Hello Capt Bruce,
Nice to meet another Scottish Dirk enthusiast.
Wow! Your dirks are great. They would make a Highland Chief envious! Fantastic work- and I know- they are a major undertaking. You have to be (at least) a bladesmith, a woodcarver, a silversmith, and a leather worker to pull off a decent Dirk. You definitely succeeded! I attached a few photos of my own dirk.
To lift some of that work load I'm thinking like you that there has to be a way to make a fine dirk handle/grip on the Carvewright. The rotary carver is the ticket but have been unable to figure a way to create every aspect of a carved grip in the software. See the attached MPC.
So far I have figured out how to design the top 2/3's of the grip and I made a reasonably good looking celtic knot to wrap around it with minimal flaws at the "seam".
The bottom 1/3 has been the sticking point for me. I'm still working on getting that "waist shape" with it's 2 profiles. For those not familiar with Scottish Dirk grips my MPC shows a bell shape at the bottom of the grip which is incorrect. The top 2/3'ds looks OK but the bottom 1/3 needs to have a flattish "dome" on each side where the triad knot is- instead of being completely round.
I have been unable to get a satisfactory looking pattern from Designer- to STL-to Rotary as James RS has suggested below (but I'm still working on it). See those "flat MPCs" I have attached. Anyway- I'm happy to work with you Capt Bruce (and anyone else) in creating good dirk handles. After all, the world needs more nice Dirks!
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