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This last winter I made several knife blades
I am in the process of making knife scales for the blades out of some Padauk I got from Woodcraft
But before I mount the knife scales I want to checker them
But I have no clue to what is a good Line Per Inch
What would be a good LPI for cutting into the knife scales ?
These will be hunting and every day carry knives
Thanks
John
Not sure of the count, but it seems like fewer, and deeper cuts would let ya have a better grip- especially wearing gloves,
and not tend to 'clog up' as quick as a finer pattern would.
Coarser gives a better grip but dosnt show the grain as well coarse can become uncomfortable in a bare hand. Finer will provide grip shows the grain better and is more comfortable to the bare hand. I would think 20-24 lines per inch would be a happy medium
Test on scrap if you have it... padauk is fairly soft....
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I have extra wood , so I will testQuote:
Originally Posted by Handloader109
But I also plan on using wood hardener after checkering
John
I bought a checkering tool kit, to try and teach myself checkering...I learned it wasn't my thing. The tools were 18 Tpi...kind of the 'average' checkering on a rifle stock.
I hope that helps.
I have checkered a bunch of walnut, but never padauk, so don't know how it will checker. You may want to use the wood hardener before checkering, or just finish the wood first. Checkering is usually applied to a finished stock. The finish helps make a clean cut, as some wood will fuzz as you cut it. Harder wood is easier to checker than soft and soft will cause the diamonds to wear down faster with use. The harder the wood the finer LPI you can get away with, softer requires coarser LPI. Same with the size of the pores in the wood, large pores requires coarser LPI. If I was attempting what you are doing, I'd try 18 or 20 LPI on your test pieces and see how that feels on the hand and how clean the diamonds are.Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnch
18 or 20 lines per inch is the usual layout , depending on the wood hardness and texture ... how open the grain is .
When you get into 22 and 24 lines per inch the diamonds become very fine .
I would try 18 lpi on a scrap and see how that looks and feels .
Gary