinson