Chipped scales - first knife

E

Elmstone

Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
3
Hi all,
I’m making my first knife. (Technically I’m only adding scales as I bought the blank before diving in head first).

Unfortunately I chipped one of the scales on my knife.
I was curious what you guys would do now?
I’d love to not have to tear the scales off and start from scratch and further damage the blank.
In a perfect world I could just file off the Damascus steel exposed edge but I don’t think I have the tools to make that happen since it’s already been heat treated.
Any thoughts?
 
Images below if needed.

NNJYdyb



https://ibb.co/NNJYdyb
https://ibb.co/vdK470X
https://ibb.co/6ygvjDx
https://ibb.co/r41S0BY
https://ibb.co/GVnkxHQ
Stang Bladeworks said:
I would grind your tang to match the handle then reshape until its comfortable.
Click to expand...


Would I be able to file down the tang without any special tools? All I really have is some old files.
 
I'm going to agree with gluing the piece of wood back on since there is still some handle shaping to do. Not sure what type wood that is but looks like you might have issues in the future if it chipped off easily.
 
Were the scales pinned only?
I don’t see any signs of epoxy. If that’s the case, and seeing as the handle is chipped in two places, I suggest you remove it and try again.
What is the handle material?
How was it damaged?
What is the intended use of this knife?
 
no offense, but it looks like old weathered wood that is weak, usually i determine if the wood is suitable by noticing if i can make a mark on the wood by pressing my thumbnail into it. if it leaves a mark, it too soft.
 
If the new shape of the handle works, you can grind off the extra metal if you keep the blade from heating up. The scales may delaminate from the tang depending on how hot the metal gets because epoxy (or other glues) will fail when the temperature rises to a certain point.

If you still have the pieces of wood that fell off, you could also reglue them, but there might be a visible seam however you could just call that "character".

+1 to john april john april that the wood looks like it might be wood that might be soft and not very durable. After fixing it, you could flood the surface with cyanoacrylate glue or thinned epoxy glue to help give a little more structural integrity to the wood scales. You'll want to do that then sand back down to the wood surface unless you like the wet plastic look.
 
Elmstone said:
In a perfect world I could just file off the Damascus steel exposed edge but I don’t think I have the tools to make that happen since it’s already been heat treated.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
In a perfect world you could save that fancy pins and make other scale from better wood.Seems that that wood would easy crack so you can save pins ...............
 
Do those scales have sentimental value? If not, I'd get new scales.

If you're careful enough you should be able to re-use the pins. It'll give you practice on taking a knife apart and re-handling.
 
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