Big mussel shell and daggers

[Bill-in-KY]

Mussel shell

In the early '90s, a guy who operated a mussel collecting boat gave me several shells to use for my knife making. They are big. Here is a photo of a half shell, 7.5 in long. I thought such shells would be good to use on knife handles, and they are. This one has a small section with a rainbow look. Below is a close-up.

Small section inside a big mussel shell.

I think it is pretty neat. I tried to use a section like this, or similar, from another shell and make a part, but it flaked off, so that didn't work. I didn't try another one. I was able to use some of the material out of shells for knife parts. Below is a small photo of one dagger with pieces of shell inlaid in the handle.

Dagger I made years ago. Mussel shell slab on handle.

I made the original photo with positive film. This is a small scan that I have on a flash drive. I made it small for some other purpose. I don't have a bigger one to put here right now, so this will have to do.

Below is a photo of another dagger I made, with a mussel shell inlay in the pommel.

Mussel shell is good for this.

Here is another photo of the same dagger.

I used shell pieces for inlays in the guard posts on different daggers. The colors of the inlay don't show well in this photo, but it looks pretty good. It is white with some brownish swirls. I made the brass parts from material I had. The round part between the guard and the wood is part of a candle holder.

Dagger I made.

Here is the whole thing. The blade was made out of a big file. I didn't have a real good lighting setup for knife photos. I did what I could. I normally used knife grade stainless steel for blades, but I was out of it, so I used a couple files to make this dagger and a knife. I wanted to make something.

 

[ASR45]

Nice work.

 

[macrouser]

Using the shell as inlays works well. There are so many shells with great colors.