Hey Dan/Pen- Broke out the acraglas

H

hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
13,182
Finally got my handle shaped to the point that I needed to finish it on the knife.

Mixed up the acraglas. I mixed a little too much up so I popped the handle off my Phillipine bolo that was a little loose and used it on that too.

It is setting up now. The main problem I noted is on the Khukuri a lot of the acraglas was coming out of the bolster where it fits against the blade. You know where the laha usually sticks out. I managed to get it taped up and then clamped it in the vise by the blade and then ran a bungie over the back of the handle to pull the whole thing together. I had to add some in the hole in the back to top it up.

Took it out of the vise this morn. Looks good.

The Bolo was much tighter fit and didn't leak much. Especially the bolster.

Thanks to massive taping not much slopped on the knife itself. I'll have to sand or file some off where it came out of the bolster. I didn't have tape on about 1/8" so I could make sure I was clamping the whole thing together evently.

When I get the whole thing done I'll post some pix. I tried to keep the slightly rounded edge Yvsa put on the butt of the old handle. I also tried to give the back half of the handle more of a downward curve like the more traditional khuk.
 
sounds like great progress, HD.


Mineral Spirits will usually remove any excess/spillage - but only before it dries.


TIP (for anybody using acraglas):

Oil the blade before you do glue-up. The acraglas won't stick to anything with oil on it. Do it carefully (with a paintbrush).


If you do get some on your blade, use a small exacto knife to "pop" it off. Try hard not to scratch the finish - that's a tough place to try to remove scratches. All else fails, sometimes a coarse buffing compound on a hard wheel will knock it off.

Best of luck, Jim!
 
I haven't used the acraglas but when I'm reinstalling any khuk handle I put masking tape all over everything, very carefully applied.;)
Then I very carefully fill the bolster part of the way, trying to guess how much it will take so that when the handle is pushed in it won't run over.
If it does run over I clean everything up, very quickly,
and before I pour the epoxy down inside the handle past the tang I tape the joint between the handle and bolster to keep the epoxy in.
So far I've had pretty good luck with doing it this way without getting epoxy all over everything!!!!
The first time however I reinstalled a khuk handle it was all trial and error and was a learning experience for future reinstallations.:rolleyes:
Acetone is also good for removing excess epoxy and I imagine it would work well for the acraglas too.
Just be dayumed careful with it as I'm pretty sure it's a lot more flamable than mineral spirits even though it's all might dangerous stuff.:eek:

Is the acraglas similar in flow to the epoxy or is it thicker and not apt to flow as smoothly?
 
the acraglas gel is much thicker than regular epoxy. that's what I have (now discontinued at brownells) :(

I think HD has the regular stuff.
 
The acraglass was very thin first mixed up. In retrospect I should have waited a little longer and let it get a little thicker and it probably wouldn't have come out the bolster as much. It was a little thicker when I decided to use the rest on the Bolo and that made it more manageable.

Yvsa,

You'll be happy to know I cut the "habaki" off of the bolster before I put the handle on. ;) Looks like I am going to have to take off about 1/4" of the tang before I can put the keeper or butt plate on since without the Habaki the tang protrudes from the back of the handle. On the other hand without the habaki the center of gravity of the khuk feels better.

Somebody was talking about an AK or penknife handle being too short. I think if they wanted to re handle it they could cut the habaki off and do a new handle and gain some handle.
 
hollowdweller said:
Yvsa,

You'll be happy to know I cut the "habaki" off of the bolster before I put the handle on. ;) Looks like I am going to have to take off about 1/4" of the tang before I can put the keeper or butt plate on since without the Habaki the tang protrudes from the back of the handle. On the other hand without the habaki the center of gravity of the khuk feels better.

Somebody was talking about an AK or penknife handle being too short. I think if they wanted to re handle it they could cut the habaki off and do a new handle and gain some handle.
Click to expand...
Thanks Tsimi.:D
Not in any way comparing you to the Duck!!!! Just happens to be Cherokee for your given name.;)
From Dan's recommendation of the acraglass I may have to try it. He's been dayumed near as bad in the past about the acraglass as I am about Ballistol.:rolleyes: :p ;)

And congrats on cutting off the excess flat area of the bolster!!!!
I also like the way the khuks feel afterwards. You wouldn't think that 1/4"-3/8" would make that much difference in the way a khuk balances ainnit? But it sure does!!!!:)
I'm anxious to see what the difference is going to be on my other Foxy Folly, if any, when I get it completed!!!!
It may not be much as the lengths on the FFs seem to be shorter than average but we'll see.

And you're spot on about gaining some extra handle length on the small khuks, any khuk actually, by cutting off the flat area of the bolster.
And if you make the tang longer by cutting away the excess steel behind the cho on both sides of the blade, thereby eliminating some cho creep, you could gain quite a bit more methinks!!!!:D
Someone has mentioned this before I believe when talking about the shorter handles since the advent of the so-called habaki bolster.
Most of the time I'm more interested in making the handle shorter as most are way too long for me when you get into the 17" and above range.
It's easy to shorten a handle by reworking the area that goes into the bolster.
Generally the handle doesn't even make it too the angle of the bolster and when trimmed down to fit and by even putting angles on the handle to fit the bolster it can be shortened a 1/4" easily.
The handles on the FF are almost an exact fit for me other than being a tad too fat. I slimmed the one down that I put the pictures of here.
 
Yvsa,

I am totally in agreement with you on handles being too long. I like the shorter more flared butt end handle like my GK bonecutter has.

The only problem I have with this AK now, is that the handle is still a little too fat. I could sand it down more but I can't take it down much more cause the tang is so wide and the bolster so big. The original handle especially the part right behind the bolster was always too wide.The new handle easily goes up into the bolster double the distance of the old one. I beveled it to fit up in there. So should be stronger too.

Now that I have done this once I am ready again. I understand Atlanta Cutlery is going to be selling blades only of the antique khuks in their next catalog. Some are partial tang I guess but I may try to snag a couple and put a custom handle on them. I figure with using Acraglass and maybe pinning them they'd be strong enough.
 
hollowdweller said:
Yvsa,
The only problem I have with this AK now, is that the handle is still a little too fat. I could sand it down more but I can't take it down much more cause the tang is so wide and the bolster so big. The original handle especially the part right behind the bolster was always too wide.

Now that I have done this once I am ready again. I understand Atlanta Cutlery is going to be selling blades only of the antique khuks in their next catalog.
I figure with using Acraglass and maybe pinning them they'd be strong enough.
Click to expand...
Tsimi I took the handle on my FF right down to the bolster and you can barely feel the intersection with your finger nail.
And you're right, that's about as far as you can go and still have things look right.
However the handle on my Super Salyan that's going to Munk has been taken down quite a git further than that!!!!
After having it go flying outta my hand more than once it Had to Have something more done to it!!!!

I'm pretty sure I've already seen the blades only for sale so you may want to get your order in before all the good ones are taken.
There's been partial tang knives made for years and if they're pinned I have no problem with them.
If you do this please let us know how they come out.:D ;)
I've got a Moro Sundan that has a tang maybe 3/4" long, and just about as wide at the bottom. It's shaped more like a triangle.:eek:
Federico has offered to rehandle it for me and I just never got around to taking him up on the offer.:( They're originally done much like the khuks with a native epoxy but they also have the benefit of the metal wrapped handle with a metal strip wrapped around the top of the blade.
Good enough for cutting people in two.:D :eek: ;)
I miss Federico's input here!!!!:( He's another one of the good guys!!!!
 
darn right about that acraglas, Yvsa!

:D
 
Hey, Hollowdweller,
A short tang can be converted to full tang a couple of different ways. Welding or brazing an iron extension is the easiest way, a good quality piece of suitable sized iron is available in the hardware store in the nail department :=). A slot can be cut in the extension and then riveted to the existing tang if the handle has excess downward curve, and you need some wiggle to get things into place . Epoxy will hold the whole thing tight.
Looking foreword to seeing some pix of the new handle.
Don't forget, oak needs a lot of finish as it is very porous and absorbs oil like crazy.
B.
 
Thanks Brian,

I think the oak handle absorbed a lot of Acraglas cause you tap it now and it sounds like an iron bar. ;)

I got some Minwax to use on the handle outside, but still need to to a little more sanding and shaping on the butt end. By the way that file you let me use at Khonvention was the bomb. You could get in tight or go wide and take a lot off. An awesome tool.

Soon as I'm done I'll post some pix. After doing this one and the bolo I'm wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea just to routinely take all the handles off and put this acraglass in them. Solid as hell.
 
HD, what kind of file was it? I'm always on the lookout for that kind of thing.
 
AV,

I don't know the name. Maybe 5 6" long. Shaped like an elongated football, flat one side and round on the other. Extremely versatile.
 
Ok, I can sort of picture it. Don't know the name, either. Was it pointed? And how wide?

Thanks for your patience.
 
Brian in Chi said:
A 4-in-hand is good to have too:
Click to expand...
Yeah, it sure is. I have A), but B) looks REALLY useful:

(A) 4-in-1 Hand Rasp combines a fine and medium wood rasp and file in one tool! 10" long, curved on one side, flat on the other.

I will mention, however, that you are costing me time. I mean, money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top