Professional Handle Finish

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
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Just an observation here. When I see the pictures of people first knives, some look quite nice. The thing that seems to jump out the most or if you want, what makes the difference between a “Nice Knife” and an “OMG! That’s pwetty!” is the finish of the handle/guard. Is this the hardest part to get right? I know the blade grind can also make a big difference but it doesn’t seem to stand out as much.

Pad
 
someone once told me that the grind makes the knife but the handle sells it. You are too right in your observation :thumbup:

Afterall the handle is the part thats carressed :)
 
Good observation,Pad. A blade is just a sharpened piece of steel to the eye.(It may have many special features,but most are internal this is why damascus blades look so good). The handle ,guard, butt, and the fit and finish are what makes a knife look good.They are not hard to learn to do,but not every new maker spends as much time on them as they should.It often takes much longer to make the handle/guard than it does to make the blade.
Stacy
 
My rule of thumb is that it takes about 6 times longer to fit and finish the handle than it took to make the blade. Fancy knives take much longer.
 
Some simple slab handles are easy, with makers just running them lengthwise on slack belts, then finishing the edges. Others with swells and free flowing contours can take a very long time hand sanding.

Throw Hamons in the mix, though, and my opinions differ. In that case, the blade can make the knife, imho, with the best forcing you to fllp your eyes from handle to blade, blade to handle, unable to decide which impresses you more.
 
Padrig said:
Just an observation here. When I see the pictures of people first knives, some look quite nice. The thing that seems to jump out the most or if you want, what makes the difference between a “Nice Knife” and an “OMG! That’s pwetty!” is the finish of the handle/guard. Is this the hardest part to get right? I know the blade grind can also make a big difference but it doesn’t seem to stand out as much.

Pad
Click to expand...

Part of that may be that you aren't seeing a good hand finished blade but one dipped in acid. It leaves them rather uninspiring(to me anyway) and compared to the handle would seem to make the blades look much easier to finish. It's not really the case when one wants a really good hand sanded finish on the blade.
Take a look at a Terry Primos hand finished blade sometime. You will know it took some time to do.

I'm not trying to slam anybody's methods here, just my observations!!

Edited to add: Personally, I find blades much harder to get a good finish on than handles, unless you are just doing a working scotchbrite finish or something equal.
 
Pad, In my experience the devil is really in the details and that's what separates a nice knife from a great knife. The smallest thing on both the handle and the blade will jump out at you after you do it.
 
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