- Joined
- May 12, 2010
- Messages
- 301
I took a few pics during my recent rehandle job. My work isn't the greatest, I'll admit, but hopefully this can give you guys some ideas.
Strip off the old handle. In this case I left the stock lanyard tube in place to further act as a mechanical hold on the micarta and to mark the holes location. I also stripped off the black factory coating and carved notches on all four sides of the tang for extra hold on the epoxy resin.
Tape up the blade. Both to protect yourself from cuts and to minimize the amount of expoxy that gets on it. The resin gets all over the place no matter how careful you are. I put a piece of dowel through the lanyard hole so that I can drill it out later.
I didn't get any shots wrapping with the resin soaked cloth because I really didn't want to ruin the camera. Essentially you want to work quickly, have your linen precut. Lay down aluminum foil to work on. Spread the resin evenly and fully soak the piece of cloth. I actually like to use t-shir material and linen because the t-shirt will stretch while the linen doesn't. So by alternating I can keep it nice and tight while wrapping. Wrap the handle for a couple of layers. Then tightly wrap a layer of plastic wrap around the handle (this will make it easier to remove the masking tape and tightly wrap masking tape starting from the guard (as tightly wrapped as you can. Do a couple of layers if necessary. I do first a thinner handle and then rewrap it in a second step to double what I want the finished handle to look like. Here it is taped up:
Here's a shot after I repeated the process above and removed the tape.
Then on to profiling. I work with saws and files to get it roughed out. This would also be a good time to drill out the dowels in the lanyard hole, too.
Then once I have the shape I want it's time to start sanding.
Here's what they look like after a sanding and buffing.
Then I had to get all weird and go to work with the dremel and free hand carve texture grooves and patina with phosphoric acid.
Finally, sanded, grooves polished, lanyard tubbing inserted, and sharpened.
Strip off the old handle. In this case I left the stock lanyard tube in place to further act as a mechanical hold on the micarta and to mark the holes location. I also stripped off the black factory coating and carved notches on all four sides of the tang for extra hold on the epoxy resin.
Tape up the blade. Both to protect yourself from cuts and to minimize the amount of expoxy that gets on it. The resin gets all over the place no matter how careful you are. I put a piece of dowel through the lanyard hole so that I can drill it out later.
I didn't get any shots wrapping with the resin soaked cloth because I really didn't want to ruin the camera. Essentially you want to work quickly, have your linen precut. Lay down aluminum foil to work on. Spread the resin evenly and fully soak the piece of cloth. I actually like to use t-shir material and linen because the t-shirt will stretch while the linen doesn't. So by alternating I can keep it nice and tight while wrapping. Wrap the handle for a couple of layers. Then tightly wrap a layer of plastic wrap around the handle (this will make it easier to remove the masking tape and tightly wrap masking tape starting from the guard (as tightly wrapped as you can. Do a couple of layers if necessary. I do first a thinner handle and then rewrap it in a second step to double what I want the finished handle to look like. Here it is taped up:
Here's a shot after I repeated the process above and removed the tape.
Then on to profiling. I work with saws and files to get it roughed out. This would also be a good time to drill out the dowels in the lanyard hole, too.
Then once I have the shape I want it's time to start sanding.
Here's what they look like after a sanding and buffing.
Then I had to get all weird and go to work with the dremel and free hand carve texture grooves and patina with phosphoric acid.
Finally, sanded, grooves polished, lanyard tubbing inserted, and sharpened.
