Converting a Mora to full tang and custom handles--promised in the PIF thread

I love the idea. I love the no holds barred attitude. If you wanna get crazy.... You could get a LN pot for a large CPU, something with a wide mouth at the bottom ( 2011 socket maybe ) and set that up on the base of the blade just above the tang, you could finish off those welds :-)
Seriously I do love the concept, and the fact that knowledgeable people popped up to critique you speaks volumes on the topic you have discovered. Venture forth Magellan, your voyage shall not be in vain.
 
Thanks everybody. I'll update later with the process of attaching the (newly finished) maple scales.

I am using a matched set of scales with beautiful brown curved lines in them. One of the scales has a few imperfections--but I'll put it on the back.
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
Like I said, this is just a "trial." I will probably do this again later, building off of what went well/wrong this time. I'm just curious--what wood did you use for your Mora rehandle?
Click to expand...

Plum. Looked great. The tree was in my yard, and I had pruned it the year before, and the branches seemed handy to hold onto. The hardest part was properly drilling the tang hole because of the shape. Lots of little holes and some epoxy later, and it fit like a glove. Used it for about a year, then gifted it to my nephew in law. It's his truck knife. Grrr. But it's still holding up and sharp as ever. God bless Mora steel.
 
I attached the handle scales yesterday and shaped them today. Here is a picture:



The is a crack in one handle, but I have filled it with putty. Overall, I think it looks pretty good.
 
nice job finishing despite all the negativity. Also i was a bit confused and perhaps could not tell by the pictures but is the HT really ruined? I did see discoloring on the tang but none on the blade.... was there any discoloring on the blade? cause if not i think it would probably retain the ht from factory.

Thanks for sharing!
 
ken1111 said:
nice job finishing despite all the negativity. Also i was a bit confused and perhaps could not tell by the pictures but is the HT really ruined? I did see discoloring on the tang but none on the blade.... was there any discoloring on the blade? cause if not i think it would probably retain the ht from factory.

Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

I don't think the HT was ruined, but I think it was affected a little. I guess I'll find out tonight, when I try to sharpen it.
 
I finished the varnishing and polishing. Here is the final product:









Thanks to everyone for their support, suggestions, and comments. Let me know what you think of the finished knife.:)
 
=) thats cool that you made it so it would work with the stock sheath. even if the mora sheaths are..............

newho yeah sharpen it up let us know. (did it dull in the process? looked like a new knife when you broke it open.)
 
I actually didn't design it to work with the sheath--it just happened to work.

It was new, but I dulled it on concrete (youch!) to make it safe to work on. I'll be sharpening tomorrow.
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
I actually didn't design it to work with the sheath--it just happened to work.

It was new, but I dulled it on concrete (youch!) to make it safe to work on. I'll be sharpening tomorrow.
Click to expand...

For future reference, painters tape works real well for that also. If you are real nervous, put a length of auto body door trim on the edge first.
 
I just finished sharpening it. But that wasn't very fun, so I decided to do a torture test.

How about batoning this log?



Halfway through...



Who said my welds weren't strong enough? :D



After a little more batoning:



And....cutting paper!

 
It turned out OK. Did you use your fine wood dust from sanding the scales with epoxy for your filler/putty? Rubbing alcohol is good for removing uncured epoxy from the blade.

How difficult was it to drill the pin hole in the tang closest to the blade?

If you do another one, you might try to get the tang really flat before putting on the scales.
 
Rather interesting.

And now I have a question. What about converting a Mora into a folding knife?
 
Bo T said:
It turned out OK. Did you use your fine wood dust from sanding the scales with epoxy for your filler/putty? Rubbing alcohol is good for removing uncured epoxy from the blade.

How difficult was it to drill the pin hole in the tang closest to the blade?

If you do another one, you might try to get the tang really flat before putting on the scales.
Click to expand...

Filler putty: Yes, but I mixed it with wood glue. I've done epoxy in the past for putty, but it sets up a little fast for my liking.

Difficulty of drilling: Very hard! I dulled a bit on it.
 
"Difficulty of drilling: Very hard! I dulled a bit on it.

That was in an area of the tang where you had softened the metal quite a bit. The hardness of the metal will increase rapidly as you move towards the blade. I would be surprised if you lost more than a point or two of hardness over the first inch of your blade.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top