Partial hidden tang knife handles breaking

A Guiness aided visit with Stacy--that's time well spent Bodog! Wish I could of been there, even though I quit drinking beer about 99 years ago--might have broke that policy for that beer and that visit.
Good info shared by all--Thanks for that.
 
Like Stacy said, it was a nice visit. Wouldn't mind throwing back a couple of beers, and some of his preferred Balvenie, with him myself.
 
Always great to get the real answer. Sure, it's tough to find out the hard way, but it does happen. Stay with it and enjoy it.
Frank
 
Stacy, I contacted the vendor like you suggested and shot him a link to this thread. The guy has a 100% money back satisfaction guarantee that he throws around. He also has a stipulation saying that the wood is not guaranteed after its been worked on, which I understand.

After having a bunch of pictures and the word of an experienced maker saying the wood wasn't very good, the guy didn't want to make good on his 100% satisfaction guarantee and flexed the stipulation that the wood had been worked on.

I didn't ask for a refund, I asked for him to work with me on some prices of a future purchase. I would've thought a 10 or 15% discount on some decent blocks and maybe a big discount on one block that'd been sitting around his shop awhile would've been meeting in the middle. Guy didn't seem like he wanted to hear it. So oh well, I won't be doing business with him anymore.

Thanks for your help. I'll post up the repaired knives when they're all done. I followed some of your advice and I think they're coming out nicer than they originally did.

Here the one that had the end grain blackwood. Now it has a piece of beautiful kingwood on it.

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And the one that had the oak crotch with all the cracks in it now has a nice piece of maple burl on it and a shorter blade. I turned it into a little slicer puuko.

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Here's the rex 121 blade that had the piece of spalted maple on it. It has a black locust burl handle with a black G10 spacer and two hidden 3/16" carbon fiber rods on both sides of the tang running from just behind the guard, through the G10, and into the handle for almost 1.5 inches. I left the handle thicker all the way around to keep the strength up. The tang itself runs into the G10 spacer and has system three structural epoxy holding it together.

I'm contemplating running a 3/16" stainless rod through the butt and peening it into a nickel silver butt cap. It might be more than necessary. What do you guys think?

It's pretty hard to figure out what to do with a really small blade like this and keep it aesthetically pleasing and strong at the same time. It fits my hand really well and cuts nicely but the blade looks a little disproportionate to the handle. And since I reused the guard it doesn't fit quite as nicely as what it did before. The spacer came out nicer than I was expecting, though.

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Oh. And don't mind the oil on the blade. It's curing and I haven't cleaned the excess off yet.
 
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How far past the G-10 does the tang go?

If it doesn't go at least 1/2-3/4" past, the G-10/burl joint may fail.
 
Just past the spacer. Maybe 1/6 of an inch or so. Not much. I knew it might be a problem and that's why I ran the two carbon fiber rods through the spacer on both sides of the tang and firmly into the meat of the handle. The rods run about 1" to 1.5" into the handle past the spacer (about where the black spots are in the photos). I also notched the rods and made sure the epoxy was settled nicely into the notches with no air bubbles prior to setting them. It was a really good fit, very little, and i mean very little, wiggle room when dry fitting it all together.

I have no worries about the joint failing considering what we talked about. It's probably stronger than the wood itself with the tang and two 3/16" carbon fiber rods running through it with some really good epoxy holding it together. I'm more worried about the unsupported wood behind the spacer failing based on the crap I just learned a lesson from. Hence the cautionary step of running the rod from the butt to the tang. I made the handle significantly thicker than the last and the wood isn't obviously cross grained. I'm just not quite sure of my skills in doing the work on the butt cap and reverse rod accurately without screwing it up. Rex 121 is fairly uncommon and don't want to bone it to hell.

Ankerson wants to test it and I don't want to send him a piece of crap.
 
Bodog, if you don't mind could ya tell us where this wood came from so this doesn't happen to someone else? People shouldn't be talking "100%" satisfaction unless they're gonna back it up. I know I don't wanna end up with wood from this guy!
 
Next time you're in the market for some wood, why dont you check out the makers for sale section!

Some of us take out 100% satisfaction guarantees VERY seriously ;)
 
NickBoyle said:
Bodog, if you don't mind could ya tell us where this wood came from so this doesn't happen to someone else? People shouldn't be talking "100%" satisfaction unless they're gonna back it up. I know I don't wanna end up with wood from this guy!
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I'd like to give the guy a chance to put it in the block description that wood is cross grained. If he wants to make it right and describe the wood as it is then I wouldn't feel comfortable throwing him under the bus.

I was thinking about making what was left of the blackwood into a nice little spacer for a knife with a more substantial tang. Cut and sanded it to a ~ 1.5" x 1" x 1" oval. When I went to drill it, it cracked right through the middle when I was about halfway through. Using four fingers (thumb and first fingers of both hands) I broke it the rest of the way and tossed the remainder in the trash. It wasn't worth anything at that point, even as a decoration.

Lesson learned. Make sure I don't buy a piece of cross/end grain wood again.

And FWIW, the guy was super nice up until that point and he also supplied the kingwood and maple burl that turned out really nice. It just so happens that the blackwood and oak sucked and those were the first two completed. Hopefully he pulls through on this. I'm rooting for him.
 
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Greenberg Woods said:
Next time you're in the market for some wood, why dont you check out the makers for sale section!

Some of us take out 100% satisfaction guarantees VERY seriously ;)
Click to expand...

I shared who it was with Stacy. I don't believe I'm experienced enough to call out a vendor personally. I want to make sure I'm firmly in the right by a neutral third party. I don't want to mess with another man's livelihood and be wrong about it.
 
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Bodog,
I missed the part about the CF rods supporting the joint. It should be fine. We discussed that at your visit.

Good on you about not taking your laundry to the public forum.

To All,
Too many folks start blasting a supplier or maker and don't give them a chance to make changes and grow. They are often learning just as you are.

The seller is aware of the situation and I think he will deal with it appropriately.
 
As an update, the vendor pulled through. I wasn't sure if he was going to. The guy let me know how he was going to fix the issue and it seems perfectly reasonable. To me at least.

And to think, I started this just to find out what I did wrong and through the knowledge and advice of people here a couple of us guys learned something new and remedied a problem to boot.

Thank you all, especially Stacy who took time out of his day to educate me in person on some stuff I didn't know before.
 
i have a couple pieces of that cross cut black wood too. its pretty stuff but cut wrong imo. When I questioned it I was offered money back but it is nice stuff so ive been using it for ferrules only

Bodog , you got some excellent looking knives :)
 
It is good when things end well.

Let this be a good example of how to deal with a frustrating situation. Instead of screaming, cussing, and threatening the person - some calm discussion and maybe bringing in a cooler outside person will almost always take care of the situation.
 
Here's a picture. No one ever accused me of being a good photographer.

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timos- said:
i have a couple pieces of that cross cut black wood too. its pretty stuff but cut wrong imo. When I questioned it I was offered money back but it is nice stuff so ive been using it for ferrules only

Bodog , you got some excellent looking knives :)
Click to expand...

Thanks man! I'm jealous of yours!
 
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