Grinding multi-sided handles evenly.

sierra11b

sierra11b

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
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626
I've done the occasional rehandle for my production knives and co-worker's knives. Even rehandled a bunch of co-worker's fish spatulas for practice. Also recently made another gyuto chef knife under the watchful eye of slipjoint maker Al Warren. So i've been keeping busy doing what I can until I can acquire enough funds to finally finish my own shop.

I plan on making two Santoku knives with wa-style octagon handles for co-workers next. As mentioned above, some of those re-handles that I have done before were with replacement wa-style octagon handles. Like this one I did in Kingwood:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/sierra11b/P1010038.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/sierra11b/P1010037.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/sierra11b/P1010035.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/sierra11b/P1010034.jpg

Problem is that for every one handle I make that's good enough to use I end up ruining two others on average. I can't keep burning through expensive wood like that anymore. To shape the handles I use an 8" disk sander with a custom 45 degree jig. Once the faces have been started, I eventually freehand the rest carefully.

I'm wondering if there's an easier way of doing this with other woodworking tools i'm not familiar with for more consistent results?

Thanks again for all your advice,
Eric
 
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If youre using a disk grinder and jig, what messes you up? Are you marking where to stop grinding? If not, just mark on the piece ends where your grinds should stop and feed the wood into the disc until you reach those points....or am I missing something?
 
When in doubt, return to hand tools.

I'd start with stock way longer than the handle you need and plane it. a sur-form is great if the wood is soft enough, but otherwise get a Good Small Tiny Really Good plane.

A draw knife would also work, but takes time to learn.

plane 2 passes, rotate, plane 2 passes, rotate. make sure you are starting with DEAD EVEN 90 degree corners and that you clamp really really well.

this can also be done on the plane, by mounting the plane perfectly level in a vise. Go slow. Go slow.

And the best piece of advice I have, is go slow.
 
koyote said:
When in doubt, return to hand tools.

I'd start with stock way longer than the handle you need and plane it. a sur-form is great if the wood is soft enough, but otherwise get a Good Small Tiny Really Good plane.

A draw knife would also work, but takes time to learn.

plane 2 passes, rotate, plane 2 passes, rotate. make sure you are starting with DEAD EVEN 90 degree corners and that you clamp really really well.

this can also be done on the plane, by mounting the plane perfectly level in a vise. Go slow. Go slow.

And the best piece of advice I have, is go slow.
Click to expand...

Any recommendations on such a plane?
 
Honestly, I use a mid range stanley from Ace that does a bang up job on bows. There are Good Stanley tools out there.
 
japanese woodworker has excellent ones, but again, a bit more expensive.
 
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