first handle ever

K

kngofhrts99

Joined
Mar 18, 2015
Messages
17

wife bought me the blade and this is my first attempt at putting a handle on it. give it to me straight
:nevreness:
 
Not to bad. If possible, I would have used smaller pins (1/8 or 3/16) and made the spacing more even. How is the counouring?
 
i wanted to use corby screws to attach it. this was the only size i could find. the holes were already drilled in the blank prior to me receiving it. went with what i had to work with. will try to post more pics of it later. its getting a sheath made for it. was supposed to be done last week but havent heard back from the guy making it.
 
I gotcha, look forward to the pictures. Say, what are the handles made of? It is definitely interesting :)

One critique i overlooked the first time is that top front of the handle is very pointy and thin. This has a tendency to snap off, especially when you are using wood so just remember that in the future when you are planning handles. try to keep any angles obtuse or a nice, big radius.
 
i noticed that too. the scales are buffalo horn. when i mocked it up and did the shaping of the front of the scales there was a nice radius but one of my pins fell out and it got off the radius ended up being way to high and i was impatient and wanted to see what i could do. i will more than likely hand sand them down and and try to clean it up. thank you for the reply
 
Looks like a good start. Nice finish on the horn, and it doesn't look like you went too fat with it. Using blanks is a great way to get a feel for the hobby using mostly tools you likely have on hand. Horn is sometimes a pain to work with but looks like you did a nice job with it here.

I agree with the above that the pins are a bit big. Keep in mind that you can always go with a smaller pin than the hole size. The epoxy will fill in the void. A lot of guys intentionally oversize their pin holes by a decent margin.

As far as the spacing. Since it was a blank, you were kinda screwed, but maybe just using the front and back holes would have given you a more favorable spacing? (I'm guessing the blank is Pakistani? Indian? They crank out a lot of pattern welded steel there but I don't think anyone owns a tape measure...) A hidden pin could be used in the center, or make a pocket a little larger than hole sized in the back of the scales on either side. If you make the pocket so that it has a larger interior than opening you create a good mechanical anchor once the epoxy cures.

For your next one, concentrate on the best quality steel you can find. If it is a blank, find one from a reputable maker or supplier. The Pakistani stuff looks OK, but most of it is poor quality steel. (Not your wife's fault, no way to know...) The steel is the heart and soul of the knife after all. Take away all the other components, and the blade alone will still be able to perform its intended function. Jantz, Texas Knifemaker, USA Knifemaker, etc all have a lot of really good offerings.

If you are considering a deeper dive into knife making, let me know. I am sure I have some extra materials around here that I can send you. I may even have a blank or two...

-Eric
 
i ordered a 4' piece of 1084 from nj steel baron. just got the email that it is on its way. i am looking to get into this a lot more. the paperwork sent with the blank was all in norwegien or scandanavian (sorry about the spelling). its a hard piece of steel. i have some oak from reclaimed flooring that i am planning on using to make my prototype handles out of. i am getting into this slowly so that it doenst hurt the pocket book to bad. if you know what i mean?
 
Not too bad, looks better than my 1st handle. Mine was a crkt first strike. I just went ahead and poured epoxy on top of its string wrap/ray skin handle and let it sit. Darn bigs landed on it before epoxy cured now their stuck there forever. I gave the knife away before epoxy even cured.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top