please accept my challange...

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dustbust_1

Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
57
So I assembled my first hidden tang puukko knife. Helle blade, burl handle material, steel bolster/ferrule. After all glued up and ready for sanding I noticed there is just under a 1/16" gap where the knife butts up and enters the bolster into the handle.

Should I just mark it up as being my first Puukko and there are going to be mistakes or does somebody have any tricks to fix or hide this gap.

Once I get home I can take a pic of it.
 
Have you thought of using silver solder to fill the space?
 
The first question I have is whether the gap existed when you were fitting things together prior to glue up? The second question (related to the first) is whether you used a bar clamp (or some similiar device) to hold the blade steadily in place during the glue up? Third question is what type of glue did you use (so we can determine whether glue expansion caused the gap)?
 
I've made 2 pukkos and have the materal to make a third. On my first pukko I filed and fit the bolster to the blade, then used JB weld to glue the bolster in place. I then compressed and glued leather washers for the handle and fit and glued a pommel in place as the second step. The handle turned out fine.
On my second pukko, I tried to do both steps at the same time. The jig I used to hold the blade in place slipped, unnoticed, pressing up against the bolster pushing it away from the blade. This resulted in a gap between the bolster and the blade with the tang showing.

IMGP0542.jpgkith2.jpg

The first picture is of the first one that turned out OK, the 4th knife from the left in the second picture is the one that did not turn out OK. On the next one I will glue or solder the bolster on before compressing and glueing the leather and setting the pommel. I have also built a jig that will work with my vise holding the blade so there is little likelyhood of the blade slipping.
 
Yes they butted up nicely. Im kicking myself because I did not clamp the knife in place. I went to clamp and my clamp was actually about an inch too short. But thinking that since it was pressed against it should be good enough. I apparently was wrong. E-120 HP is the glue I used.

I have never used silver solder before.
 
So the gap is between the tang shoulder and the bolster? I would wrap it with string/twine and epoxy/super glue it. Kind of a fake habaki of sorts.
 
Okay, well at least you know why things went wrong and can prevent it in the future with a larger bar clamp.

As for this knife, you might consider freezing it, and breaking the blade out of the handle, then reassembling it with the larger bar clamp to insure tightness during set-up.

Also, I use Brownells Acra Glas (the original, not the gel) and from what I've read here there is virtually no expansion with that epoxy. I suspect E-120 has more expansion, but don't really know. Expansion in and of itself shouldn't be much of a problem on hidden tang knives, so long as it's properly clamped, but might result in some glue oozing out the gaps and needing to be cleaned up post glue-up.

- Greg
 
I had to remove a hidden tang recently and all I did was take an old kettle, boil up some water and put the handle in. If you are afraid of water getting in the wood, wrap it in a baggie and take out all the air so it is cling tight around the knife. Seal up the end and pop it in the water. Once the glue starts to let go, take it off and clean off all the glue. Reglue and use a caulking gun as a clamp (put some wood at the tip of the blade) clamp it up snug and there should be no issue. Most caulking guns don't cost more than 10 bucks and you can even buy them at wal mart and its doubtful your knife is longer than a tube of caulk.
 
I just got back from HF, where I noticed they are selling 24 inch bar clamps for $5.99 ($4.50 after the standard 20% coupon applied) and 36 inch clamps for $6.99 (5.57 after coupon applied). Either of those should be large enough for any knife you'll ever glue up. ;)

I bought a 36 incher because... well, why not at those prices. Got a free tape measure in the bargain.
 
You never know where or when that knife will show up in the future. Even if you keep it or especially if you give it away or sell it. Chalk it up to a learning experience and bust that handle off. Do it right and you will not be sorry. I had a similar experience. I had a hairline gap that could have been covered by stippling and raising the guard material into the blade. But I knew it was there and the possibility of it coming back to bite me was way to great. I had a good friend, though not an accomplished maker, could spot a flaw from across the room. We discussed the possibilities and were actually leaning toward stippling and hiding the problem until I took one last look grabbed a 2.5lb hammer a smacked the handle as hard as I could. His eyes were as big as saucers when I jumped up and broke the handle off. It taught me a lot about my handle construction. Took a bit of work to break that handle off. And I had to grind the residual epoxy and wood off to finish the clean up. The 3 hours or so and $25 in material it took to replace that handle was well worth it. So IMHO remove and replace it.
 
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