- Joined
- Sep 11, 2013
- Messages
- 332
I picked up a GHK Highlander 1 from a fellow forum member a few weeks ago and have found the knife to be great in the woods. The blade is O1 steel, and it seemed to develop a faint orange haze rather quickly, so I forced a patina on the blade. It's stayed pretty stable since then, and holds an edge well. My only real issue with the knife is that the handle is too thin for my hands near the blade. I tried wrapping it with hockey tape to see if it was the shape, texture, or size. With several wraps of tape it improved greatly and felt fantastic.
While the tape solved the problem, I'd rather not keep it wrapped with tape because the tape tends to fray and peel, and it gets tacky and bleeds black pigment when it gets wet.
I've thought about wrapping it with a leather strip. Not rawhide but something thin and about a half-inch wide.
Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to do this and have it stay put. The Highlander handle is pretty smooth, and the butt is basically just a rounded end, so there is no clear-cut way to end the wrap and fasten it without some sort of adhesive. Maybe a wrap going half-way from the blade to the butt so that it thickens the part of the handle that is too thin. That might look odd, but it would probably look better than the hockey tape. Does anyone have pictures of something like this?
I'm also open to other types of tape. The appearance is less important to me than the feel and function, but the tape I've used does get a bit slimey when wet (basic hockey stick handle tape). My hands get blackened when using the knife out in the snow, or just from sweat, and the tape threads start to fray pretty quickly. Anyone know of a more suitable tape option that offers some texture but is not affected by water and sweat?
Here are two pictures of the knife. Crappy photos - sorry. Just wanted to show the patina and the handle (without tape).
Oh, by the way, the wrap can't be too thick or it will interfere with the knife going into the kydex sheath. The tape works well with the sheath, but leather wrapped without some sort of adhesive might get pushed and tugged around by the sheath and loosen.
While the tape solved the problem, I'd rather not keep it wrapped with tape because the tape tends to fray and peel, and it gets tacky and bleeds black pigment when it gets wet.
I've thought about wrapping it with a leather strip. Not rawhide but something thin and about a half-inch wide.
Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to do this and have it stay put. The Highlander handle is pretty smooth, and the butt is basically just a rounded end, so there is no clear-cut way to end the wrap and fasten it without some sort of adhesive. Maybe a wrap going half-way from the blade to the butt so that it thickens the part of the handle that is too thin. That might look odd, but it would probably look better than the hockey tape. Does anyone have pictures of something like this?
I'm also open to other types of tape. The appearance is less important to me than the feel and function, but the tape I've used does get a bit slimey when wet (basic hockey stick handle tape). My hands get blackened when using the knife out in the snow, or just from sweat, and the tape threads start to fray pretty quickly. Anyone know of a more suitable tape option that offers some texture but is not affected by water and sweat?
Here are two pictures of the knife. Crappy photos - sorry. Just wanted to show the patina and the handle (without tape).
Oh, by the way, the wrap can't be too thick or it will interfere with the knife going into the kydex sheath. The tape works well with the sheath, but leather wrapped without some sort of adhesive might get pushed and tugged around by the sheath and loosen.
