Cutting out knife scales?? I failed so far....

The only thing you should be mindful of is the fact that the wood isn't stabilized. With the pine being a soft wood that had a high sap percentage it may be rather "thirsty" I would soak it in Boiled Linseed Oil overnight, or at least wipe it down a Bunch of times with a rag soaked in the BLO until it stops absorbing. Then let it sit for a day and give it time to weep out anything that will come out, then finish with your superglue.
This will allow the interior of the wood nearest the surface to now have some BLO soakes into it. This will result in some water shedding capabilities as well as a protective layer to resist water absorption due to sitting in moisture, which occurs in Most kitchens with more than one cook.

Fwiw, In a wet environment even stabilized woods can warp and swell, just not as drastically and not as frequently.
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Good luck and keep us posted.
 
If you haven't used BLO before, please read the cautions about disposal of oily rags. They can spontaneously combust. You can google it for more information.

That said, BLO does make a nice finish.

Ric
 
Thanks for the info, I was wondering about stabilization. The linseed oil I will use, I did read about the danger of combustion too. I will take the used rags down to the street and shove them in a dumpster far from anything that can burn. I got a piece of glass (an old mirror pane) from the thrift store today and started sanding my first set of scales down. I measured the thickness wrong, lol, they are 3/4". Its gonna take me forever to sand down to 3/8" with my 60 grit paper. Is there any faster way I can get these thinner without power tools? Im thinking go pick up 40 grit paper. Also, when I go to cut my pins, they are hollow brass tubes. What is the best way to cut these? Will my small hacksaw work or will the teeth be too severe for the thin tube? I need to know how to thin these scales, and how to cut these tubes.
 
Hello. Use your hack saw to trim the wood handles to size. Good luck to you and don't give up. If you can salvage the cocobolo, do so. It is a beautiful wood once you get comfortable finishing handles. You may be able to use a small pipe cutter for the thong hole tubing. Or better yet a dremel with a thin cutoff wheel. Where are you in Georgia?
Nathan
 
Oh, and these will be working knives, so the boiled linseed oil stabilization I'm going to do. I will soak them for a couple of days, I can work on polishing blades while the scales soak. I appreciate all the tips from you guys. Someone at work today told me where a building material recycle center is, next time I need handle material I know where to go. It took 8-10 hours to mirror polish just this one blade, it is an 8" slicing knife. The old CC blades are full of rough machine marks where the bevel was cut, I sanded them all out with 60 grit paper then went up through grits to 2000. It is daunting to think about doing 9 more that way lol. Is there any way to speed this up using hand tools still??
 
Oh Hi Nathan, I am not actually in GA that is where I grew up. I live in downtown Seattle right by the fish market. Lol, the yellow pine is nostalgic to GA for me, those trees were everywhere growing up in the yard even.
 
Oh and the Cocobolo is history, it got trashed in my first cutting attempt . its alright, I'm gonna use this pine for all these knives. Yes, a tiny pipe cutter I can probably get at the hardware store. I'll see tomorrow.
 
I really wanted to do this with nothing but hand tools, but I do wanna make some progress too. A dremel will let me thin these scales quickly, cut the brass tubing, and also will let me avoid 8+ hours of 60 grit polishing per blade. It used ton of sandpaper, by the time I buy all the 60 grit for these blades it will be next summer lol and I'll have gone through enough to pay for the dremel. I'm gonna get one tomorrow I think
 
Though I have very little experience with this, from what I've seen and read, it's very helpful if you can finish the front of the handle scales before attaching them to the tang. Then you won't have to try to shape, sand, and finish them without scratching the steel adjacent to the handle scales.

It may have already been mentioned, but there are some great books out there. One of the earliest, and one that got many knife makers started is the one by David Boye. A more recent book, by Murray Carter, seems like a good one also. There's also the classic "How To Make Knives" by Richard W. Barney and Robert W. Loveless. I think a few people are familiar with Bob's work. :D. Mike
 
JonnyBoy369 said:
I really wanted to do this with nothing but hand tools, but I do wanna make some progress too. A dremel will let me thin these scales quickly, cut the brass tubing, and also will let me avoid 8+ hours of 60 grit polishing per blade. It used ton of sandpaper, by the time I buy all the 60 grit for these blades it will be next summer lol and I'll have gone through enough to pay for the dremel. I'm gonna get one tomorrow I think
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert, but in the research I have done on knife and razor restoration I have seen many warnings about the Dremel short cut. Most of the advice I have seen is to avoid them or use them very carefully. Keep in mind that while they can make things go a lot faster they can also screw things up a lot faster.

That said, I have a WEN variable speed rotary tool (basically off brand Dremel) that I got on Amazon for less than $20 and it works well for my purposes.
 
Thanks Josh , this is why I'm sketchy to use one also. I'm gonna try using 40 grit sandpaper and my hacksaw today to thin my scales to 3/8". I'm also gonna look for a mini pipe cutter to cut my brass tubing...
 
I got one scale down to 3/8" from 3/4" with 40 grit paper. It took about 2.5 hours. One to go, and I can finally start getting the first knife assembled... One good thing is though this takes a long time, I'm not going to ruin my scales with a high speed tool and I'm not kicking dust all over my small apt.
 
I'm mostly a beginner at this, here is one that I did a few years ago. I do use a small drill press for the holes. :

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I just saw that you're in Seattle. Have you considered joining a makerspace for tool access? Before I moved into my current house, I also had to deal with the urban condo/apartment workspace problems. That sanding dust gets everywhere. Just ask my wife...
 
Nice work micarta, I am way more a beginner than you, its literally my first knife here. I spent 8 full hours the last 2 days sanding down two scales with a piece of glass and 40 grit paper lol. That belt sander would be awesome, not gonna happen here though. Jason, I am planning to move to Portland next year with my gf so I am just gonna do the work here in the apt. till then. Yes, your right the dust gets everywhere doing this work. I literally had to go buy a new vacuum today with a wand hose to get it all up lol. I got the first two scales soaking in linseed oil now, the first knife I'll be fitting these to is an 8" Chicago Cutlery 66S slixer knife... I have got way more labor in it than its worth, however I'm just using them to learn hence the free pine handles and only hand tools.
 
Have you thought about attaching the scales at full (1/2") thickness, then thinning them down during the handle shaping process? It would be less wood that you'd be filing/sanding off.

When I use linseed oil, I like to use at least 5 applications. I let it dry at least overnight so the BLO can dry and polymerize.

Ric
 
Thank you Ric, I attached the scales today earlier. My brass tubes fit perfectly for pins, I JB welded everything and have it clamped up drying. I soaked those scales for 2 days in the linseed oil. I wish I could post some pics, but I can't figure out how yet lol, I have more patience with the knives than tech stuff. I bought a regular hand saw with fine teeth today, next time I cut scales I'm gonna rip the board down the middle and it will save hours of sanding... I put dimples inside the scales with my drill before I epoxied it up, I saw pics of people doing that to create spaces for the epoxy. So far , so good. One problem I created, I dented the scales with my clamps a 16" or so in 2 places with the c clamps, so when everything dries up I'm gonna just sand them down flat again with the pins now in place. I have a pretty coarse stone I can use too if I have trouble sanding with the pins in, they are brass tubes so not really that tough to sand I'm sure. I got some j.b. weld inside the tubes which sucks, but I'm planning to use my small round file to file it out its just a small amount. The main thing I learned today is to be careful with the clamps, I bought myself a lot more sanding now to get those dents out... The only thing I can't see being able to cut down the time on for the rest of my knives is mirror polishing the blades, it took a good 6-8 hours of just 60 grit sanding for this one blade. This is one thing I might invest in the dremel for. So far so good though, it was really cool to see my handle going together today!
 
Next time I assemble a knife with these tubes, I'm gonna put some paper or something in the tubes to keep them from getting the JB weld inside them when I put it together. Lol , I just got up and found some q tips and got most of it out wet.
 
Well, as stated before, there are a lot of applications for a dremel, and they can create a lot of unforseen issues.

When using a dremel to polish a blade, the abrasive buff will wear the steel unevenly and cause it to be wavy. If a wavy finish will show on anything, it will be in the mirror reflection.

Your best bet is to head to a shop that creates custom marble and granite counter tops and ask them for a broken piece, or a trim piece that they are tossing. Try for 4"x7" at a minimum. Then just sand/polish away while watching tv with the misses. (Don't sand the scales though, they are too messy. )

Other ideas-
I would make a base of 6"-8" length of the board and screw a band clamp into it and put the vacuum attachment needed in that, tighten down and leave it. Then, when you are sanding, you can just place the board behind the sand paper and put the hose in the attachment and away you go.

I would also leave the scales 1/4" wider then you had planned, mount them and then sand to size. You will be surprised to know that as you are shaping a handle while on a knife, you might find yourself feeling that the knife "wants" a different handle shape, or it feels like it can be manipulated easier with one part left a bit wider or a different balance point.

When buying sand paper, make sure to pick up some 600, 800, 1200 and 2k wet/dry. The wetted paper won't pack up as much, and will allow you to see what the piece looks like whwn not covered in dust. Which is helpful when working in a confined work space due to the lack of dust generated.
 
Great idea the marble, I actually know where a place is in Seattle not far from my job. I didn't know you could use this to polish and sand the blades.. I so far see no reason to get a dremel. I already have every possible grit of paper from 40 grit up to 2k NJBIllk, I have one toolbox mostly full of sandpaper. Its these particular blades , they have a really crude old bevel grind that left deep machine marks. It took hours of 60 grit polishing, then it went pretty fast up through the grits after that. I was doing the work that way lol, just hanging out on the couch. It doesn't really make much mess sanding steel just very fine black dust. I'm not going to use any power tools anytime soon, its also just really gratifying looking at my work knowing it was done totally by hand. I'm gonna do ten of these knives with the supplies I already have. Honestly the hardest work was getting the old scales off. Some of these Chicago kitchen knives I have may be 30-50 years old. The old walnut and rivets were tough as nails, I was sweating ripping them apart it used a whole pack of hacksaw blades. It was cool I could tell the life the knives had lived, a couple caked in years of old hardened fat were obviously butcher shop knives , some in better shape not used as much, and some with dry cracked white bleached wood from being dishwasher to death at somebody's house...
 
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