Noob Questions

propbuildervash

propbuildervash

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Jan 4, 2011
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Hello,

I was given a gift from a friend. Its a custom Damascus knife blade. But its a blade only. I am going to take a stab (pardon the pun) and putting scales on it to give to my father for his birthday.

I have never worked on a unfinished knife before. The knife has three 3/16 holes predrilled into the tang.

I am needing some guidance as far as what hardware would be the right hardware to hold the handles together as well and the actually process for putting handles on a blade. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Read this sticky,since you already have a blade you can start with post #5 about handles.
Stan
 
Do you know if the blade is heat treated yet? Hate to take you back a step but this would be my first question if I were holding the blade in question.
 
Could you post a picture of the blade please? What sort of blade design is it? Blade length, width, thickness? What is it intended to do best? What sort of handle material were you planning to use?

Corby or Loveless bolts are handle hardware that would be real secure if it is going to get a lot of hard impact use. Other options include plain pins or mosaic pins. Does it have a lanyard hole?

It's sort like asking "what shirt should I wear?"

- Paul Meske
 
I am at work right now. When i get home i will post dimensions and pics. It is fully heat treated. Its about 6 or 7 inches total length. It wont take tons of abuse as it will mostly be used to skin game and such. I wanted to use a darker wood to emphasize the damascus.
 
Quote: "I wanted to use a darker wood to emphasize the damascus."

So maybe just pins and matching liner tube if there's a lanyard hole???? This would let the damascus show itself off more, maybe, and should be strong enough since it won't be abused. Also easier than corby bolts since you don't have to countersink anything.

- Paul Meske
 
Sorry for the delayed response real life was none too kind to me this week. Anyways here it is.

cellpic.jpg


It is 7 1/4 inchs long and 1 1/4 inches wide. I left a SD card in the pic for size reference.
 
Looks like an "off the shelf" premade blank. First thing is to wrap up that sharpened blade so you don't scratch it or cut yourself. Those blades are generally already hardened. Get some good epoxy and possibly liner material. I think plain pins would look nice. I would start with reading the how to make a knife sticky starting at the handle section.

-Xander
 
The blade is hardened already. The maker makes a lot of "premade" blanks, this one was a gift. The pins are the part I just don't seem to get. What size of pin do I use for a 3/16 hole, do I peen it out larger to keep it in place? Or are the pins just there to be pretty and the epoxy does all the work?
 
If you use pin you will want to use 3/16". If you make sure to coat the pins with epoxy during assembly they will be permanently fixed whether you peen them or not. I would not suggest peening if you are doing a wood grip, the chances of over-peening and splitting the wood are pretty good.
Corby bolts or Loveless-style bolts are another option, you can get ones that are 3/16" in the center and 1/4" at the shoulder, which means that you will have to drill the scales to 3/16" also and then counter-bore the outside so the shoulder of the bolts can recess a little ways in, then grind off the excess after assembly. These types of fasteners actually bolt the scales to the tang rather than just a slip fit like you get with pins. Technically they are more secure than pins but if you use good epoxy there is unlikely to be an issue with either one. If you try taking one apart some day you will find that epoxied pins are nothing to sneeze at, they hold pretty tight if done correctly.
 
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