Knife Making Log Class 105: Handles

[Steve Sells]

Rich Hale
For the last few weeks I been working on a knfe, In know it must seem like watching paint dry But tonight i want to cover money minutes. Just about anyone can make aknife,,and anyhone can spend too much or too little time on it... There are things youi can do along the build that make a huge difference in how it comesa out at the end The blade in this pic started out as a coile spring long ago.. I have forged it to shape of a pattern Filed it heat treateed it including all the steps we listed. I coasted it in turco and it kept the scale down really nice

Todoay I put it back on the clob of wook and screwed it down Went ofer both sides of the blade First with 220 wet or dry, Then 400 then 800 Then I steppd away from my early steps in this buiid Where i used all basic,,most every one has kinds of tools For that plan I would have used 100 grit Through 2000 At each step I would look close for large scrathes I had nto got out in the step before At each step I would look close for large scrathes I had nto got out in the step before So today at 600 I took it right to the buffer The I looked close for scrathes and found a few i went back to 400 and removed them,,,then 800 then buffed again i got them all. I will satin finish this blade,,,that process does hot hide anything The extra minutes are needed for a nice blade Several things in this pick that may be of value to you
A black sharpie
A silver pencil, Welding supply house sell them,you need one
In the foregrouind is a roiuter drill, Got at big box store for a few bucks 1/4" It has teeth on the chank,,so youi can drill a hole and then useing high speed drill youi can m ove the hole to the side Don't force it.
In the back is a stabilized and dyed block of wood I picked for this piece

I have cut it into three pieces The middle p;iece is loonger... Then I have cut spacers from african blackwood The spacers and the three handle p;ieces all have to be trued up,,,,,lots of money minutes in this i have the spacers in between the handle blocks in that pic All of those pieces have to have work to use for a knife



You can use and old farriers rasp I lay it on blench and then move thewood pieces to smooth the sides Ok this is not the esy or fun part of making a nice handle Each and every one of them has to have the sides parrelel i check the thickness with aa dial caliper,,,All four sides have to be the same, Gulp I know When I am doing this, I mark each piec sa to wot the thicknes is The silver pencil shows up real good on this wood

The blackwood if one is thinner they all go back to the rasp If you have a belt grinder with flat platen it is easier When they are all the same I move to the three pices of wood for handle,,both end pices have to match The middle piece has to be true on each end,,,measure all four sides and keep at it, From the rasp I use some 60 or 80 grit on qall pieces to remove any roughness from rasp

steve sells
for those that do not know, African blackwood is a member of the rosewood family, that is naturally black with red and purple streaks through out. Like all other members of the rosewood group, it is very toxic to breath the dust.

Rich Hale
And as an aside,,african blackwood to me makes the shop smell real nice,,, AS a rose wood some may have an allergy,,I dont On each side of the blackwood spacer i make a piece of nickel silver abouit .030 thick. Then it is time to fit and dreill Then it is time to fit and drill. I mark blackwood with silver pencil and nickel with sharpie Router drill in drill press or hand drill Id mark all spacers to fit the tank Then for this tang I drill two holes almost overlaping Then I make the two holes meet by moveing the wood in the right direction while the drill spins inside,,,do not ppush and break the drill Ey protect for sure I do the black wood spacer just the same... AS they are smaller I hold themm with a pair of pliers
Not too tight or will break.. With pliers it the drill bit catches and the wood spins It will not hit your knuckes

One wood block drilled and wood and nickel spacer marked Spacers derilled Well ok a couple of them drilled...now to just go through the pise and get them all done

The nickel moves all around and gets a edge out backside of the hole I keep a little block of steell and little hammer and flatten them out again Now at some point I have to measure all these spacers and blockss to make sure they will end up the correct length I want for this knife This blade is 8" long,,I decided on a 5"handle length When I put it together I will geel it and see if that feels alittle long If so I will remove some from the middle block

{105-002 again} Lets look at this pic once more Before I took that block to the saw I markded the top and one side i marked arrows to show which way I want towards the guard i marked the pieces one two and three So the grain will align like it was before being cut Even with spacer in between the blocks your eyes follow that gran and will seee one awrong Eyes will also see if any of the sppaceers are not parrelle, I have heard that most folks can see a .004 difference from wot is right I can see less than that A lot of folks can see better than I So when I do the specere, I try for .002 or lees for parrelel

mike-hr
Is the tang 1/4" thick, that's why you used that router bit?

Rich Hale
You can for sure make a knife with a different finish including hammer marks, scale etc. Mike I am going to extend that tang next week for the butt cap and will use qtr for that

MadHatter
Yer gonna file the hole corners?

Rich Hale
No need They are a tad over size and slide right onto tang You could also dreill ahole in a pices of antler,, block of wood, etc and have a handle...

steve sells
Many woods will split over time. proper drying helps, as well as stabilization. there is a post about that proces in teh old knife chat logs form the last time, its posted in the forum along with all the old chat re posts under the 100 section. antler as well is good to stabilize./ here is the link for that knife chat http://www.iforgeiro...-chat-mar-2109/

Rich Hale
For next week I will lenghten tang,,fit a butt cap, and glue it all together Will also try and find time to finish the knfe

About epoxy you can use almost anything including the resin Steve mentioned The five minute epoxies do not hold up well over time And they need 24 hours to cure

steve sells
5 years seem to be the time limit befoer they start to fail

Rich Hale
The same for a lot of epoxies use water clean-up epoxy from K and G knfe supply, it holds up forever... Knfe suppliers have been through all of the ones that dont work out in long run Better place to buy as any problesm anyone has had they have heard As this has a screw on butt cap i think hes sdai it is a hickory burl dyed Without a butt cap I use black thin paper from hnobby lobby Or red or purple or wotever Next week we will also cover flaw repairs in woods, antlers, ivory etc

For my regular stock removal knves it takes less than five minutes to profile drill and rough hollow frind After heat treat an hour to assemble, next day takes anywhere from 35 mitues to two hours to finish handle and blade to mirror polish