Coffin handle questions

J

Jason Fry

Joined
Jun 5, 2008
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I've never done a coffin handle or a frame handle before, but I'm pondering both for a knife I've got on the bench now. Going to be a 5" blade vest bowie. I'm thinking stainless guard and red G10 spacer, then an African blackwood handle on a red/black/red G10 liner frame. 1/16 stainless pins around the edge to hold the frame together, and a 3/32 ss or maybe 1/8 mosaic pin to hold the tang. Any hangups with that plan? I figure to have to inlet the wood a little also.

My key question is about thickness of the overall handle. I usually try and contour my handles, but I'm thinking that maybe with a coffin shape that just a straight taper is better, say maybe .4 or so at the guard, and maybe .6 or so at the back? You see coffin handle shots all the time, but not often of the spine without some kind of angle that makes the dimensions hard to figure.

Testing you guys' powers of visualization, I know.

And can I heat treat CM154 in a BBQ grill? ;)
 
I have done one so far and it is a LOT of work. I broke the blade in quench, and have to make a new one. I was looking at it today and planning the new blade.
 
I don't know about particle steels, but you can do ribs in a barbecue grill. I like ribs. Plus, my daughters like ribs too. I like watching them lick the barbecue sauce off their fingers like they are delicate ladies, when all the time, the sauce is all over their face and in their hair even. It really bothers me that they've gotten so expensive. I like when I can hardly pick up my beer because its all slimey from rib sauce. I'd keep the steel out of my barbecue pit though. Even after many many beers.


On the handle shaping, I'd start with 1/4" thick scale material plus liners. That way you can remove the waste to the shape you want, rather than just leaving the handle flat.
 
Fiddleback said:
I don't know about particle steels, but you can do ribs in a barbecue grill. I like ribs. Plus, my daughters like ribs too. I like watching them lick the barbecue sauce off their fingers like they are delicate ladies, when all the time, the sauce is all over their face and in their hair even. It really bothers me that they've gotten so expensive. I like when I can hardly pick up my beer because its all slimey from rib sauce. I'd keep the steel out of my barbecue pit though. Even after many many beers.


On the handle shaping, I'd start with 1/4" thick scale material plus liners. That way you can remove the waste to the shape you want, rather than just leaving the handle flat.
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Lol lol that's funny, and appropriate!
 
woudn´t a mosaic pin be to much?
You can make it a hidden pin to go trough the tang
 
I like your knives a lot, btw.
 
Jason, in case you didn't get it - You can't HT stainless steel in a BBQ. It has to be sent out for professional HT with fancy equipment.

A big warning on making a frame handle with pins around the edge is to place the pins farther in from the edge than you think will look right. When the handle is sanded and shaped, they will still be in enough wood to work. If you don't allow enough extra, they may end up in almost no wood and so close to the edge that they look like the will fall out. To test this out, take a block of fine grain scrap wood and profile it to the handle frame dimensions (you don't need the frame in it, just the same size). Drill it all around for the pins, doing the right side a bit farther in than the left. Glue in brass pins. Now, shape the handle as you would do the final knife. On the real handle and frame, use the distance you used on the side that the pins look best.
 
bladsmth said:
Jason, in case you didn't get it - You can't HT stainless steel in a BBQ. It has to be sent out for professional HT with fancy equipment.
Click to expand...

I have all that fancy equipment in my garage. Just being silly.

bladsmth said:
Drill it all around for the pins, doing the right side a bit farther in than the left. Glue in brass pins. Now, shape the handle as you would do the final knife. On the real handle and frame, use the distance you used on the side that the pins look best.
Click to expand...

Now that's a real good idea! Thanks, seriously.
 
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