Advice needed: cleaning up my ASTK (pic heavy)

M

muszeuhs

Joined
Apr 21, 2012
Messages
71
I received my beautiful ASTK last week. I'm relatively new to the khuk/HI world, and would be grateful for any advice on how to clean it up. There are two main concerns I have: the uneven transitions between the wood handle and spine/tang, and the chipping filler (epoxy? laha?).



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Close up of spine/handle transition 1: a little hard to see (sorry, only had an iPhone to snap pics), but I can definitely feel the spine edges whenever I grip her
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Close up of spine/handle transition 2: on the other side and toward the top/end. Here you can see the spine definitely protruding over the wood
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Overhead of chipped filler
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Close up of chipped filler 1: some of it has already chipped away
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Close up of chipped filler 2: a closer close up
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From what I've deduced from reading through the forums, it's likely that the handle shrunk a bit. How should I go about attempting to file down the protruding spine, and at the same time protect the wood handle? Lastly, what should I do with the chipping filler? It's a little unsightly, though I could live with it as long as I can't feel the edges of it. Is it plausible to chip the rest of it off of the spine and add a clear filler?

Thank you in advance for your insights and recommendations! :thumbup:
 
You could wait and see if the wood swells a bit as it acclimates to our environment ( if yours is a bit more humid). Other than that, maybe a file to remove a bit of steel from the spine ( something flat). That or rehandle the whole thing. As far as the filler, remove the loose stuff, then refill with CA glue or thin epoxy
 
I use a work sharp to reshape my handles (mini belt sander) but you can use a mill file or sandpaper on a block of wood.
 
Oil the wood handled, bunch of coats...but not a sealer. If that doesn't completely solve the problem sand the handle with sandpaper or scrape it down, then mix the sawdust with a small amount of epoxy, fill any voids with the filler you just made.
 
Nope, this was a full-on, full cost ASTK. As far as I know, shrunken handle pieces don't constitute blem status
 
I recall a post where somebody said they used a Dremel (very carefully) to remove the high metal without touching the wood. I use needle files, but I always seem to scratch up the wood a little, so I sand and finish the handle at the end of all modifications (touch-ups, really).

I think someone also mentioned that they put a bead of epoxy along each side of the high metal, to make a smoother transition from wood to spine. Don't know how good this would look, though.

As mentioned above, sanding dust from the handle mixed in the epoxy is the trick for color matching. Maybe you could scrape out the chipping laha somewhat, and cover it up with this epoxy/sawdust.
 
Mine looked fairly close to that when I first got it, had to unt down the pics
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Ended up rehandling the whole thing, ( that and the metal part of the handle ring was killing my hand)
 
I sand mine till the rough edges smooth out. Took a whole lot of time but time is a commodity i have plenty of :)
 
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