Nice Stefan, really like the Ti Leatherman and Knipex pliers!
I made a new one but am trying to decide on the scales. At the moment I am waiting for some black G10 material and cherry red liner as well as cherry red pin material. Thinking that will be it but really need to see it first. I have a small selection of options on hand, in the photo left to right is Dark Matter Gold carbon fiber, Brown Mallee burl, Afzalia burl, patterned Walnut, Presentation Grade Desert Ironwood, Suriname Ironwood, and purple G10. I have orange G10 liner and pin material as well as brass and titanium.
The blade is 7.25” long with a harpoon tip, .25” thick MagnaCut steel.
I’ve asked a few friends and family and the patterned Walnut has been popular. Thoughts anyone?
beautiful work in progress! thanks for the great photos
great handle options
my top pick would be the:
Presentation Grade Desert Ironwood…
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Thanks Jon, I lean that way myself with a caveat… I bought those scales originally for a very large Bowie I made that has yet to be heat treated. Perhaps a more rustic appearing wood might fare better on the 13” bladed behemoth. Lol
Maybe some explanation on the photos… I like to lay the piece of metal I’ve procured on cardboard and trace it out, then draw my intended design within that parameter. I cut it out of the cardboard to be able to get a sort of hands on, make any tweaks to the design that feel necessary, then use the cardboard cutout to lay out the design on the metal.
Measure twice cut once, as it were.
This one was drawn up Saturday morning, cut out of the steel bar Saturday afternoon and bevels cut, handle area shaped, Sunday. Always fun to see it take shape!
I opted to not cut the finger groove to choke up on it, as the idea was to allow a combination chopper/hunter style camp knife. Didn’t want to lose that 3/4-1” of blade.
Ultimately I ground the bevels deeper than intended so it’s not quite as heavy/robust as intended, will surely be amply strong as MagnaCut is very tough and could truly do the work at half the thickness, but you know… go big or go home!
I can still cut that choke up groove, not too late until it’s heat treated.
[quote=“DB Custom, post:4307, topic:29063, username:DB_Custom”]
I opted to not cut the finger groove to choke up on it [/quote]
I agree with that decision… not a fan of finger choils
really enjoy your build sequence photos
Blade looks hot in that one photo, it wasn’t… light through an orange pane, my Mom’s favorite color. Lol
I remembered a box of cut-offs from a truly remarkable project I worked on back in ‘96, burl Mesquite the likes of which I’ve never seen before or since. I had this 2” thick block that had some if that burl I could extract, so this morning I did just that!
I won’t be able to finish it until I get the blade heat treated, but I did get scales fitted and semi-shaped this afternoon , will need to thin it down some after mounting but it’s pretty close. The orange center pin will be replaced with a SS Star mosaic pin.
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In. 
YES! 
you had me at “Burl Mesquite”
your photos are truly inspiring…
That picture of the burl is literally what was left after cutting the two knife scales… the scales are both completely this wild marbling pattern.
Painful to grind so much of it into sawdust to shape the handle.
My Cousin and I were building cabinets back then, we knew a carpenter (Mike) that built a home saw mill for the purpose of making his own spalted pecan flooring for his house. Somehow he got permission to drive deep onto King’s Ranch down in South Texas ( half a day drive to reach this tree once down there!) and take down this old Mesquite. He milled us two 1.25” thick boards, about 7’ long and 17” wide each, that looked like Italian Marble! So much burl it just blew the mind. We made a grandfather clock for Mike, (my Uncle made clocks when Buddy was young, he got to help some when he was older. I have one of his first, a grandmother about 6’3”, running accurately to this day at 60 yrs old) who took one piece and carved the Alamo as a header on the clock… exceptionally good job he did too!
So yeah, I’ve had this piece in a box for almost three decades.
Full of personal history and fond memories!
Thanks for sharing the backstory.
May the burl warm your heart every time you touch it.
On the plus side, the little scraps make for a mean bar-b-que! 
Good looking wood DB. Please put up some finished shots as well.
Myself, carrying a Kershaw Blur, S30V traditional shape blade today.
Will do. Have to heat treat the blade then I’ll GFlex these scales to it after finalizing the bevels and etching logo. Only then will I be able to finish it up.
Nice knife & nice setup for EDC!! 
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Bugout’s are very slim lightweight knives, excellent for such a pouch as you have there!