How Do I Attach Scales to a Skeletonized Knife?

[Nathan Armer]

I'm making a small camping knife from a reciprocating saw blade. This is my first ever from-scratch knife, though I've reprofiled one or two and made a handle for another. I skeletonized the handle to save weight. I've got some scrap oak I want to use for the scales, but with no metal to put pins through in the usual spots, I'm wondering what the proper way to attach them is. I read somewhere that even with strong epoxy, it's important to have pins to keep the scales from shearing off, but I know you can buy scales for popular brands of skeletonized knives, so there must be an accepted way to attach them.

 

[AVigil]

Well if you removed all the metal so pins can not be used, then you need to make a spacer to fit inside that space that will glue to the scales.

But make it a hair thinner then your spine.

 

[Nathan Armer]

That makes sense. Do you think a lighter material would be okay for making the spacer, like pine or even bass wood?

 

[AVigil]

that is fine

 

[Nathan Armer]

I finally got around to this project. The handle turned out nice. the blade itself, especially the shape of the bevel, turned out rough, but it's functional. I didn't heat treat the metal; I just tried to keep it cool while grinding so as not to lose the temper of the blade. Right now it's razor sharp, but I have no idea how well the edge will hold. It's got a 2.5" cutting edge and an overall length of 6" and weighs 30 grams. I used it to cut out plastic pieces for it's own temporary sheath (3 grams). I don't know what I'm going to do for the sheath long term. I'm trying to stick with the theme of cheap and at-hand materials. The only thing I bought for this project was the saw blade. Everything else I had lying around.

 

[Kessik221]

Nice looking project. Done a few with sawblades myself, the metal is so thin already you don't need much beveling.

 

[Nathan Armer]

Here are shots of the couple of sheaths I've made so far, from the lids of plastic food carry-out containers. I love the bare minimalism of these and how light they are (about 2 - 3 grams), but neither one is going to work as a final solution. The problem with both of them is that the plastic is too flexible, which makes them too loose. The knife could easily slip out or slide too far in and cut the threads holding it all together. I do prefer the second one, the folded over style, for it's smaller profile, but the first one holds a bit more tightly, so that's the one I'm using for now.

 

[Randydb]

We made 2 class sets (50) of wood carving knives with my students. Basically bought blade blanks made by a local company, put handles on them, then made sheaths. First sheaths were made from leather scraps we had. But now I am switching them over to plastic sheaths.

Basically we are doing your second folding sheath with plastic. Going further up the handle though so knife is less likely to fall out. Instead of stitching, we are going to use duct tape. Duct tape entire sheath. Figure that will make it a bit less likely to cut through, and easy fix if it does.
You might try that.

 

[JTknives]

Get ya some thin kydex and mold a sheath.

 

[Horsewright]

I vote for leather. So does Scotty.

 

[Nathan Armer]

Get ya some thin kydex and mold a sheath.

I'm trying to stick with the theme of cheap and at-hand materials. The only thing I bought for this project was the saw blade. Everything else I had lying around.

Kydex doesn't fit the theme of on-hand materials. But, it would be very light... :thoughtful:

 

[Nathan Armer]

 

[Nathan Armer]

After 4 tries, I finally came up with a sheath design I like. It's similar to the first one pictured above, but in order to make it more secure, the threads are much closer to the blade. The real trick though, was adding a middle layer of plastic cut out to fit the profile of the blade exactly. When the blade slides in, it butts up against the middle layer and stops instead of cutting the thread. I also glued the layers together with Shoe Goo. I figure if the blade does manage to wiggle past the middle layer of plastic, it'll hit the glue before it hits the threads. Before I added the Shoe Goo however, I had it temporarily sewn together, and I dipped it point down, with the knife in it, into boiling water for a few seconds. This shaped the plastic where it was easier to get the knife in and out, but it's still reasonably secure. Actually, after that it was a bit too loose, but adding the glue tightened it back up again. One note about the Shoe Goo though, it begins to cure and stiffen up a lot faster than I anticipated; you really have to get everything back together fast. I'll try to remember to get a picture when I can.