Another handle gap question

[scott kozub]

No the pins can still be centered. You're just removing a small hollow form the center of the scale but leaving it flat on the edges. It doesn't take much. The hollow will be filled with epoxy later.

So you just leave a bit on each side for handle pins?

 

[coldsteelburns]

If you don't feel comfortable grinding in the hollow with your grinder's idler, you can always use a dremel with a little sanding drum. It doesn't need to look pretty or be really deep, you just want to reduce the amount of metal (tang) that needs to mate perfectly flat the scales. I'll usually leave around 1/4" to 1/2" (depending on the knife size etc.) of a flat perimeter all the way around the hollow for the scales to mate up with. It can also prevent help too much epoxy from squeezing out. I even do a slight hollow on my hidden tangs to increase the surface area for the epoxy.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)

 

[coldsteelburns]

I run the scales along the granite slab until they are flat. They are generally pretty easy to flatten and double check by holding them up to the light held together. The gaps generally are in the front or the rear and not the middle. I seem to have the same issue whether I forge out a blade or cut one out.

To solve this issue, I use a repositionable spray adhesive and spray the back of the sand paper and make sure it's completely flat along all of its edges on the granite surface, because if the paper slightly pinches and lifts a little bit along the leading edge of the direction in which you are sanding, then it will tend to remove more material in the area, the same way a sanding belt does on a belt grinder-sander.

Also, while figure eight motions do help to keep things more even and avoid an bias in your applied pressure, I always rotate my scales when I'm flattening them on a surface plate. Say you're holding the scale with the butt-end of the scale facing you for 15 seconds (etc.) of sanding, just rotate it so the front end of the scale is facing you and then sand for an equal amount of time in that orientation. Honestly, I don't even do figure eights anymore because I find that I personally get better results by going back and forth and corner to corner (with all four corners) while rotating the handle every so often as I described above. It's just easier for me to keep it firmly flat against the surface plate this way.

If you still have any trouble with the scales, you can also leave some extra material around the profile until you get them flat, or just flatten them before any shaping at all. Then you can sand off the non-flat edges to match the tang's profile.

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)

 

[weo]

You're just removing a small hollow form the center of the scale but leaving it flat on the edges.

Here's a picture of my latest blade where I'm trying to show the hollow on the tang:

After hollowing out the tang, I gave it a couple of passes on some 120grit paper attatched to my granite surface plate to show the flat perimeter and hollowed portion. It's not very deep, just enough to make sure there's no high spots in the middle that will prevent the scale from sitting flush all the way around the perimeter.
As mentioned above, this can be done on either the blade, or the scales, or both.