First, let me say that I am not a knifemaker, nor pretend to be on TV! What I did was buy a BK&T 7" combat/util and found out that the handle is much too large for my grip. I like the knife, so would like to make it better suited for me.
Well I found a cheap small piece of ironwood online and want to make some grips better suited to my smaller hands. What is the best way to finish this wood? I figure that grips would be pretty easy to make even with my limited hand tools.
I was also planning on gluing the grip on when finished versus having removable screws like it has now as it has now. Is there a good epoxy for this that I can buy locally at the hardware store?
Here's my current plan. Tell me if it's bad please.
1. The single piece of wood is 5x1.5x1.5. I will round and contour two of the sides using a rasp file.
2. Sand down the rough contours to a smooth finish.
3. Cut it down the center using a powered miter box.
4. Sand the cut side to desired thickness using my 18" belt sander clamped in a vise upside down.
5. Drill 3 indentations (not all the way through so not visible) to match three short brass pegs I will put through the old handle holes.
6. Do final finish (in whatever way of advice I get here).
7. Epoxy everything together.
I realize it won't be as strong as the original, however it should be strong enough and look nice too. Any problems with this list?
Optionally (depending on how ambitious I get), I want to grind a bigger choil? with my dremmle (which I am very good at using) and smooth out the thumb thingy area (note: expert use of knife terms
a little. I wont touch blade geometry thickness, or anything else that requires real skill.
If I do any of this type of work though, I will have to strip and re-paint the blade. I was thinking that I would use some of the Brownells bake on moly cote in grey color. It seems durable enough on a cheap shotgun I re-finished and came out pretty nice. Anyone ever try it?
Thanks for any help. I know my limitations and the things I listed I know I can do without hurting anything.
Well I found a cheap small piece of ironwood online and want to make some grips better suited to my smaller hands. What is the best way to finish this wood? I figure that grips would be pretty easy to make even with my limited hand tools.
I was also planning on gluing the grip on when finished versus having removable screws like it has now as it has now. Is there a good epoxy for this that I can buy locally at the hardware store?
Here's my current plan. Tell me if it's bad please.
1. The single piece of wood is 5x1.5x1.5. I will round and contour two of the sides using a rasp file.
2. Sand down the rough contours to a smooth finish.
3. Cut it down the center using a powered miter box.
4. Sand the cut side to desired thickness using my 18" belt sander clamped in a vise upside down.
5. Drill 3 indentations (not all the way through so not visible) to match three short brass pegs I will put through the old handle holes.
6. Do final finish (in whatever way of advice I get here).
7. Epoxy everything together.
I realize it won't be as strong as the original, however it should be strong enough and look nice too. Any problems with this list?
Optionally (depending on how ambitious I get), I want to grind a bigger choil? with my dremmle (which I am very good at using) and smooth out the thumb thingy area (note: expert use of knife terms
a little. I wont touch blade geometry thickness, or anything else that requires real skill. If I do any of this type of work though, I will have to strip and re-paint the blade. I was thinking that I would use some of the Brownells bake on moly cote in grey color. It seems durable enough on a cheap shotgun I re-finished and came out pretty nice. Anyone ever try it?
Thanks for any help. I know my limitations and the things I listed I know I can do without hurting anything.
