Can Someone Explain Handle Bolts To Me??

N

Nalapombu

Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
303
Hello all,

I know this is probably a really dumb question, but I would like for someone to tell me how Handle bolts are used. The reason I ask is because I am thinking of getting one of the kits from KnifeKits and it comes with everything and is rated skill level 2. There are several pictures of completed blades and they look really nice. All of the ones I have seen utilize handle bolts. Here is an example of what I am talking about:
df5_spear_modb.jpg


Here is how the kit comes to you:
df5_dp.jpg

You can see the 4 Handle bolts, small pins and bolsters that allow for all kinds of different variants and tastes.

What I am wanting to know is how the handles are secured and how the Handle bolts function. Are the handle bolts peened in or hammered in to make sure they stay in place? Are they simply screwed in on top of the grip panels similar to grips on a 1911 pistol? If someone could explain to me how the Handle bolts are used and how the handle material is fixed to the blade I think I could make one of these and make it look fairly nice. It's a start anyway and I'm hoping someone can dumb it all down for me.

Thanks for your time and help. Sorry again for the tedious and dumb question.

Nala
 
They are screwed together through the handle slap and the heads (or faces) are ground / filed / sanded off to flat surface. Pins are epoxyed (lightly peened usually before epoxy cure) then filed / ground flush and finished (buffed, hand sanded, etc.). If you use slow cure epoxy, you also use a small (very small) thin layer on the slabs and bolsters (unless you want to solder the bolsters, which is a whole new instruction) and just make sure to wipe the excess off the mating edges after secured together with some acetone to help with cleanup and final finishing. Hope this helps....
 
And not tedious, nor dumb. We all learn (me especially!) with every mistake! :)

By the way, the handle "bolts" are commonly called Chicago screws.
 
Pat Percival has a great tutorial on Corby rivets on his website. Not exactly the same but close enough to give you visual understanding.

Northcoast Tutorial Corby Rivets

I just finished putting together a Delta 5 Modern bowie. I chose to use the blade bolsters but keep the rear bolsters off. Instead of using the bolts to attach the slabs, I used 1/4" dowel pins. I drilled the inside slabs to match the tang. Then I epoxied the slabs in place with dowels in the tang holes mating to the matching holes in the slabs.

It left the slab "clean" with not pins or metal. Scroll down to the hidden pins tutorial
 
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