Handle Problems With My HI Bolo

The ferrule is epoxied to the handle then filed down to fit snugly under the guard, then the whole assembly is glued up with Devcon 2 ton epoxy. No soldering necessary. The assembly is the same with or without a ferrule. I haven't had any time to work on the Bolo this weekend, all I've done really is rest. But I'm getting less stiff, and can almost sit comfortably, so I'll get on the three sheaths I've got to do, then finish the Bolo project this week. Work will be busy this week. So it'll all have to happen in the afternoons.
 
This knife is addictive. I'm actually getting myself into a bind at work for concentrating on this thing... What can a knife nut do though. This AM (I get in at 6:30) I finished shaping the handle. Then sanded the wood, did some filing and sanding on the copper, and finally, put on a coat of Watco's. What a difference.

The scabbard I've taken completely apart. I can do very little to it at work. I'll get it ready to be recovered, but then I've got some leatherwork catching up to do before this gets done.



This one shows the handle after glueup on Friday, and the handle after shaping sanding and finishing this AM.


 
Very nice, congrats on a job well done Andy. I really like how it looks now, better then the current table leg handle IMO. :thumbup:
 
Nice handle, thank you Andy
 
Thank You Yangdu. Its been a fun knife to work on. One of the stoutest blades I've ever seen. Sher's work is AWESOME!
 
Looks good. It's cool to see a different interpretation of the old table leg special. Nice job.
 
Thanks guys! Its a fun project to do. There is one waiting for someone to mod in the DOTD today! Get'r done!
 
Looks wonderful, Andy.

I don't have one of the HI knives with the white wood handle. I believe all HI handles are supposed to be hardwood. I'm a little surprised if Pine made it in there, but it is tougher stuff than generally believed.


munk
 
Pine is not a suitable wood for a knife handle.
 
Andy, any wood that is too soft, Yangdu is looking into. I got that from the source. If you say that white stuff is too soft, that's good enough for me.

As for Pine, if it IS Pine, and I don't know that it is, you ever handled Ponderosa Pine?

In rifle stocks there are a couple 'hardwoods' that are on the cheap side and none too hard. The Ruger 10-22 is a good example. I don't think of that stuff as hard. I can inlet it with a fingernail. Yet it gives good service for years.

None of this means I'm a fan of the HI white stuff Yangdu called 'evergreen'? (Pine)
At any rate, this and some other issues she'll be addressing with the Kamis shortly.

munk
 
I just want to clarify the hardwood/softwood issue. It has nothing to do with the hardness of the wood. There are soft hardwoods and hard softwoods. Balsa, a very soft consistancy wood is classified as a hardwood. The classification comes from the growth pattern of the wood, not it's consistancy. In general, hardwoods are harder than softwoods, but there are exception in both classes.
 
Mine had an "evergreen" handle IIRC. It was soft and felt somewhat damp. It reminded me very much of waxwood, both in texture and color. It's been holding up as well as the rest of the bolo.

Going by what Bob said, I believe that the issue here more than anything is assembly rather than materials. There was a loosy-goosey fit inside and under shock, things got to moving and the pin did more harm than good at that point. I suppose that there might have been a flaw in the wood but I'd think that that would be secondary; I have several handles with cracks in them and they haven't caused problems by themselves.

Look at it like this: a small bamboo peg is sufficient to keep a katana together. If the tang was a loose fit in the handle, would the peg still work? If the tool is going to take a thrashing the parts have to mesh fairly well -- not perfectly, but well. Utilizing more pins, harder wood, etc. is merely treating the symptoms.

Don't hate on the pine either. I've chopped some monstrous pine out here that made blades too hot to touch and jarred the hell out of my arm and back. I gave up on it for a handle material the first time I tried, as it tore up my belts so badly that I threw it in the fireplace out of frustration. :) It was full of cured sap that might as well have been epoxy, it had dried so hard.

In any event I'm glad to see this BWB getting a new lease on life. I'm digging the new handle. :thumbup:
 
I don't know that this wood was pine. I do know it is soft. IMO what happened was that the laha had hardened too quickly and didn't totaly fill the gap in the handle. That was probably what caused the rest of the problems. The pin kept the blade from flying off, but in the process was completely warped in the handle. It was made from Aluminum. Without the pin the blade would surely have gone a flying. When I pounded it out the handle fell away without me having to even touch it.

Ponderosa pine is hard as is pine that has hardened sap in it as stated above. Dave and Munk are right about that. Still, it is not used on knife handles. Very few sappy evergreens are used on knife handles unless they are stabalized. Neither are soft hardwoods. I've had some of my curly maple handles questioned by knifemakers here on BF.

I am glad that the issue is being addressed, but it isn't a killer issue. Like Dave said, his is holding up. Soft woods get marked up easier because its soft, and will eventually look worse for the wear. But with laha, that thick tang and a pin, I don't see that many failures will happen. And I think the harder woods would have failed in this particular knife.
 
I've got some non-sappy Ponderosa pine in my living room as hard as bricks.

I asked Yangdu about this. I tried to clarify and let the forum know it is being taken care of. "evergreen' means something different to Yangdu. She is uncertain what the wood is, but the Shop is not supposed to use soft wood.

There are certainly portions of many known Hard woods that can be soft and unsuitable.

My next handle project may be Ponderosa. I want to see what would happen. I've got some wild plum though, that if it can refrain from fracturing is marvelous. In fact, cracks or not, it would be difficult for this material to entirely fail. The Chokecherry is another candidate.

Anyway, we probably have seen the last of too soft white wood.


munk
 
aproy1101 said:
I don't know that this wood was pine. I do know it is soft. IMO what happened was that the laha had hardened too quickly and didn't totaly fill the gap in the handle. That was probably what caused the rest of the problems. The pin kept the blade from flying off, but in the process was completely warped in the handle. It was made from Aluminum. Without the pin the blade would surely have gone a flying. When I pounded it out the handle fell away without me having to even touch it.
...
Click to expand...

the "sesau" handle(s) i have are hard enough that i cannot readily/easily mark them with my thumbnail, and i know that i can mark about any wood with enough time that way - carved my name in many a desk :>

perhaps there are just bad batches of wood, that have not been properly seasoned and dried (like a year or more) or too quickly, and they're cracking a lot more than normal. also, perhaps different parts of the tree are harder than others - heartwood vs not (knot knot)... or the wood has other flaws.

wouldn't it be fabulous if they could build a vacuum chamber and stabalized woods for premium models? yes. not very hard apparently.

and btw, isn't the handle on the stick knife screaming "i'd make a great bolo handle too?"
10-02-062%20002.jpg


mmmm. some of those potential project bolos look tempting.

i think yangdu should have a rock bottom broken blade sale. clear out the trailer of all that stuff :)

bladite
 
Bladite said:
i think yangdu should have a rock bottom broken blade sale. clear out the trailer of all that stuff :)

bladite
Click to expand...

Hmmm... a question: When a blade chips, that's generally because it was overhardened, correct? So doesn't that mean you could grind off the outer part of the edge and reharden it, ending up with a perfectly good (if somewhat lighter and narrower) blade? Or am I missing something?
 
Yangdu asked me to post something here. What should I talk about?

he he. That's a joke. Really.
There won't be any blade only sales on any regular basis. This was asked of Bill a long time ago and answered in the negative, and I asked Yangdu this AM and recieved the same answer. The people in Nepal are poor, and all the folks we employ indirectly by our patronage is a good thing.

The white wood, at least the too soft version, is ending but there's no telling what is in the next shipment. Yangdu will special sell any remainder at discount price.


Stick knives are coming.
Damn the new Cult of the Stick Knife!


munk
 
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