now im nowhere near ready to make a sword yet but one of my friends broke one of his factory made ones down at the "tang" which as im sure you guys know is just a sorry excuse for a real tang...but anywho i wanted to check out some methods for making a single piece handle and i came across this...
YouTube - Forging a Pattern Welded Sword - Dohrtoc at about three minutes it appears that he takes a solid handle and then it just goes through like butter. now i only have ash at my house so i dont know if the hardness makes a difference but if you guys have any ideas on how to do this please let me know. thanks!

First a hole is drilled through the handle (grip), then the tang, while hot is used to burn though this hole to open it up to where there is a tight fit. remember to quench the now burning wood, to put out the fire.

FYI both these men are members of IFI, I hope they will chime in here and post.

Don't know about the handle BUT that was one great video. Amazing to see the blade flex like that and just flick back to its previous shape.

BTW, I want one of those presses

Cheers

When I worked with a swordmaker we used to make a "false tang tool" to do the burning in so as to not mess with the heat threat of the blade any.

I do it before final HT, for that very reason.

I've only done it with Black Walnut and Birch myself, but I can't imagine the wood's harness would have much if any significant effect.

Hello:

Wood hardness does pose a major problem when burning on a grip..

Some woods, like African Blackwood, Coco-Bolo and SE Asian Blackwood can crack, check and just come apart. Other woods like Ash, Hickory or Walnut burn on easy, still they can crack as well.

The best way to do this is to open up the passage hole with either one of those "drill files"..(I love those things) or a scraper to a little bit undersize and then heat the tang to approx 650 F and then slide it on.

That's the way I do it,,but what do I know?? I just do it...

Hope this helps...

JPH

thanks for all the help i tried the drilling then burning technique and it worked great ill post pics later

What I wanna know is what combonation of steels he welded into the billet to get that pattern in the finished steel... reminds me of flowing water

how would i go about use rosewood for the hilt cus of the softness is thier any thing difrent then useing a normal hardwood?

Be very carefull of the dust when working with tropical hardwoods like rosewood as you can be come sensitized to it. Also when gluing many of the tropical hardwoods you ned to wipe down the surfaces with acetone to remove the natural oils that can prevent the glue from sticking well.

Since traditionally sword handles were covered by leather, twisted wire, etc they generally are not made from fancy woods AND NEVER MADE SLICK to cause problems when your hand gets sweaty, rained on or bloody!

That press looks suspiciously like a log splitter with a set of dies clamped to the base and blade. Even a small electric splitter is generating 6 tons of total force.
Swisher Electric Log Splitter

I agree with JPH that the handle fitting is best done at black heats. The ideal is to MELT the tang into the socket. Charring weakens the wood... a LOT. Melting it on actually strengthens the socket area by compressing the fibers... additionally, the resins in the wood become natural hot glues cementing the tang into the handle. I like to forge my tangs nearly square with a slight taper and then I step drill the handles (I often cheat by using tapered or stepped drill bits... my favorite is a 2X Miller Dowel drill bit). I frequently seat the handles after final heat treat using heavy tongs as a heat sink to protect the blade area and also to help force the tang into place.

Another useful little trick is to drizzle Kwik-Poly into any gaps on the flats of the tang. The Kwik-Poly is VERY thin and will trickle clear to the bottom of the tang (if there is ANY gap). It sets up in about twenty minutes and is an extremely strong and durable glue (it also saturates the wood fibers hardening the handle socket considerably).

When you do a handle this way there is NO need for a through tang (unless you just want that look) because that handle is absolutely permanently attached (even if you skip the Kwik-Poly... as I often do). I make small billhook-type tools that I handle this way and use the handles to snatch hook saplings and limbs up to an inch or so in diameter... this is direct withdrawal force and FAR greater stress than any knife handle is ever likely to endure... the handles take this kind of stress regularly for thousands of cycles with no signs of any loosening.