From stacked leather to wood scales

[cj65]

Bought this on Ebay for under $20

I intended to try my hand at rehandling.

I thought I had more step procedures than this, but I could not find them. I milled the wood to make a snug fit on the shank. I did not quite get it centered.

I used a high strength epoxy. I drilled the shank just so the pins would press fit. Hindsight, I would have used larger pins. It was a snug fit.

My pictures are terrible. At clamp stage you see a full guard. I epoxied it crooked, so the guard ended up being flush with the wood. Sometimes mistakes are a good thing.

This is without any finish. I used rubber gloves to keep the oils from my hands off the bare wood.

I was very pleased of the way it turned out. The wood grain is really nice. This wood was sold to me as lignum vitae, I believe there are various species sold as such. I really like the grain. I bought this super glue type finish at the Pasadena CA knife show in April of 09.

 

[cj65]

I am really considering notching in a choil and straightening out the blade edge. Please let me know your thoughts on this. I still need to sand down the star bond finish. I am not quite done, but was excited to post.

I may also sand down and polish this blade. I am a polisher. I am not a patina man.

I squeezed some playdough to form out my finger grip. I wanted it formed to my hand. I do have some mistakes at the edges of the finger holes, but oh well. It was fun.

The pin on the back has a black eye. I think I had a sloppy hole and the epoxy oozed through.

This really shows the wood grain well. I had to take quite a few photos to show it. The pin on the left is proud. I am not sure how to keep em flush yet.

 

[panch0]

Oh oh! You are starting to catch the bug. Looks really good. You did a nice job on finishing the handle. The pin looks like it may have gotten hot and burned the wood a little from the looks of it. You also did a good job shaping the finger grooves which is a pain to keep them symetrical, at least it is to me. So when can we hope to see a cj65 makers stamp on a knife??:thumbup:

 

[cj65]

I would love to become a knife maker! I probably will once my 5 kids are grown up. I enjoy working with wood and have since wood shop in the late 70's.

I used a barrel sanding cylinder on my drill press (harbor freight) and screwed up the finger holes so many times. Luckily, I started with a really fat rough shape, so I figured it out as I went along. I did my best to maintain level to keep finger holes straight. I found out really quick that a dremel with small cylinders are very difficult to keep things symetrical. I only have one barrel size right now, so I used a bic lighter with sand paper wrapped around it for the index finger hole. My wife found the lighter in the garage, and thought I started smoking again. LOL. I told her that cigarettes would take away from my knife money, do not be so crazy.
The black eye, a heated up pin, sounds like that is what happened, not just ooze. A CJ65 logo stamp? Hmmm, it is good to dream.

 

[Tostig]

Awesome work !

A good sense of accomplishment when you remake an old knife into a new user


Tostig

 

[Phydeaux]

Looks great! The wood does look like lignum vitae. The wood can look very different depending how it is cut (face grain or edge grain). I've had pieces of edge grain that have some translucence that remind me of tiger's eye (stone). The lignum vitae also has a very distinctive odor when sanded or cut. I find it rather pleasant.

Ric

 

[cj65]

Looks great! The wood does look like lignum vitae. The wood can look very different depending how it is cut (face grain or edge grain). I've had pieces of edge grain that have some translucence that remind me of tiger's eye (stone). The lignum vitae also has a very distinctive odor when sanded or cut. I find it rather pleasant.

Ric

Thanks for the confirmation. It does have a distinct odor. The sawdust is green. My whole garage smells like it.

 

[JTR357]

:thumbup: Nice Job!

 

[Sword and Shield]

Not much a fan of fingergrooves, but excellent job nonetheless.

 

[cj65]

Not much a fan of fingergrooves, but excellent job nonetheless.

Thanks! I showed it to a friend who is into high quality knives, and he very gently asked me if I knew that the blade I re-handled was a low quality mass produced one. I told him I was aware of that. This was not a show piece, just a learning lesson. I learned a few things: should have soldered the guard to the shank, sand the pins down slower so they do not burn. I also learned that a dremel with a tiny drum sander does not work well to shape wood scales. I am glad I bought the drum sander 1.5" wide, and may get 2 more sizes, one smaller and one larger. It helps to keep the handle symmetrical. I have another 3 fixed blades to set with snakewood, macasar ebony, and I still have some more lignum vitae. Having alot of fun with it.