and ... part 2 of making the handle...
the way i went isn't the authentic way; almost all of those rat tails have a butt cap to help hold the handle on; that plate is physically attached to the rat tail, which helps keep things on. i want a butt cap free handle; which makes things a little harder. i put some filework onto the rat tail to give the eventual epoxy something to hold onto. later, if i rework this, i'll have to cut the wood off, and really clean the handle up, same thing if someone glue a handle on with a plastic bag, or other methods. i did consider putting a wee tiny pin through the handle, up by the fat part of the tail, but that's a later thing someday, maybe, not
the super easy authentic way imho: get a block of material, cut to desired length plus an inch or so to seat the bolster later, drill a hole the same width as the tail thickness centered and straight through. pick an end to accept the handle, and one for the buttcap end. mark centered on the handle end hole, the fat portion of the tail, you need to cut a slot now... place the tail on what will be the side of the handles, in the correct holding position (not upside down), and trace the tail to help with visualizing.
get a hacksaw or coping saw, and use a thin carbide hacksaw type blade (they make ROUND ones for tile! :thumbup
, or the usual coping saw blade. without make the butt cap end any bigger (be careful), keep the blade centered in that hole, cut a V shape internal piece out, picture the shape of the tail. don't make the hole too much wider than the tail either. this should give you a shape that fits SNUG and is aligned. take it slow.
okay, the blade should slip into the handle form nice, and be aligned. yay. car the handle shape you want. go for an authentic shape, or something curved with finger cut outs, etc. fit the butt cap end to the shape of the existing butt cap. cut a lip on the handle end to accept the bolster. voila! sand it, oil, stain, paint, etc.
use 1 hour epoxy fill the handle, slip the blade in with bolster on already
and in proper position, and pray
attach butt cap/plate, solder, and whee. take pictures, tell us.
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now, what i did made things harder, since i didn't have an exposed hole at the buttcap end. what i WOULD do next time is as above, but i'd make my handle a bit longer, shape it shorter after attachment, and use a wood plug to hide the hole
in my case, i used a lot of long, thin drills to cut out the edges of the shape i wanted, did some reaming, chiselings, and got lucky. i won't do it that way again without a drill press - very long work. otherwise, it's about the same...
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another thing i though of was: get two slabs of material, one for each outside of handle, aquire the same material (but potentially a different color in the same thickness as the tail as "filler" or skip this step and route each slab deeper - a two piece slab sammich. carefully route out to above 1-2mm of depth into each of the slabs, the shape of the tail, so they sit in TIGHT... shape about 2-4 mm off the tail fillers to compensate, test for fit... then slather a LOT of glue on a slab, put the tail into the slot, drop the fillers on top and bottom (and "back" depending on if they are shaped or not), more glue, slap the top on, clamp and wait. naturally, i would have marked on the outside the exact tail placement, because i would later drill all the way through and add pins and such. so, now you've got a block of material ready to shape (bench grinder go!)... doing this with micarta might be yummy. or perhaps if you're ghetto, that super high density cutting board material.
that's about it for ideas right now.
bladite
(sorry it's smartass o clock in my timezone evidently)
That takes the effort. Your second handle/khuk improvement will be better. You will become more fluid with it. Plus now it will be on your mind. It works for me because of its simplicity and functionality. Personally I would never use red oak for anything. Its my least favorite wood. But that is just plain common opinion and has zero value to anyone but me. Its interesting that you mentioned a machette handle. Thats just what it reminded me of. I'd like to hear a performance review. I wanna know how it performs. 
