pre-cut scales?

R

RH

Joined
Jan 31, 1999
Messages
2,094
Does anyone make pre-cut scales for popular skeleton fixed blades?

I find the handles on the Neck Peck and Stiff Kiss to be too small, even with a "Strider-wrap". I would like to add wood or G10 scales to add some thickness. Does anyone make these? Alternatively, where could I get supplies that I might experiment myself with a drill and a dremel?
 
If you just want to make it fatter before you wrap it any kind of wood will do.

There are a lot of places that sell knifemaker's supplies -- try a net search -- but go to www.kovalknives.com and ask for his paper catalog. It has great color pictures of all his handle materials so you can really see what you're buying.

That is not the kind of job a Dremel is good for, but the competition for the coveted Stoopidest Use of a Dremel Tool award is so stiff these days, you have to do something really stoopid to even get in the running. Handling a knife isn't time-consuming enough. Try something like stripping the paint off an aircraft carrier....
 
You may be in luck for the arc light. Go to www.kitknives.com
In any case they would still have to be shaped and matched up to the tang.
It really isn't that tough to make scales from micarta or g10. You can buy the stuff at www.texasknife.com and work with it with a pretty minimal amount of tools.
 
OK, who's right? Can scales be dremeled or not, and why/why not? I don't have a bench grinder, so my options are limited.
 
You don't really need much more than some low grit sandpaper and maybe a file to fit some scales. The dremel will speed up the repetitive filing part drastically. All you need to do is draw the outline of your scale on the material with a marker, then cut it out with something like the cutoff wheels on the Dremel. Then just grind it down to the rough shape (leave some room for oops! moments), file or sand to the exact desired shape, and then sand it to desired finish.

To attach the scales you might want to drill and tap the handle (use a carbide bit, go slow, blah blah) or just go the irreversible way and epoxy the scales.

BTW I was just thinking about putting some G10 scales on my Arclite. It's such a cool and cheap knife that I wouldn't mind paying another $20 if one of them turns out looking like a poopsicle.

Matt Shade, the neck knife that Knifekits.com (=kitknives.com) is selling is different from the Arclite. It's a kit, in that you finish the scales and epoxy them in place with the pins. It looks similar, because they're both Darrel Ralph designed.
 
i wonder if you could use a tool dip from the hardware store... if ya dont like it just slice it with a razor blade... a few coats of that 1/16th or so thick, should get ya there


Course i havent tried it... just on tools :cool:
 
Another suggestion is that you should use full paracord for the underwrap. Don't gut it like the Strider guys do, because in these smaller knives the stock isn't thick enough to give a full grip with gutted cord. Another advantage of full paracord is that you can do the whole wrap with one piece of cord.

My cordwrapped Arclite is 1.8 cm (0.71") thick at the widest point in the grip, which already makes it thicker than you could make it with most thicknesses of G10. You might want to try wood, or multilayered G10 scales (like Koji Hara's "terraced" steel scales).
 
I wonder if you couldnt "build it up" with JB weld... Sculpt it to the way ya want it... Course if ya dont like it after wards your in a big hurt!
 
You can do it with a Dremel; it's just faster and easier with hand tools. It could be faster to use a Dremel if you don't have a vise, though.

Tool dip works but it's pretty ugly.

Don't be so scared of epoxy -- you can remove it with acetone (nail polish remover) or paint stripper. It doesn't dissolve as easily as superglue but if you soak it long enough it'll come off.

A Strider wrap uses decored 550 cord only for the underwrap.

The dusts from G10 and Micarta are not good to breathe. Use a good dust mask and do it outdoors; you don't want that dust in your house.
 
I have the Stiff Kiss wrapped with climbing cord, thicker than paracord, with the core still inside. The problem is that you can't wrap to the edges, so you wind up with a small wrapped, thicker area, and you lose handle length. By attaching scales, I could make it thicker and utilize the whole length of the handle, maybe even extend a little with a spacer. I have large hands, and the Kiss does not feel secure in my hand.
 
The fumes from these burning are very bad for you, and they burn easily on a slow moving beltsander. A cut off wheel on a dremel would be terrible. It also ruins the handle material to have them burn. You have to sand away any burned spots to get a good finish, and there is usually a lot of fiber hanging out of the burned spot to deal with.
G10 and Micarta(stabilized wood also) are very easy to cut with a hack saw and shape with a file. From there you just have to use various grits of sandpaper to get a nice finish.
 
Off subject a little. Does anyone know how or where I could get or make, or have someone make a set of Stainless Steel Scales for an Microtech LCC?? I want them so I can have Bruce Shaw engrave some Celtic Knotwork similar to this:




s.jpg

s1.JPG

God I love this knife (It's not mine:( )
 
Trying to put a set of slabs onto a factory knife , ie.- making a knife BETTER, is just how many knifemakers got started !!

If the knifemaking bug bites ... you're a goner.

Its not far between - "I haven't got a belt sander..." to

"Just got a belt sander !!"

Cheerio and good luck ! Jason.
 
The Dremel isn't the best choice for this task. Trust me, I have a Dremel but it doesn't gest used to make knife scales. Here is what works best for me:
- make sure you have a vise, a hacksaw, a flat file, a semi round file, sandpaper, handdrill, right size fresh drill bit.
- if you start with horn or wood block, fix is in a vise and cut slabs out of it with a hacksaw. If you don't go too fast, the resulting scales will be surprisingly flat
- draw the outline in the wood/horn/stag/micarta ...
- cut the rough shape with the hacksaw
- mark the pin holes and drill them at slow or medium speed
- put some rough sandpaper on a flat surface (like the bench) and rub the scales against it until they are truly flat
- put some temporary pins into the holes and clamp the scales together in the vise
- work out the front area with files and sandpaper (from 280 to as fine as you wish); do a good job, finishing this area after the scales are glued to the blade is not an option
- remove the pins, put the scales on the blade, put the temporary pins on and to the vise we go again
- file the outline until you get to the steel; attack this part at an angle so when you get to the steel you don't scratch it badly with the file, if you see what I mean
- when it looks fine, take the scales off, clean everything, make the final pins, notch them along to get a good grip from the glue, mix the epoxy and glue everything on. Don't use as much epoxy you might think you need, it will be squeezed out to make a mess only
- put the blade in the vise, be carefull not to epoxy the jaws!
- after a few minutes (10-20) the epoxy starts to be kinda solid and you can clean the big mess with a blade (I use a bronze one since it's soft and doesn't scratch); use some acetone to clean the small mess
- put back the knife in the vise for a day
- when it's dry, file the extra pin material, protect the blade, clamp it in the vise and cut stripes of sandpaper, again from 280 to very fine
- finish the handle using a "shoeshine" motion or whatever works out for you.
- at the end, if the steel on the handle area doesn't have the same finish as on the spine of the blade, make a dremel-sized roll from the finest sandpaper you have + superglue (use the loosen dremel sand barrel as as guide and make sure you glue it in the right direction so it doesn't ripp off because of the rotation...), put it on the dremel, go at 12000RPM and finish the spine and all with a light touch. Make sure not to mess the handle.

I hope it helps. It sounds like a lot, but it takes only a few hours if you are carefull and don't mess up and start over and over ;)
 
Jason Cutter wrote:
If the knifemaking bug bites ... you're a goner.

Its not far between - "I haven't got a belt sander..." to

"Just got a belt sander !!"
Click to expand...

He's not joking here. And soon after that, you'll find you need a big vise, a drill press, a metal cutting bandsaw, a regular wood cutting bandsaw, a buffer and sooner than ya think, you'll find yourself thinking :eek:I NEED A BIGGER, BETTER BELT GRINDER!:eek:
And, as if that wasn't enough, sooner or later, your gonna start thinking "ya know, I could really crank out some top shelf knives if I started forging them!":eek::eek::eek:
Have fun and welcome to the wonderful world of knifemaking!:D


All the best,
Mike U.
 
Bladeforum's own TAZ custom fit a set of black linen micarta handle scales for my D2 arclite last year. They are PERFECT, they look great & fell even better in the hand. He is also very reasonably priced.
 
Originally posted by Matt Shade
The fumes from these burning are very bad for you, and they burn easily on a slow moving beltsander. A cut off wheel on a dremel would be terrible. It also ruins the handle material to have them burn. You have to sand away any burned spots to get a good finish, and there is usually a lot of fiber hanging out of the burned spot to deal with.
Click to expand...
Whoops, too late. :)

I didn't have any burning, though I was already running the Dremel at quite a high speed. Since the cutoff wheel cuts through the G10 fairly quickly and then moves on to the next spot, maybe it doesn't get hot enough to burn.

About the possibility of fumes, one should be wearing a repirator anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top