Hello. Old guy here. Been making full tang knives a little while. Would like to make a knife for myself w/full tang (3) part segmented handle. I have stabilized iron wood an ebony. I figured if I were to use a light color wood or bone between these two would be very nice looking. So what good hardwood ( stabilized) or maybe bone that is white to light color have you guys used. Thanks for your replies in advance.
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Planning to make my first segmented handle need advice
- Thread starter kawzak
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Ironwood or cocobolo are solid choices that are naturally stable.
Giraffe bone from Jantz
Ivory trustone
Giraffe bone from Jantz
Ivory trustone
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Even a light colored bone colored or ivory colored micarta will look nice.
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Linen Micarta will work well and sand evenly with the other materials. Bone may be a problem with staining from the dark woods in sanding. Plastics and things like Alumilite may be too soft and want to undercut when sanding. For wood, stabilized holly is nice. I'd be glad to send you a block or two if you go that route.
Whatever you choose, use a liner strip under the assembly or it will break apart eventually. Glue up the segments on the liner with a slow-cure epoxy. After a 24-hour cure, cut the shape needed from it. (see tip below)
G-10 is a very good choice for the liner. The liner should be between .030" and .060" thick.
120 grit is a perfect surface for gluing everything up.
TIP:
A neat trick for making perfectly matched segmented scales is to assemble the pair of scales larger than needed, say 2X6". After gluing the segments on the liners and letting them cure, sand the long sides on both to expose the segment lines clearly. Use double sided tape (the kind wood turners use) to place them back-to-back so the segments are aligned with each other. Use spray adhesive to stick the handle template drawing on the top, or draw it on, and bandsaw out the rough scales. Drill the rivet/bolt holes and temporarily install the bolts/rivets while still taped together. Now you can pre-shape the block as needed to get close to the tang shape, and finish the front end where the ricasso will be.
When taken apart you will have a perfectly matched set of assembled scales ready to mount on the tang and finish shaping.
Plusses for this method - You only have to make the two pieces for the center segment the same width. The simplest way to do that is make a longer piece, sand the back and long sides flat to 120 grit, and cut it in half. This will make two identical width center pieces ready to assemble. The front and back pieces can be random shape, as long as they have one straight edge to glue to the center strip. Again, the best way to make them match is to make longer pieces, sand the back and mating edge flat, and cut in half. Once glued up and temporarily bolted/riveted together the entire profile will be cut as one piece, making two identical reversed scales. Depending on how wide you make the starter laminates, you can angle the handle template on the block to make the center segment angled. Lay it out on paper to figure the width needed for your desired angle.
Once you understand the method of doing it this way, you will probably make the initial lamination as one wide scale and cut it in half.
I'll make myself a note to do a tutorial on this. It is ten times easier to see than to write.
Whatever you choose, use a liner strip under the assembly or it will break apart eventually. Glue up the segments on the liner with a slow-cure epoxy. After a 24-hour cure, cut the shape needed from it. (see tip below)
G-10 is a very good choice for the liner. The liner should be between .030" and .060" thick.
120 grit is a perfect surface for gluing everything up.
TIP:
A neat trick for making perfectly matched segmented scales is to assemble the pair of scales larger than needed, say 2X6". After gluing the segments on the liners and letting them cure, sand the long sides on both to expose the segment lines clearly. Use double sided tape (the kind wood turners use) to place them back-to-back so the segments are aligned with each other. Use spray adhesive to stick the handle template drawing on the top, or draw it on, and bandsaw out the rough scales. Drill the rivet/bolt holes and temporarily install the bolts/rivets while still taped together. Now you can pre-shape the block as needed to get close to the tang shape, and finish the front end where the ricasso will be.
When taken apart you will have a perfectly matched set of assembled scales ready to mount on the tang and finish shaping.
Plusses for this method - You only have to make the two pieces for the center segment the same width. The simplest way to do that is make a longer piece, sand the back and long sides flat to 120 grit, and cut it in half. This will make two identical width center pieces ready to assemble. The front and back pieces can be random shape, as long as they have one straight edge to glue to the center strip. Again, the best way to make them match is to make longer pieces, sand the back and mating edge flat, and cut in half. Once glued up and temporarily bolted/riveted together the entire profile will be cut as one piece, making two identical reversed scales. Depending on how wide you make the starter laminates, you can angle the handle template on the block to make the center segment angled. Lay it out on paper to figure the width needed for your desired angle.
Once you understand the method of doing it this way, you will probably make the initial lamination as one wide scale and cut it in half.
I'll make myself a note to do a tutorial on this. It is ten times easier to see than to write.
What Stacy said above is 100% great advice! Very similar to how I put mine together, and most of the handles I make are segmented. I have a lot to learn, but here's one helpful hint:
If your split (the decorative center segment) incorporates a bunch of pieces of material (they usually do!), I've found it much easier to build that segment first. Rough up all the sides, glue, cure, and shape it into a nice rectangular block that will fit well against the front and rear segments when you glue them all to the liner material. In the pic below I made that center segment first (7 layers of mixed g10, copper and trustone). Then glued it all up with the green front, blue rear, and black g10 liner underneath. Clamp each segment down really well and make sure they're all nice and snugged up on each other! That center portion had a tendency to raise up when the glue get pushed around...I found that out the hard way on the first couple knives I made. Clamp it down!
If your split (the decorative center segment) incorporates a bunch of pieces of material (they usually do!), I've found it much easier to build that segment first. Rough up all the sides, glue, cure, and shape it into a nice rectangular block that will fit well against the front and rear segments when you glue them all to the liner material. In the pic below I made that center segment first (7 layers of mixed g10, copper and trustone). Then glued it all up with the green front, blue rear, and black g10 liner underneath. Clamp each segment down really well and make sure they're all nice and snugged up on each other! That center portion had a tendency to raise up when the glue get pushed around...I found that out the hard way on the first couple knives I made. Clamp it down!