hollow handles

L

Luke Smart

Joined
Aug 24, 2001
Messages
141
A friend of mine the other day showed me a Lile Rambo hollow handle knife, and I got inspired to make a hollow handled knife. I have nearly completed the blade as well as the handle. I am curious if anyone else has made them. Obviously Lile Knives and Chris Reeve make them, but who else? Does anyone have any magic words of wisdom for constucting this knife other than "Glad it's you and not me" :) This is my first time posting and surely not my last!!

Luke
 
Luke,

Welcome to the forums.

I am glad to see you also like hollow handled knives. The most critical point for me is to make sure the handle blade junction is done right. There should be enough tang inserted into the hollow handle to allow for a strong joint. Temper the tang for maximum thoughness, and solder, glue, and pin the two pieces together.

The pin will hold the two pieces together, while the solder seals out the mosture, and expoxy fills gaps in the hollow handle to prevent miscellaneous items from getting stuck in the handle.

n2s
 
Randall has made hollow handle knives for a very long time.

(picture from the Randall Web Site, Model 18 Attack and Survival)
 
I made a hollow handled "survival knife" once. I used brass pipe and butt cap. I cut and turned a piece of 1/2" brass till it would just fit inside the pipe. Then I drilled a hole in the center and tapped it the same size as the tang. I soldered it in and then put two 3/32" pins in off center. Then just make the guard and when you put the knife together, use some lock tight and I put an acorn nut on the end of the tang as an extra. Still have another piece of brass pipe and buttcap sittin in my shop. Was gonna make two of the knives but the first one didn't go over real well so I forgot about it. Post some pix of the knife when you get it made. I'd like to see it.
 
Welcome to the forums.
I'm pretty sure that texas knifemakers supply ( www.texasknife.com ) sells hollow handles. Then all you would have to do is make the blade, and fit it to the handle. I'm not sure how much that involves or how they fit up, but it would probably be a lot easier than making the handle if you don't have any tools to make and thread the various pieces.I would guess that you just have to make a stick stang blade with the right size and number of threads on the tang.
 
Thanks everyone for the helpful info. Great pic, X-ray! I hope mine turns out half as nice as yours. I made a threaded plug with a hole through the center for the blade tang. I was going to tig weld the tang to the bottom of the plug after the guard is soldered onto the blade, but I have been afraid of melting the solder on the guard with the heat of the weld. I like the idea of just threading the tang and using an acorn nut, that way there's not heat from the weld. The handle and pommel were a cake walk. I made them on my CNC lathe at work. This project is alittle different than normal knife constuction. Thanks again for the advice!!

Luke
 
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