The Blokeblade 'Special'

Having returned from my hols, I got down tonight to starting the Blokeblade 'Special' marking knife that'll be one of the prizes in the UKWorkshop competition that I'm organising. Matthew Platt at Workshop Heaven kindly sent me a range of highly exotic timbers, all of which originated in the land of Oz and it's one of these (not saying which one though...top secret) that I've started to turn. I can't really say much more about it as someone reading this entry may be the owner one day...suffice to say that there will be one or two special features which ought to make it stand out from those I've done in the past. Provided I take it fairly steadily, it should turn out to be a real beauty...in fact I'm tempted to make one for myself as I don't yet have a decent dovetail marking knife. I've made these in small batches in the past and it's as easy to make two together as one, so I may well start the second knife tomorrow, using the second piece of the same timber.