New member old knife

B

Buentello Joey

Joined
Aug 31, 2011
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New member, I would like to polish the blade and install a new handel on my grandfathers old skinner. It's marked western no other markings, here are a few photos. Any ideas on types of handel material? Was thinking of going the stacked leather washer route. Do you think the style of tang will be a problem ? Any tips are appreciated.

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I'am not a knife maker but that blade looks pretty much used up to me, It might be better to put that one away and save it as a keep sake from your grandpa, and get somthing with a little more life in it to spend your time and money on.:D YMMV
 
I can agree to that ^. The most I would do is have a local knife-maker or yourself put stacked leather handles on it, then put it away as a keepsake. I have knives passed down to me with plenty of life left in them but I don't use them for fear of messing them up.
 
Putting stacked leather handle on this blade may present some problem - problem of fixing it at the end.
I would suggest you making a hard wood handle. Find a nice piece of hard wood, drill a channel for the tang, glue it in (can put some colored plastic spacers between the bolster and the handle) and then cut the handle to the shape you like. I am sure you will have no difficulty finding good tutorials describing the process.
There is not much left of the blade, that is true. But it is OK for the first trial.
As for the result - it may not be very impressive the first time around. But it is not a problem - breaking the handle and making a new one is not difficult at all. I usually use a hammer and a chisel. Cooking in boiling water for a while does the trick as well.
 
I don't remember the persons name but a while back somebody started making the leather 'H' washers for these Western's. If you search on 'rehandling a Western knife' I'd bet you'll find who has them. I rehandled a Western with wood some time ago - a LOT easier than using leather.
 
I'd put a spacer between the tangs. Tap it in good and tight to set the guard. Hold it in place with a pair of vice grips at the end. Wrap it tight with paracord to the vice grips. Remove the vice grips. Finish off the end. You could do a wire wrap at the end to hold the spacer in place instead of the vice grips. You could leave the paracord as is in case you need it or you could epoxy it for a permanent handle.
 
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