Buckeye Burl

indian george

indian george

Joined
Feb 15, 1999
Messages
11,566
I plan on getting into making Damascus Hawks in the very near future and was planning on using Buckeye Burls for handles. I plan on having the burls professional stabilized. My source will cut them into 1 1/2 squares 18" long. My questions are would this be a sound handle and would anyone be interested in getting handles of this material and splitting the cost???
 
Be sure to do a flex test on the burl. Isnt burl weak compared to straight or curly? Not a user hawk?
 
I had the same question about the strength of stabilized (epoxy treated) woods. Does this make for a more brittle handle for the user hawk?

Dan
 
IG, I am just finishing up a XMAS order, one of them stabilized Calif. buckeye burl, the other one, stabilized amboynia burl. I will post some pics. The burls are fantastic, and I cannot see how to have a weakness in the slabs after stabilized. I bought the wood from Judith, The Lumber Lady. She sent me beautiful stuff. It works great, too. Just sand to desired finish, and polish if desired. Normally, burl would have weaknesses, but it sure looks to me like that problem has been solved! I mean, the stuff is really solid, and I would think the dust from stabilized exotics would be safer,being locked into the plastic-like resin.Folks that have seen both knives really flip over the buckeye!The buckeye got me 3 more orders,also.
 
Add me to the list, IG. When the $$$ figures come, let me know.

Thanks.

Dan
 
IG

I LOVE Buckeye Burl. There are soo many variations and colors, no two knives are alike.

I used Buckeye on my home page:

http://sandoknives.com

Get it stabilized at Knife and Gun Finishing. It'll be fine. I have one set stabilized by the Lumber Lady, it's not as hard as K&G. I'm sure it works, but I haven't tried yet.

Once treated it's as hard and useable as anything else.

Steve
 
hey sando nice looking knives on your home page. one question what do you use to fit the bolsters and the handle material like that? do you mill it out? i've always been a big fan of the rounded bolster to handle fit but never looked into how to do it. thanks
 
HammerFall,

I don't have a milling machine. So... a whole lot of work! I made fitted filing jigs by hand:

1. Took 2 chunks of 2 by 2 by 1/4" 1095.
2. Drilled 3 matching holes in the two plates. Tapped one plate and drilled a little bigger in the other.
3. Cut a curve.
4. Took 2 more chunks of 1095.
5. Drilled holes again. (but didn't tap - used nuts - I learned).
6. Cut matching curve and spend hours fitting the curves together. File, drummel, coat with ink, rub together, more file, drummel, hold together and put against a strong light, more filing.....
7. Hardened the steel to +64HRC

After that things got easier. I cut to shape the 2 bolster sides. Then clamp in the jigs and file smooth. Then the same with the wood using the matching jig. Lining up the wood in the jig actually takes longer than filing!

If you are just making one, then fitted the jigs isn't any benefit. However I had 4 bolsters to fit!

There is another method I found here: http://www.robbrownknives.com/tutorials/bolsters/

However, now that I have reusable filing jigs I'm set.

Does that help?

Steve
 
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