My re-handled Sarge knife

T

TomFetter

Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
1,103
You'll remember that a while back, I sent an e-mail to Yangdu asking if she had a Sarge knife that would be a good candidate to re-handle? One which perhaps had been broken in shipping etc.? And she came through will a lovely Bura-made blade, with a handle too short for most any North American's hand.

Kismet, gent that he is, sent me a sheath he'd (inadvertently) made for a left-hander, and later sent a stunning piece of antler for the new handle. A trip to an antique store scored a dented pewter tankard for $5(engraved "Gary, from Delta Electric"). That was raw material for a cast-in-place bolster and buttcap.

The project's done, and I couldn't be happier. It looks and feels exactly as I'd hoped. And I've got pictures of every step of the process on the digital camera ... but haven't the first clue how to get them here. If someone would be gracious enough to give me directions, I'll post them along with commentary tonight.

I know you lads put that info up for Munk some time back, but I can't locate the thread ...

Tom.
 
and munk would like to learn also, if I can get past the used car blues I have to deal with all today.

That knife sounds like a win win win, Tom. Imbued with the good spirit of many good people along it's path to your hand.




munk
 
#1 goto http://www.imageshack.us/ and get an account and sign up and store pictures there... if you're worried about spam, create a hotmail or gmail account for free to be your mail handler (pretty much one time, but don't throw it away or forget it)... gmail is easy and free.

#2 copy the files onto your computer; not sure of what camera or computer you have/etc. shouldn't be TOO hard. really.

#3 log into imageshack, and click browse, find a picture, upload

#4 cut and past the handy thumbnailed url magically made for you "url img /img url" format i imagine...

#5 write a post

good luck, ask for more help if you want, but specify what you're using for camera, memory card, computer (desktop, laptop)... i'd recommend using a "card reader", and don't futz with camera softwares (unless your camera acts like a memory reader via USB)...

bladite
 
Thanks Bladite, just what I needed. I can get the pictures onto my computer just fine ... it's the remaining steps I'd not known how to do.

I'll post stuff this evening.

t.
 
Hurry, man, we want to see the outcome.
 
First things first. Thanks in advance to all who contributed to this. To Kismet, for designing the blade, and later sending me supplies for the project. To Yangdu, for graciously finding me a great knife to work on (at a great price). To Bura, for shepherding the transformation of raw steel into this lively blade. And to the various Cantinistas whose use and reviews of Sarge knives made me want one … and whose own projects prompted me to go play in the shop.

knifeproject0074na.jpg


Here’s the original knife – as advertised, the too-short handle was at best a 3 finger knife for me. I’ve already converted the knife to a Scandi grind here. It cuts like a dream – helped both by the grind and the swell towards the tip, which acts like a touch of recurve.

knifeproject0120wf.jpg


Here’s the raw antler from Kismet, and the knife with the original handle off. Not a lot of tang penetration – and I wasn’t sure how much “grab” there would be in the epoxy, once the bolster was on. So I decided to make it into a hidden full-tang knife. I filed a flat area into the end of a bit of ¼” threaded rod, and epoxied the Sarge’s tang to it – wrapping the joint with fiberglass. I also filed a few grooves into the Sarge’s tang both to grip the epoxy and help hold the pewter in place.

knifeproject0165kt.th.jpg


So I drilled out the porous centre of the antler. Notice that the antler’s acquired a tan. Tumbled the piece carefully in the coals of my woodstove … once it started to colour up … it went really fast. A bit of judicious sanding in a couple of spots, and voila.

knifeproject0192yf.th.jpg


Here’s the knife epoxied into place in the handle. I’ve ground/sawn away some of the antler at the bolster end, to act like a dovetail joint when the pewter’s poured. At the butt end, the threads of the threaded rod tang extension serve the same purpose, as will the irregular shape where I’d drilled out the pithy centre. Intentionally glued the blade into a slight drop-point configuration, to aid dexterity.


knifeproject0038gs.th.jpg


Getting ready for hot metal now. The handle and blade are taped to protect them if something goes wrong, and cardboard collars are taped at either end of the knife to hold the molten pewter. Used lotsa tape – didn’t want anything to let go in the heat! The collars are tall, ‘cause I don’t know how much dross my recycled metal might hold – want to have a good amount of clean metal, once the guck is sawed and filed away.

knifeproject0058ik.th.jpg

The sacrificial pewter mug - $5. Thanks, Gary – whoever you are – for whatever you did to prompt Delta Electric to give you a trophy. If your name hadn’t been engraved on it, probably the mug would have cost 3 times as much. Even without the handle (which I didn’t melt), turns out there’s probably enough material here to do the whole project twice over … food for thought.

knifeproject0086gu.th.jpg


And here’s the pewter melting in a tin-can crucible. Food-grade pewter is tin with a tiny bit of copper, so it melts quickly. Non-food grade or antique pewter can also contain bismuth and lead – be careful! Before everything went into the fire, I pinched in a pour-spout, and folded out a “handle” for my pliers to grip. Didn’t want to drop a can of hot metal in my lap!

end of part 1
Tom.
 
Continued ...
knifeproject0106wk.th.jpg

Here’s a shot of the pouring setup – gravel in a pot holds everything steady, and would contain any accidental splashes.

knifeproject0110po.th.jpg


Here’s the rough casting complete on both ends. Lots of extra here – most comes off with a hacksaw, then it’s filed to shape and smoothed with 400 grit paper.


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And the finished product. Ooh, Aah.

Pewter’s soft, and gathers scratches in use pretty quickly. A buffed mirror finish looks great at first, but would show a scratch by tomorrow. I’ve left this satin, from the 400 grit paper … more practical for a user tool.

All that metal in the handle gives the knife a good heft, and it balances on about the 2nd finger. While I might usually try for a 1st finger balance, a back-balance point makes the tip of this quite heavy blade feel lighter and more maneuverable.

knifeproject0215kh.th.jpg


And here it is in its natural environment, with a natural companion ... my Kumar 16 ½” WWII villager. I don’t clean that one up too often, as it’s in daily use feeding the woodstove.

Thanks again to all. Only problem is, now my sons each want their own!

Tom

End of part 2
 
Tom - Imageshack lets you put up pictures up to one meg in size -- could you give us the full size pictures? I'd like to see the knife a bit more clearly. :o

also - I didn't know you could sign up for imageshack -- I've always just uploaded straight away from the main page. :confused: what advatange do you gain from signing up?
 
Kazeryu said:
Tom - Imageshack lets you put up pictures up to one meg in size -- could you give us the full size pictures? I'd like to see the knife a bit more clearly. :o

also - I didn't know you could sign up for imageshack -- I've always just uploaded straight away from the main page. :confused: what advatange do you gain from signing up?
Click to expand...

well, it allows you to manage your pictures, and easily find them again...

you can still do so anonymously as much as the net lets you these days. a slight convenience.

(yes, please, full size pictures cost nothing more to post the full url/img combo rather than teeny ones - unless you pre-scaled them or something)

bladite
 
Most knife handles curve the other way. Why did you choose this arrangement? But hey... If it works for you...great.
 
I'll see if I can mess with the pictures - both to add some larger ones, and to put in some close-ups. This was a bit more hurried than I wanted ... 2 kids needing the computer for homework, and my wife for work. Sigh.

Brian, I turned the antler over and over in my hand, trying to get the right feel. Through most of the grip, the antler is roughly triangular in cross-section. The top is relatively smooth and flat, and the bottom with more texture and one point of the triangle. I wanted a flat landing spot for my thumb near the bolster, rather than having one point of the triangle there.

I found that at this length, I have 2 potential grips for the knife - one with the pommel in the palm of my hand, and another a bit more choked up. The choked up grip puts an upward curve in the right place, and the other grip is quite solid because of the flare in the antler.

So it was a compromise. To be honest, the most comfortable feel actually had the antler in reverse - with the swell right up at the bolster, tapering back. But however comfortable, it looked very odd ... eventually, aesthetics ruled.

t.
 
Tom,

From what I can see (the pics are a bit small, true, would love to see larger ones), it looks great.

Thank you for taking the time to share all those steps with us.

John
 
A couple of cropped/bigger views of the finished knife. Any shots in particular folks want to see better?

knifeproject018edited3te.jpg




As you can see, when I changed to a scandi grind, either my technique with waterstones wasn't quite good enough to keep the bevel line true, or the thickness of the blade varied slightly.


t.
 
Nice! :thumbup: Thanks.

Picked up a lead casting pot at a garage sale... I wonder what else it will melt?


Mike
 
Really nice, Tom.

I was curious about the pewter, but it turned out beautifully.

Congratulations.
 
TomFetter said:
A couple of cropped/bigger views of the finished knife. Any shots in particular folks want to see better?

As you can see, when I changed to a scandi grind, either my technique with waterstones wasn't quite good enough to keep the bevel line true, or the thickness of the blade varied slightly.

t.
Click to expand...

i'd like more details on the casting process... that's way cool :) what's the threaded rod/nut for?

bladite
 
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