Finally had to rehandle my AK, this time in black linen micarta

Last Visible Canary

Last Visible Canary

actively parsing hurf durf
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Nov 28, 2006
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So after several ears of use my purpleheart handle finally developed a crack after I put some linseed oil on it. I think the linseed oil created stress by loosening up the exterior while the interior wood as still very dry from my current desert surroundings. Plus the winters here fluctuate between really humid and really dry, probably adding to the stress.

It's original form:
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The day the scales sheered because I hit it with a baton. The pins were soft aluminum with no reinforcement, so it was bound to happen eventually
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Heres the purple heart rendition, after I ground down the tang down so it could be a wide, rounded hidden tang:
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and now the new handle :D I've been meaning to do a micarta/g10 handle for a long time, but never had a reason/resources for it. Using only a dremel and a 4x36" belt sander on my patio, I peiced together a 4 layer hidden tang handle, all glued together with 2 ton epoxy and screws+standoffs.

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I had to glue a wedge into the hidden tang compartment because I got a little over zealous near the cho side and made it to deep
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my girlfriend helped by making a parts-man:
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after rough shaping:
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I brought it to a high polish
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But decided on a rougher 320 grit finish for grippiness
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I tried hard to avoid two things, making it look exactly like a Jerry Hossom handle, or the TTKZ handle from Busse Combat. The purple heart handle I shaped solely off of my own hand and my sensibilities for handle ergonomics, but really it ended up being very very close to a slightly more rounded TTKZ handle. This time it ended up being nearly identical in perportion to the TTKZ handle, with only a few very slight modifications, mostly to the palm side of the pommel swell/drop.

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I haven't gotten to use it yet, but I'm sure it will do well, as well at least as the TTKZ handle. It won't be quite as cushiony as the purple heart, but it will be a lot stronger and far more stable in the long run.
 
We should ship some Micarta to Nepal and get the Kamis used to working with it.

Yours looks great.
 
Looks great!

How common is it to need to re-handle a kukri? I just ordered my first kukri(18" GRS!), and I thnk I'd have a tough time making a replacement handle that is anything less than a disaster..
 
Shinook said:
Looks great!

How common is it to need to re-handle a kukri? I just ordered my first kukri(18" GRS!), and I thnk I'd have a tough time making a replacement handle that is anything less than a disaster..
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Not that often, and it depends on what style of tang it is. Most of the damages you'll encounter have relatively easy fixes.

With the stick tang style you'd have to put a really serious crack in the wood to have to completely replace it. Normally you can repair cracks by drilling a small hole at the end of the crack and then filling the hole and the crack with either superglue or 2 ton epoxy (my favorite general adhesive). If the handle gets loose normally you can just peen the end of the tang to tighten it up. If all else fails and it's a near total lost because you can't peen it back into place - you can always slide the entire thing off the tang and 2 ton epoxy it into place. If it ever needs to be taken off, you can remove it with a chisel, hammer, and a file to get the glue off the tang.

With the exposed full tang style, the main cause I've experienced for repair is when the tubes/rods that hold it in place sheer, leaving a pinchy line where the scale is no longer flush with the tang. sometimes you can just hammer everything back into place, other times not. Mostly this is a problem with unreinforced aluminum pins like the ones that came with this. If they have a brass tube around them it's less likely to happen. If you can't peen it back into place you can wrap the entire thing in tape, you can do a simple cord wrap to cushion the sharp edges, or you could do what I always do and epoxy the entire thing together and then sand down the sharp edges.
 
Thanks Last Visible Canary!

I can handle hit it with a hammer, drill and glue, and tape the hell out of it.
 
LVC,

Thank you for such inspiring work! I'm going through my collection for a stick tang handle.
Just one question, it is still a CAK, right?
 
JayGoliath said:
LVC,

Thank you for such inspiring work! I'm going through my collection for a stick tang handle.
Just one question, it is still a CAK, right?
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Technically I don't think it qualifies, I think the 'Chiruwa' signifies a fully exposed tang. This is a non-traditional style hidden tang, with a traditional ang khola blade. If your going to do a stick tang, you may have to thread the end of the handle so you can add a nut to it, since there may not be enough space to drill a hole for a screw and stand off.
 
LVC:

You did a beautiful job with that micarta. Here's an idea that I'll throw out there for your consideration:

Earlier in the thread you say that you brought the micarta to a high polish, then roughened it to 320 grit for grippiness.

My idea is that you could polish just the parts of the handle (two on each side) that show the four-pointed "diamond" pattern, leaving the bulgy parts of the handle at 320. That would cause the diamond patterns to visually pop while retaining the grippiness.

It might look really good, and if not it would be easy enough to go back to the 320 roughness.

-- Dave
 
nice mods and updates to the classic :)

love the Zilla too :>
 
Its really awesome!!! And Thats an understatement. If I could I would make a micarta handle for every blade i own Simply because it lasts forever and if you are skilled enough it can be quite beautiful as well. I am waiting to shark my perfect CAK, and when it comes i am going to make it perfect with a green and red micarta handle.....
 
ShamrockWill said:
Any chance you'd be willing to put a handle like that on my 17" Chitlangi for a price?
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For right now my projects are just labors of love. If I ever get a shop or an actual garage again I might take up projects for other people, but for now it's nice to not have to worry about supply and quality.
 
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