Handle materials question...

Mundele

Mundele

Joined
Aug 5, 2000
Messages
403
Hey guys! I've been trying my hand at making scandinavian knives with a stick tang. For my next one I'd like to make one with mixed materials (antler and wood, maybe some metal too). Nearly every one I see uses birch bark as a buffer layer between the two harder materials. Living in NC, I dont see birch "in the wild" as much, and I'm sure I'd get arrested if I was to go strip birch trees that are part of the landscaping around here. Does anyone know of either a source for birchbark or a suitable alternative?

On www.brisa.fi there's some stuff called "vulcan fibre" that can be used but I have no idea what it is. Is there a U.S. source for this stuff?

Could leather be used instead of birchbark?

Thanks for the answers...

--Matt

P.S. Anyone know of a source for brass or other suitable metals for layers in knifehandles?
 
Howdy There....!
I use to live in NC, down Pittsboro way. You can use almost any type of hardwood for your spacer. Walnut, Curly maple an desert ironwood are great spacers. I would suggest that you shape the harder materials first an then bring the softer material down to the harder...?? Make any sense..? Also check with Jame Poplin for the materials you may need. I think that his email is popsknifesupplies.com..? Good luck....!

"Possum":cool:
 
Vulcanized fiber is the stuff that many knifemakers use to add a liner of colored material between the tang and the scale, and/or to place some color between the guard/bolster and the handle material.
 
Cool! So this material is a type of plastic I guess?

Do you think leather will work? Will it withstand the shaping without moving around too much? I imagine it might move around but maybe if I coat in epoxy good enough it wont...

--Matt
 
Mundele, the vulcanized fiber is like a cross between thin colored cardboard and plastic. Don't know how else to describe it. It will not make a good handle material, but it makes a great thin color spacer/liner. This is the stuff that most knifemakers use for colored liners under the scale. I think Bob Loveless uses it in his book How To Make Knives as well.
 
Mundele, leather will work for a spacer, the way I do it is to soak the leather in water, press, seperate the pieces, and let dry. Then stack the leather and soak with thin Zap supper glue and press. After the glue is cured and the leather finish sanded, I put on a coat of Zap super glue to seal any area that might have been missed before. When every thing is cured, I sand smoth with the handle and buff.

I have never tried just one piece of leather for a spacer, but compressing it as much as posible and soaking with supper glue to stablize it should work as long as the handle is sucked up tight.

To keep the glue from sticking to your press or vice, wrap the jaws or dyes with wax paper.

Hope this helps,

William
 
If you can find some spalted hard wood or light and dark burls,cut them real thin like wafers and you should get the same effect as the bark.Horn looks good this way also.
Bruce
 
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