Birch bark handling of a stick tang Helle blade

Coyja

Coyja

Joined
Nov 7, 2009
Messages
1,315
Hopefully this will be informative...

So, I've always wondered what a birch bark handle would be like, and decided to try and make one. What you'll see below is mainly a step by step of another tutorial, seen here:
http://imageevent.com/paleoaleo/makingabirchbarkknifehandle
This is just my take on it.

So, to begin with, I thought I'd include a buddy of mine in this project. I ordered two blades for a total of less than $40. I ordered enough pre cut birch bark squares off an internet auction site for $10.

The blades are both laminated carbon Helle blades. I like carbon blades and I also like the Helle Viking knife, so thats what I ordered for myself.
3 3/8in long, 3/4 in wide, and .119in thick. It has what looks like one of the stronger Helle tangs.
For my buddy I ordered the Helle Tollekniv. 4 3/8in long, 7/8in wide, and .160 thick. I think maybe because the handled version from Helle doesn't look all that interesting, this blade maybe gets overlooked. Its a very stout blade, though, and the rough carbon version is extremely cool.

Both blades had a few burrs that needed filed off. The Viking had some edge grinding issues. The grind on one side near the tip was not at all a single grind. It was pretty sloppy, with at least three different changes in angle is what should be one. I didn't care much, though... I mean, it was less than a fifth of what a completed Helle Viking would cost. The Viking was, however, sharper than the Tollekniv, probably due to the thickness of the Tollekniv.

Here are some pics of the blades to get started, with a Fallkniven F1 for reference.

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Annealing the tang ends to make peening easier later on...

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Right after this pic, my buddy lossened up the vice and my blade, being thinner, took a nose dive to the concrete, bending the tip. Again, this was for fun, and we had a few beers, so no biggy to me... will fix that later...
 
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Used a drill press with a zip bit to get going on the birch bark. Its a good idea to go fairly smaller than needed and tamp the bark down so its tight.

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On the blade... (bolster is a Helle bolster, bought for $3 with the blade)
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Using a piece of pipe to tap the next piece on works really well.
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Coin I used to peen the bark on. Hey, it already had a hole in it, right? (its the same diameter as a nickel, btw)
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Bark stacked up and ready to peen.
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And peened.
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Some passes with a band saw to get the rough stuff off, then I went at it with a Mora 546 with good results.
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I had initially wanted to go for a simple barrel shape, but got ambitious and this is the direction it headed...
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After a lot of carving, I began to sand away by hand for a couple of days.
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I had closed some openings with wood glue. Unfortunately, this really got soaked up in the bark, and did not fully sand out of the finished product.
 
End result, with some linseed oil. (can still see some of the wood glue)
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top view
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underside view
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The pics aren't the greatest, and its hard to show all the contouring I put into the handle. Birch bark works very well with sandpaper, though, and you can do a lot by hand.
There are subtle grove for your fingers, and this handle is VERY comfortable, since I was able to size it exactly to my personal grip.
It reminds me a little of a slightly oversized Mora 911 handle.
The birch bark is fantastic. Its light, strong, warm, and affords great grip. It was easy to work with once you got the hang of it.
No glue was used on the birch bark while initially handling it.
The wood glue I applied was only to the outside, and I don' think was necessary.
The bark is held on by the friction between the pieces and the pressure of the bolster sandwiching the bark between it and the coin that has the tang peened over it. Pretty cool.

This knife will make a great carver or around camp knife.
This was a great (and cheap) project. I'd recommend it for sure.
Next time around, I'd precut all the bark squares to much closer to the thickness of the finished handle I wanted to make, just to speed the whole thing up.

Now I just need to figure out a sheath for this thing...
 
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I keep considering doing one of these. The bark worked well for eons, I guess it might still do OK... :D
 
It turned out great! Thanks for posting this, I've been looking forward to seeing it. The linseed oil really gave it a nice color.
 
Nice job. :thumbup:

I did the same thing last winter though I used epoxy as well. I love the birch bark, it's a great material and it's hard to describe the way it feels in your hand.

If you buy some 1" wide belt sander belts, cut them at the joint and use them by hand it makes shaping the handle a lot easier. You can secure the knife in a vise and pull the belt back and forth around the handle.

Here's my post if you're interested. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=712452
 
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