Ahhh. Kit knives! I have done several. First step, cover the blade with masking tape. Next step, throw away the directions! Or if you are like me, cut them up first with the new blade! Hopefully you got the kits where you dont have to solder the guard. IF you have to solder, keep the instructions, I dont know how to do them otherwise! Next step....drilling handle material. Clamp both scales onto the knife handle and put some wood under the last one so the drill press or other drill (drill press makes straight holes...good for this stuff) wont go all the way thru it and splinter the handle. Then get the pins out. Make sure they fit thru the holes you jsut drilled! if not either drill bigger holes or sand pins down. Drill bigger holes! IF you are using rivets, good luck! never used them, pins are much easier! Epoxy time! Sand scales until they sit flat on the knife tang and sand the knife tang to get good adhesion of the epoxy. Next step, mix epoxy (2 ton waterproof stuff)and smear it on the tang of the knife and the handle pieces on the side that is being glued to the tang. Put pins thru pin holes and pein a LITTLE bit..not much! Cut off excess with hacksaw. Clamp tight so the pieces wont move, but dont force all of the epoxy out. Go to sleep. let epoxy dry. When it is dry, varies depending on type and brand, get out the old hacksaw or other small saw and try to cut the bulk of the handle material away from the tang. This will rough out the handle a little bit. YOu can also do it before you drill and epoxy and everything, but this way you dont have to wory about taking too much off before it is on the handle. Now, put the knife in a vise and get the files and arms ready!! Get a few big files. Half round, rough cut, etc. Rasps are also good for removing lots of stuff fast, but watch out for splintering handle material. File down the handle till you see the tang on the side of the knife, where it looks like a sandwich, with the handle on either side of the tang. File the handle stuff down till it is flush with the tang. Also, file the pins flush to the handle material. Now the knife should look almost done, but the handle is blocky. You can round the handle edges with a file, but there is an easier way. Put the knife in the vise, blade in and handle sticking out. Get a few cheap shop rolls of abrasive, 1" wide in various grits, like 80, 120, 220 and 300 or so. Shoeshine the handle edges so they round out. This works great on all handles and gives a nice even rounded handle. Got this tip from the Loveless book! then get some sandpaper in 400 and 600 grit. After shoeshining the handle to what you want, use the 400 grit to sand all of the scratches out, then the 600 in the same way. then take a chunk of leather and rub it over the handle really fast. this will buff it a little and make it shine. Now unwrap the blade and put a nice edge on it! and laugh at it for a while cuz unless you got different kits than i did, the edge will die quick! Hehehe. Hope this helps! This is the down and dirty way to make a kit knife, may not be the best way, but it works with limited hand tools!...its how i did my razor edge boot knife from Jantz, which was my first kit! Came out ok, but i have gotten much better since! Any other questions, let me know!!
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