- Joined
- Dec 22, 2006
- Messages
- 2,194
I had an Eriksson 746G knife that I had damaged the handle on and decided to strip it down and put a custom handle on it. I got it trussed up in a rubber jawed vice and started cutting away with a hacksaw to ge the old molded plastic handle off.
First of all, it is one of the soft grip handles and I was surprised to find that the soft part is about 1/4" thick and then there is a very tough hard plastic layer on down to the tang. The bonding between the soft and hard layers is complete and the bond to the tang is very tough. I had to cut down to the tang and pry off small chunks as I went. If there is any doubt about the plastic handle coming off the blade, forget it-- the blade will snap first.
The tang is 1/2" tall at the end of the blade edge and tapers down to 1/4" over a 3/4" run and continues to within 3/8" of the butt end where it is formed into smaller tongue. There is also a notch about 1/2" from the butt end to help key the plastic. The tang is 3-1/8" overall, which leaves the end about just inside my little finger when gripping the knife-- just the last 3/4" has no tang. The tang thickness is the same as the blade all the way through.
Now to find something interesting for a handle. I want to bore it to fit a firesteel.
First of all, it is one of the soft grip handles and I was surprised to find that the soft part is about 1/4" thick and then there is a very tough hard plastic layer on down to the tang. The bonding between the soft and hard layers is complete and the bond to the tang is very tough. I had to cut down to the tang and pry off small chunks as I went. If there is any doubt about the plastic handle coming off the blade, forget it-- the blade will snap first.
The tang is 1/2" tall at the end of the blade edge and tapers down to 1/4" over a 3/4" run and continues to within 3/8" of the butt end where it is formed into smaller tongue. There is also a notch about 1/2" from the butt end to help key the plastic. The tang is 3-1/8" overall, which leaves the end about just inside my little finger when gripping the knife-- just the last 3/4" has no tang. The tang thickness is the same as the blade all the way through.
Now to find something interesting for a handle. I want to bore it to fit a firesteel.
