Well, here’s another of my crazy reliquaries, this one a tiny dried sardine scalpel, in (and on) a sardine can. This is loosely based on Japanese netsuke and menuki that I’ve seen, carved as tiny dried fish. My version is of 1075 carbon steel, shibuichi, 416 stainless steel, bocote wood, copper and bronze, moose antler, cow horn and a little silver.
Above, I’ve rubber-cemented my pattern on a sheet of 25% shibuichi, and begun to saw them out with a jeweler’s saw.
Here, I’ve finished cutting them out. These are the scales (the sides) of the knife.
Above, I’m doing the same with a sheet of 1/16 inch thick (annealed) 1075 carbon steel. This will form the full tang and blade of the knife.
Both scales and the knife, cut out. The red area is to remind me I must eventually saw out this area of the tang, before I forget and assemble the knife. This is where the stand portion of the reliquary will fit into the knife.
And here are the elements as they will be assembled later.
The back sides.
The above images show where I have (carefully!) drilled all of the holes in all the pieces for the silver rivets and the eyes. To drill the holes
, I first completely drilled one scale, then carefully drilled the rear rivet hole in the other two elements. With that rear hole lined up properly, I could install a temporary pin and drill the rest of the holes, using the previously drilled holes in the top scale as a drill guide. That way, all the holes match up correctly, with no unpleasant surprises.
Above, top and bottom views of the knife blank and the scales, assembled with temporary pins.
Thanks for looking!