Making Hard Rubber Handle

hmmm, now that is an idea. where do you get the stacked birchbark parts? can you get them already cut to a certain thickness.
 
the bark is about an 1/8th inch thick, give or take depending on mother nature. i usually look for a windfallen tree along the road and use a knife to cut off a few 3 foot sections.
 
tell you what i do.i put some hard rubber handles on some shop knives.had some new pieces of belting they use on hay balers. it's already got little diamonds imprinted in it.they been on a long time, got a good grip, too.
 
I've used a used combine D belt for a stacked handle as well as neoprene. This works well especially with a screw on pommel or butt capp...Ed
 
If you have fairly close tolerance on you holes in the rubber pieces super glue works ok when you compress the stack with the butt cap, the rubber spreads and grips the tang. A rectangular tang is preferred with epoxy to keep the handle from rotating.

Its not to hard to make a punch for the rubber or Kydex or whatever. Make a punch the size if the hole, rectangular with flat surfaces inch back from the working end. Tig or Mig thin 15N-20 or L-6 to two parallel sides. Grind excess off other parallel sides and weld material on those two sides. Weld laps of saw material up to the rectangular opening. Flatten the working end and harden and temper, sharpen and go punch some stuff...Take Care...Ed
 
You can get birch bark on Ebay,crafters use it for lots of things.Nordic knife suppliers sell it, too.I make some Sammi knives in bark,it looks nice.I made a couple last fall of stacked elephant hide.It will probably never wear out! Just cut the bark into 1X1.5" pieces,soak the bark first to make it pliable.A belt slot punch (used for leather) works great for punching the tang slot.Bo Bergman's book, "Knifemaking" has good info on doing all kinds of really neat Sammi knives.It is a good book to add to your library.
Stacy
 
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