I have seen many handle conversions over the years so I thought I would give it a try.
I picked up a cold steel recon scout in 3v for a good deal and figured that would be a good one to try.
The process was not hard to figure out but boy it took a long time. I have about 12 hours into it.
I have access to some machinery from a friends shop so that helped a lot.
I decided to buy some canvas for this so I got a big block from knifemakers supply.
So I removed the orig handle, I am embarrassed to show that since I basically ripped it apart before I realized I could just drill out the lanyard tube, no biggie I'll remember if I ever do another.
I saw a buck tarani folder and thought that would be a cool design to mimic. I did a scale drawing that I later used as a template for band saw cutting of the shape and the notches.
I used a drill press to do a full pass through tang and later used hacksaw blades to do the channel fitting.
I used a 2x60 belt to remove material for shaping and it went well, my friend had several heavy grits and some scotch belts for final finish.
The tang was too long for the design so I had to cut it down, that steel is hard to cut so I used a dremel and cutoff wheel then cleaned it up on the belt.
I was able to do all the shaping, fit and most of the finish before installing it on the knife, I reshaped the guard to match the handle.
Once the handle was epoxied I was able to do a final finish to smooth it all up and make everything line up.
To complete it I made a burlap pommel plug just for some contrast and drilled a lanyard hole.
That was a lot of work, dust and grit, don't see me doing another any time soon.
Even though it has a funky look it actually has a great feel in the hand. Thanks for checking it out.
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I picked up a cold steel recon scout in 3v for a good deal and figured that would be a good one to try.
The process was not hard to figure out but boy it took a long time. I have about 12 hours into it.
I have access to some machinery from a friends shop so that helped a lot.
I decided to buy some canvas for this so I got a big block from knifemakers supply.
So I removed the orig handle, I am embarrassed to show that since I basically ripped it apart before I realized I could just drill out the lanyard tube, no biggie I'll remember if I ever do another.
I saw a buck tarani folder and thought that would be a cool design to mimic. I did a scale drawing that I later used as a template for band saw cutting of the shape and the notches.
I used a drill press to do a full pass through tang and later used hacksaw blades to do the channel fitting.
I used a 2x60 belt to remove material for shaping and it went well, my friend had several heavy grits and some scotch belts for final finish.
The tang was too long for the design so I had to cut it down, that steel is hard to cut so I used a dremel and cutoff wheel then cleaned it up on the belt.
I was able to do all the shaping, fit and most of the finish before installing it on the knife, I reshaped the guard to match the handle.
Once the handle was epoxied I was able to do a final finish to smooth it all up and make everything line up.
To complete it I made a burlap pommel plug just for some contrast and drilled a lanyard hole.
That was a lot of work, dust and grit, don't see me doing another any time soon.
Even though it has a funky look it actually has a great feel in the hand. Thanks for checking it out.
