My turn to Rehandle some Old Hickory knives DONE !

3fifty7

3fifty7

Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
3,380
I’ve been sitting on this project for a couple years and now it’s time. Here is my starting point. I want to clean up the steel, clean the grinds, and rehandle with some curly maple.
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The large chefs knife is a stubb tang that really needs a little more handle weight. I’m thinking about welding on a frame that would fill out the entire handle scale. While making the handle slightly larger which it also needs.
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I’ve read a little bit about aqua fortis and it’s apparently the king for bringing out the most in curly maple so that may be in the cards also.

Time to pop the scales and do something.
 
Every time I pick up one of my Old Hicks I think about doing this. I'll be following your progress.
 
Before I tear into the large chef knife I wanted to check the balance because it feels quite forward heavy, which is only amplified by the skinny handle.
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After a 4 four vinegar soak they cleaned up about as expected. The hardening line was a bit of a surprise to see.
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I had some 15n20 the same thickness so I cut it to fit and added a little size to work with. I made a lot of spot welds on both sides and jumped around to avoid any heat build up. I never saw blue temper more than 1/4” away from my spots. There are a few tiny voids where my spot welds cold lapped but I believe its more than adequate.
I’ll probably use the factory holes that will be above center line but I won’t have to drill through my welds.
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FWIW I didn’t abandon this thread. For some reason I switched gears and finished these two.
I didn’t make a single knife in 2020 and man I was rusty and impatient !

Small Damascus cleaver 3.75” cutting-edge 8”OAL with cheap denim-carta from Etsy. I tried to do a standard etch then copper the nickel(didn’t work at all), eventually I hit the entire blade with a medium scotchbrite belt to remove all the oxides but left the topography which I kind of dig. Might have to revisit that technique later.
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My first Wa handle, first chisel, & first urasuki.
Ebony/Copper/Spalted Pecan & 52100
IIRC handle is 5.75” blade is 7.5”
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Handles pinned and epoxied. Quick and dirty shaping off the grinder at 120grit.
I’ll probably go up to 400 on the grinder then hand sand to 1200. Hopefully my dye will come in tomorrow or Friday and get a little oil on them by the weekend.

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Thank you all. I’m quite pleased at how they turned out. I’m really liking this curly maple!

I just ordered a couple tomahawk handles in premium curly maple, guess I’ll have to make myself a pair for my birthday at the end of the month.
 
THAT'S just about as good as it gets. Very nice!!! Beautiful wood and good old carbon steel. The Virgin Mary herself would be proud to work in your kitchen.
 
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