How might I tighten this handle?

[ericbakuladavis]

Hi Folks. I've been using this knife for years and it just started getting a bit loose. The blade can move a little in all 3 dimensions, relative to the handle.

It looks like a full tang. I don't know the terminology for the style of knife or the method by which the tang and handle are joined. The photos should help.

Anyone know a good way to fix it?

 

[afishhunter]

The knife is a Puukko.
Re-peening to tighten the grip is the only thing I can think of short of removing the grip and using an epoxy glue. If you remove the grip, you may have to shorten it by an 1/8 inch or so, depending on how much forward play there is to be able to peen it again, if you don't want to rely 100% on the epoxy to hold it in place.

The grip has probably shrunk a bit over the years. Untreated wood has a tendency to do that. I don't know if woking a product like Swel- Lock(tm) between the grip and tang would work. The chanel for the tang  may have been worn slightly because if the movement, as well.

Hopefully someone that knows more than I will chime in soon.

Maybe a moderator can move this to Maintenance and Tinkering. You might have better luck there.

 

[knarfeng]

Moving to Maintenance and Tinkering...

 

[ericbakuladavis]

Thank you, knarfeng for moving the thread.

Thank you, afishhunter for the info. I went ahead and put the blade in a vice, and used a punch to whack the metal plate that lays against the butt, to separate the plate from the tang. Then I re-peened the tang with a whaffle-head framing hammer (all I had). So far, it's tight.