Natlek's wa handle jig

I tried the method on a real handle for a honesuki. The blade is not glued in yet, I have more finishing work to do on both the handle and the blade. The handle is made from ipe with a stainless steel spacer.

To keep the CA glue from soaking into the end grain, I put some blue masking tape on the ends before gluing the templates on. I was a little bit concerned that they might come off during grinding, but they held up fine and I had a hard time getting the templates off. They needed a pretty good hit with a hammer before they let go.

The templates worked great. The facets are not all perfect, but they are close enough for me. I was tempted to try and fix the one corner that is just a hair smaller, but I think I'm going to quite while I'm ahead.

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I know this thread is a bit old, but I hope it's ok to resurrect it and add some additional info. I now have access to a laser marker and use that to etch the outline and center lines of my templates. I also drill three holes in the templates that are spaced so that the outer two should catch the top and bottom of the tang slot. The picture below shows a template set that has been rough cut and drilled. Next step is to grind the templates to the etched outline and they'll be ready for use. I've used this system on a couple of handles and it makes alignment of the templates a lot easier. With a frame handle, the only mark required is the vertical center line on the back.

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