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Ontario machete rehandling help

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polaris500

Joined
Oct 17, 2011
Messages
59
Ive had a 22" Ontario machete for a while that never got used because the handles are way too uncomfortable. So i decided to remove them. Originally, I thought a good cord wrap would be good enough, but apparently that doesnt work well thin blades:p. So Ive decided Im going to make new handle scales for it. This is something Ive never done, so I need some recommendations. What material would be best? I would like to use g10, but would micarta or wood have any better advantages? Also, whats the best way to attach them? I still have 3 of the rivets that attached the original scales. Any help is greatly appreciated :)
 
G10 or micarta would be fine. To attach the handle, you could use knife handle super glue & clamps or you could use fasteners that you can remove. Or both.
 
I recommend practically any wood. It's cheap and easily shaped. Home Depot usually has small pieces of poplar.

It's a real possibility that you'll discover some things on the first set, and want to try again.
 
I pretty much agree with those guys. two part epoxy works well too, and make sure you oil or wax the wood to prevent rotting, i even like to wax Micarta even though its less likely to rot. i wouldn't use urethane or varnish, it will make the handle look cheap and will feel gross in your hand when you start sweating
 
Would glue/epoxy hold up under heavy use? I feel a little uneasy about just gluing them on. Im pretty hard on my machetes :p
 
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i would use some hard wood like maple, oak or hickory and stay away from any soft wood. if you use g 10, make sure to wear a mask since it is made with fiberglass but you should wear a mask if sanding any handle material since some wood dust is toxic.

i use epoxy to glue wood scales on and superglue for neoprene. you might want to use pins to help hold the scales on along with epoxy.

send me an email with your number and i'll give you a call and tell you how to put new scales on. rje196021@gmail.com
 
I'll probably go this weekend and find some good hard wood, epoxy and pins.
Thanks for all the help, much appreciated! Any other tips are welcome!
I might put up pics when Im done, but it'll be a while since Ill be bust for the next few weeks.
 
I did the same with a no name bolo with a two inch thick black walnut branch sawed in half to make slabs. After I had the two halves sanded flat on the inside plane I trimmed the outside thickness down from the radius edge of the branch then cut them to approximate length.

Take your machete which should be bare handled and cleaned of any rust, dirt or epoxy then mark out your rivet holes using the holes in the tang. Drill them as wide as your rivet material (brass rod, cutoff bolt, mystery rod) starting with one slab side first then tape the two slabs together to use the holes of the one side to guide your drilling the second one. Leave yourself plenty of overage on the scale slabs out over the tang, you can trim, rasp, or sand that down after everything is epoxied and rivets together.

Once your slabs are drilled out to rivet, check them again on the tang to make sure they look right. If you rivet with copper or brass you can file then sand the exposed rivet flush with the wood. With this method you use epoxy, many brands to choose from, pick a slow setting type since they have better grip. JB Weld is a strong one but looks butt ugly if you get sloppy and don't sand it off later, there's many other types of epoxy. Line up your scales, epoxy the slabs getting some into the rivet holes and tap the rivets in taking care to not rush, an advantage with a slow grabbing epoxy, then clamp it all up to set until the epoxy label says that it should be ready.

12 or 24 hours later take the clamps off and start in on final shaping and sanding. Fit and finish are only limited by your time and patience. Look at some other machete handles that seem good to fit your hand and try to get yours to look and feel like them or better.

This is probably as basic an explanation as you can get, there's many other ways to do it so look at other ideas. You can practice on any good idea with cheap pine to get a feel for better materials. You could use cutoffs of maple or any other hardwood you can find, watch for trees being cut down or brush piles that have been left in places you are allowed to use wood that is down already like you would for camping firewood (better to use seasoned dry wood over green).

You should end up with a tool handle you can use and not have it mess up your hand like it used to do. You can do it, whether it looks like a crude farm tool or finely made collector's piece is up to you. If you are able do some pictures for us...that's from the guy who never puts pictures into anything I post. LOL
 
Wow! Thanks for all of the info. Im thinking of getting some pine branches to practice with and find what fits best, then make some scales out of oak, epoxy them on and pin them with brass pins. But like I said, it might take me a while to get it done because Ill be busy for a while, and I want it to look nice:D. Thanks for all of the help everyone, i really appreciate it especially since its my first major modification.
 
Oak is a great wood to work with but it's splintery and splits rather easily. I'd go for something along the lines of ironwood or a maple or even a walnut. Oak is very strong and hard but there's a reason you don't see very many tools handled with it. Ironwood is great because it doesn't split.
 
Didnt know about that, but youre right. Ive never seen a knife with oak handles. Thanks for the heads up!
 
Beech, Birch...those are good too. I could just kick myself. My parents used to own wooded land and one of the common trees on that land was "Ironwood" proper name American Hophornbeam. Some sort of bark disease or something killed a bunch of it off and it stood, high and dry where it died. All of them were about a foot in diameter. Great firewood. I wish I had saved some of it for making into handles. It was a very popular wood for making wooden tools and making handles for iron tools in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was very popular for making wood planes because it was so tough it wounld stay flat and it was very stable. It isn't fancy like desert ironwood but it sure was hard and practically split-proof...even with a gas-powered hydraulic splitter. If you struck two pieces together, let's say 3 or 4 inches in diameter, 18 inches long, they rang almost like bells...probably good wood to make a xylophone out of.

Missed opportunity for me.
 
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