Help with leather handle

[Phil705]

I'm making my first leather handle knife, and I'm having a devil of a time making good rectangular holes in the leather washers. I've searched the tutorials, but not much luck. I've seen pre-punched leather washers for sale, but would prefer to do my own. Any suggestions?

Phil Millam
Winthrop WA

 

[Kunklec]

The easiest way is if you can find a square drill.
Seriously, for a square hole, use a small chisel, four taps and you have a hole.
Since the hole is going to be filled with something like epoxy around the tang, it is not necessary to have a perfect fit. It is easier to just use a regular drill big enough to fit over the tang.
Chip Kunkle

 

[Phil705]

Good tip, thanks. Not sure why I didn't think of that, duh.

 

[Longstrider]

I use an adjustable leather punch to make a hole (the right size) at each end of where I need the slot to be in the leather washer. Then I use a sharp chisel to push cut through the leather from the edge of one hole to the edge of the other. Using a chisel instead of a knife to make this cut means that there is no danger of over-cutting and having the cut run beyond the hole.
The fact that there is a little space between the tang and the curved end of the slot is no problem as I fix each leather washer on with epoxy resin and this soon fills this little space.