New Guy Needs Advice

Nonprophet

Nonprophet

Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Messages
231
I've been cruising this forum for quite some time now in an attempt to start the process of learning to make quality knives. In doing so I got my first blank (no HT or stock removal for me YET) and have been hand sanding the blade, just cut my scales and got everything going to attach them to the blade. I want to say up until this point things have been slow going since I have ZERO experience and am basically flying blind. Now on to a few requests for pointers: When you epoxy the blade and scales together how do you keep from being able to see a thin line of the epoxy between the scale and the blade. If they touch entirely then aren't you squeezing all of the epoxy out? Also is there any good tips in dealing with epoxy? I just put the scales on this evening and I got that stuff all over everything! My hands, the scales, the table to, I'm surprised I didn't have it in my hair :eek:! Anyway I roughed the metal and the insides of the scales so that the epoxy would have some good stuff to grip and even coated the mosaic pins before I put them in but it appears that when I get it all unclamped I'll be able to see a paper thin line of epoxy all the way around. Is this just me being paranoid or is this a real concern? Next comes final shaping of the handle which will be done with a file...wish me luck!
 
One other thing, the wood I used is not stabilized and I want to hand rub a finish on it. What type of oil do I use and do I have to wax it when it's done or can I just keep rubbing it with oil until it shines? I want a decent shine or polish on it and I don't want to have to worry about it when I'm using it for hunting and whatnot.
 
tung oil finnish = pretty do an advanced search on google fot tung oil knife handle. you should find a thread on blade forums that the burl sours guy did. It is great.

I probably spelt lots of stuff wrong. but you should get the idea. :-)
 
I'm no expert so YMMV & I'm too tired to give a full answer but. Locking the blade up in a padded vice helps you work on the scales without getting epoxy everywhere. Using disposable nitril or latex gloves helps keep your hands clean. Mineral Spirits helps with cleanup. I will sometimes use disposable pins i.e., ones that I drill or press out later before setting my permanent pins in usually made from soft wood dowels(temp pins). if the line of epoxy is huge you didn't do enough fitting of the scales to the tang. Sometimes we cheat and "tint" the epoxy with saw dust from the material we are using for the handles;)

Hard enough woods don't necessarily need to be stabilized, birdseye maple and cocobolo are my 2 favorites. Run them up to a high grit finish 600grit or so then take the finish oil of your choice. Mineral oil works pretty good, boiled linseed oil is better, tung is fair, urethane sucks. Well maintained a little hiking or hunting won't hurt the wood unless it is really soft and porous.
 
Boiled linseed or TUng oil. That's what I've been thinking. I did have someone tell me that at anything over 300 grit the oil and finish won't work it's way into the wood and that I should stop around 220 grit. Is this good enough or should I keep going? I'm using what was called a claro walnut for the scales.
 
Depends on how open the grain is and how often you change sand paper & don't let the dust clog the wood pores. I will occasionally wipe the wood down with a wet cloth to make the grain come up then sand some more when dry but I can't see how a high grit finish would prevent wood from taking an oil up. Hard maple will polish up without wax or oil if I go up to or beyond 600grit.
I'd probably take the claro walnut to at least 320grit with no scratches then use boiled linseed oil (maybe cut with mineral spirits to thin it down and get in deeper).

Another lesson learned the hard-way don't mix your used wood & metal sandpaper. I got some 500grit metal sanding into some maple handles and went from beautiful to gray and couldn't get it out without redoing the scales:grumpy:
 
Now THAT....is something I never would ahve thought of and would ahve done the exact same thing. Thank you so very much! I'm going to give it a try.
 
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