Hey Dean. Here are two photos showing the Naifu in progress. The first one shows the aluminum portion after it has been ground down from a cut out section of 1/8 inch sheet aluminum. Just to get to this point is rather labor intensive as my tooling is quite basic using a bandsaw to cut out the section of aluminum and a bench grinder with a 24 grit disk (the disks that are used to grind concrete) to impart the rough shape.
The next photograph shows two key additions to the blank. A notch has been added at the base to allow for the positive locking of the tamp end internal peg. The hole drilled towards the front of the blade serves two purposes. First, it allows for the aluminum logo/pin to be drilled straight through the piece without disrupting the Blood of Kings. The Naifu is constructed just a like a fixed blade knife. The logo serves a dual purpose. It acts as a support pin helping to hold the Blood of Kings scale to the internal aluminum. It also serves as a logo. Without the hole in the blank if I was to drill straight through the internal aluminum considerable heat is generated which melts the Blood of Kings around the bore revolting in a horrible fit. Removing the internal aluminum in this area allows the drill bit to cut through resulting in a perfect bore. A secondary advantage of the whole in the blank is that it allows for the two Blood of Kings blanks to be adhered to each other, despite the intervening aluminum, offering further support. I tend to over-engineer my pieces.
As to 6061 grade aluminum, it is a great general purpose alloy that has applications in the aircraft and marine industries. I chose it for a number of reasons. First, it is very durable and takes a great finish. Also, and this is a big benefit, it is very, very slow to oxidize. As to the blade edge of the Naifu, you were correct that it is not intended to be sharp. Light scraping and picking are the intended purposes. I leave pipe reamers designed for reaming for that task. Even if I did put a sharp edge on the blade it wouldn’t hold the edge for long so it would be a fool’s errand.
Just a note on cleaning the pieces if they do oxidize. The easiest way is to use a non-abrasive chemical cleaner that works by chemical action. I can’t stress “non-abrasive” enough. A few good products are NervrDull and the Cape Cod Metal Polishing Cloth. And of course, if you ever want me to tough them up just ship them back to me and for the price of return shipping I will make them like new. I think that you will find them to be far more durable than one would expect.
