Couple of Handle Issues / Questions

Svashtar

Svashtar

Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Messages
4,793
The first and main is that I just bought a nice knife from a forumite who contacted me. He felt that the knife was just too big for him to use easily. The handle on the knife he bought is really huge, larger even than the Sher movie model or anything else I have. If actually kind of fits me, but would be way more confortable if it were a lesser diameter (length is fine.) It has a large pommel with a pretty aggressive swell from the mid handle to the pommel, so I'm wondering if there is some secret to taking these down? I guess I could just put it on the belt sander and try to freehand it, but I'll have to find a way to work around the handle rings. I suppose I could just sand them off though, but that would be a shame to lose them. Might not look too bad though?

Any input from those of you who have done it would be welcome.

I also snagged a 15" pen a few weeks ago (finally!), with a dark walnut handle. It has a handle situation I have never seen before, which I guess is surprising considering. I should go take a pic but it's 1 am. and I'm too lazy..;)

The handle wood where it meets the bolster is of a slightly smaller diameter, so the bolster is actually hanging _above_ the wood if that makes any sense, around the circumfrence of the handle. A little more on the left side where your thumb would go for a right hander. So when you grip the knife the sharp brass edge abrades your thumb.

The buttcap has no edge to it at all, but it looks exactly as if the whole handle just shrunk in front where it meets the bolster and left this edge. I can actually take a thin xacto knife blade and slip it under the bolster and over the wood where they meet. I doubt if it really shrunk though as the wood is very dense and hard. I think maybe the bolster just got made a tad too large diameter.

Any ideas as to how to fix? Not really enough space to get glue up in there easily I don't think, at least not without making a mess. I was thinking of cutting a deep groove in the wood where the bolster meets the wood, and then trying to crimp the bolster down into the groove, and then filling the groove on top of the brass with epoxy. Does that make any sense?

Then I would sand the whole thing down. Not sure how well that would work at all, and might just make it worse. If any of you have run into this problem and have a fix, please let me know.

Thanks as always for the good info.

Norm
 
Norm?

I think the crimping down would be a lot more work than you might envision, and it would be hard not to crinkle the thin brass of the bolster as you went around. You would almost have to "pleat" the brass to bring it down at an angle.

Your idea of glue and sandings dust to fill in, and maybe even build up the wood before the bolster seems most practicable to me.

If you do sand down the entire circumference of the handle of the other knife, you can always build up the rings again with a knife file, or thin-edged file of some sort. Just be judicious in your over-all sanding as you bring it down.

Be neat to see before and after.

You can do this.
 
You might want to adapt the old-fashioned woodworker's way of making big square things into smaller round things.

They'd knock the opposite corners off a square, making it into an octagon. Then knock the corners off the octagon, making it into a ... uhm.... sixteen sided thing ;) . And so on, 'till all the corners just blended into each other with a bit of sandpaper. Always worked on one face, then on the opposite face, to keep the amount they'd taken off equal all 'round.

I'd be inclined to grip a bunch of your existing khuk handles to find the one that feels best to you now, then measure it's dimensions. That way you know what size you're shooting for. Mark the rough height/breadth dimensions on the handle you're going to modify, and sand down to just BIGGER than that. Then repeatedly knock off the corners, as I'd mentioned, and true it all up with some sandpaper.

As Kismet suggests, re-make the rings with some filework (you'll need, of course, to leave some extra material there). Gives you an opportunity to locate the rings exactly where they'll fit best between your fingers.

T.
 
The buttcap problem, if I understand it, I've handled two ways. One is to attempt to fill in the gap between handle and cap with some epoxy. The other is to attempt to debur the edge of the metal buttcap with sandpaper, a wheel, or anything else you can think of.



munk
 
For the minor gap between the pommel brass plate and the wood, I have a solution that should work for you, but it's kinda time consuming.

You will need to purchase a small can of Minwax Tung Oil (which is not really tung oil, and will harden pretty nicely if given enough time).

You will need a scrap piece of a hard wood, (not so important what the scrap piece of wood is, but it's best if it's a hard one, and the wood should naturally be about the same color as your handle would naturally be).

You will need some stain that closely matches the color of the handle.

You will need some fine sandpaper (around 220 to 320 will do).

Semi tight fitting latex gloves.

A popsicle stick (or something similar to help in mixing your compound).

You'll also need some soft lint free rags/cloths to apply and remove the excess mixture. (Keep in mind that the Minwax Tung Oil is highly combustible, and the rags will later need to be properly disposed of).

And, a metal jar lid.

Now what to do with this stuff.........

First, deeply stain and dry off the scrap piece of wood.

Using the fine sandpaper, sand down the stained surfaces of your scrap wood, trying to gather and save your sanded dust.

Once you have gathered a nice little pile of this slightly colored wood dust (maybe a half inch high mound), place this stained wood dust in your metal jar lid.

Now you put on your gloves, and take a very small amount of the Tung Oil and add it to your stained wood dust. The consistancy will all depend on your own feel for the situations need. Usually one does not make it too thick, you want it to reach deep into the crevices.

Once the tung oil and wood powder are well mixed, take some of the mixture with the tip of your finger and work it into the crevices. repeat this over enough that you feel that most, if not all the crevice was filled.

Now rub off any excess that may be on the surfaces.

You can let it sit for at least a day, and then repeat the process again if needed, which usually is needed, since it usually takes "at least" two applications to get the job done.

Once done, wait a couple of days for it to be a bit better cured, and then give the entire wood hande (best to cover all the metal) a coat of the Tung Oil (with none of the dust in it). Once the handle has absorbed quite a bit of the tung oil, rub it off nice (more like buffing it off). You may later (a day or so) want to repeat this, or not. Depends on your likes, but more than once will start exposing more and more of the woods beauty :)

Told you it would be a long process ;)
 
I had a GK panawal AK that had handle slabs that were shrunken back. My solution was to round off the edges of the metal on the bolster and the end-cap to make it more comfortable - using hand sanding. A belt sander might take off more than you want, especially if the brass is thin. Any hardwood can shrink if it was not thoroughly dried before use. It takes a year per inch of thickness to airdry wood.

Personally, I would try to wick in some thin superglue. It responds well to sanding, and can fill small gaps.

If the gaps are small, this might work.

I have never really wanted to reshape handles, since I liked the shapes. None has been too thick, even a BAS by Sher.

You could always mix sawdust - in small quantities - with epoxy, if the gap is too large. I would hesitate to try anything extreme to the bolster, unless you are sure that it is solid and not thin.

The GK bolster was white metal and pretty solid. Thin brass may not respond the same way.
 
All great suggestions, thanks very much. The sanding dust and tung oil is a very good idea Jimmy, and that might just do the trick and look natural as well. The gap is really nit that wide, but your fingers feel everything and it wouldn't be too fun to chop with like that. And you are right about the brass crinkling Kis, I didn't think of that.

I'll go slow on the handle reduction. I have a perfect fitting handle so will measure that and go just slightly larger in the ring area where I will be recutting the ring. I will take before and afters so you can see how much damage I did! ;)

Thanks again everyone. :thumbup:

Norm
 
Norm,
I have re-shaped quite a few handles, and I think this is the best hand tool for the job. I know it's pricey, but if I lost mine, I'd send for a new one right away.
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3223

Tape the edge well so you don't hurt yourself, and keep working around the handle. I mean - don't get stuck filing in one spot, keep going around and work it slowly down to the dimensions you want. I would never use a belt sander for this, although some folks do. I prefer to use hand tools. They work at the same speed as my mind.
I also use a set of shop-made soft pads for my vise jaws to keep from damaging blades. Oh, and for wood, be sure to work with the grain, rather than across as much as possible. Cross-wise rasp scratches are hell to remove if you're going for a smooth final finish. If you're gonna leave it sort of rough, it doesn't matter. The fine side of the rasp leaves a very grippy surface that I like.
A few needle files are helpful to clean up and refine the ring and grooves.
Hope this helps.
 
Bri in Chi said:
Norm,
I have re-shaped quite a few handles, and I think this is the best hand tool for the job. I know it's pricey, but if I lost mine, I'd send for a new one right away.
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3223

Tape the edge well so you don't hurt yourself, and keep working around the handle. I mean - don't get stuck filing in one spot, keep going around and work it slowly down to the dimensions you want. I would never use a belt sander for this, although some folks do. I prefer to use hand tools. They work at the same speed as my mind.
I also use a set of shop-made soft pads for my vise jaws to keep from damaging blades. Oh, and for wood, be sure to work with the grain, rather than across as much as possible. Cross-wise rasp scratches are hell to remove if you're going for a smooth final finish. If you're gonna leave it sort of rough, it doesn't matter. The fine side of the rasp leaves a very grippy surface that I like.
A few needle files are helpful to clean up and refine the ring and grooves.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Brian, you won't believe this but I buy a lot of woodcraft stuff, and am sure you posted about this file before, so bought it last year based on your recommendation. It is a great tool, but so far I had only used it to recut handle rings. It was a bit pricey as you say, but has a very unique configuration. I had not thought of using it for the whole handle, but why not?

Thanks very much for the reminder and the tips. I appreciate it.

Norm
 
Norm, et al:
When reworking the khukuri handles and thereby destroying the very narrow grooves I have found that by taking a reasonably fine toothed hacksaw blade and carefully grinding off the "set" of the teeth I have a tool that's perfect for restoring the grooves.
It doesn't need to be set into a hacksaw frame to use.:thumbup:

I don't have a clue as to what the kamis use for making the grooves to begin with but it looks to me like it has to be a very narrow and probably hand made tool as few as manufactured tools I have are small enough to fit in the original grooves.YMMV.

When I'm reworking a handle and I have to cut below one or more of the grooves effectively erasing it I don't let the area get too wide before I restore it with the modified hacksaw blade.
By not letting it get too wide it is easier to restore to the original position or to straighten up a groove that may have been a little crooked to begin with.
I also don't go very deep with the new groove, just try to keep it near to original dimensions.

When the handle has been reworked down to a size that's suitable for you then it's time to go back with the modified hacksaw blade and fully restore them to their original depths as much as possible.

Another area I've had trouble with before is the center ring.
While trying to rework the center ring I have had some rather large pieces of it chip out.
Used to when that happened I would simply super glue the piece back in and continue with my repair.
Now before I even start to get into heavy modification of the center ring I use a file and file the top flat of the ring to remove any finish that may be on it.
After removing the finish I then soak super glue into the end grain at the top of the center ring until it won't absorb anymore.

I've found that by doing this it prevents the center ring from chipping no matter how hard I work on it.:thumbup: ;) :D :cool:
 
Great tip Yvsa. I had the same problem with the ring, and was lucky I was cutting off enough handle that the chip disapeared as I went. Your way is WAY better. THanks
 
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