Putting a handle on a stick tang?

W

Whelen Nut

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Jan 2, 2011
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I would like to buy a Lauri PT blade and put a handle on it. I've never done anything of the sort and it seems really easy in theory but I'm sure it's not so on practice. Is there a how to of this anywhere that you know of? Has anyone done it and posted pictures of the process?

I have no idea where to start buying the pieces (brass disk for the front where the knife meets the wood) or how to finish the end piece (hammer it flat??). We aren't talking huge amounts of money here but I would like to at least attempt to do this right the first time.

Also since I don't have any wood gripped helle etc how do you shape the handle? Do you just keep filing away at it till it looks right or is there something you can print out and trace?

I also have no idea if this is the right section for this topic so please feel free to move it if it isn't.

Thanks
 
It's about as simple as it sounds. To put the handle on you need to drill out the material you want to use for the handle to about the size of the tang. Then you need to attatch it to the tang. When I did mine on a POS knife that the handle broke off of, I used Gorilla Glue, probably not the route you want to take, but it worked well for me :p. Normal people use epoxy or screws to attach them, but I dislike epoxy and I'm a failure with screws. As for guards, you got me, I never put one on the one that I did, it wasn't pretty :o.
 
I've done a few.
IMG_0891.jpg

Summer2008sam032.jpg

IMG_0887.jpg



The best place for tutorials is Britishblades.com under the scandinavian or bladesmithing sections.
 
Whelen Nut said:
I would like to buy a Lauri PT blade and put a handle on it. I've never done anything of the sort and it seems really easy in theory but I'm sure it's not so on practice. Is there a how to of this anywhere that you know of? Has anyone done it and posted pictures of the process?

I have no idea where to start buying the pieces (brass disk for the front where the knife meets the wood) or how to finish the end piece (hammer it flat??). We aren't talking huge amounts of money here but I would like to at least attempt to do this right the first time.

Also since I don't have any wood gripped helle etc how do you shape the handle? Do you just keep filing away at it till it looks right or is there something you can print out and trace?

I also have no idea if this is the right section for this topic so please feel free to move it if it isn't.

Thanks
Click to expand...

There are some pictures here:

http://playground.sun.com/~vasya/blade_glueing.html

http://playground.sun.com/~vasya/KnifemakingBeauty.html

This one I made with Lauri blade:

http://playground.sun.com/~vasya/knife57.html

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I would suggest that you do a leather tang. It's far easier to cut leather washers, punch holes in the middle, and thread them onto the tang.

You need a bolster up front. This can be simply an oval piece of steel plate with a hole drilled and fitted to the ricasso, the area where the tang becomes the blade.

The bolster gives the leather washers something to compress against when tightened down on the handle.

You need another piece of metal similar to the bolster for the butt cap, which will be the last part fitted onto the handle after all the washers are in place.

The bolster should be fitted using a file so that it fits tight and straight up against the shoulders of the blade. The leather washers are threaded onto the tang one by one, gluing each one to the one before, and to the tang.

The leather should be compressed between the bolster, and the buttcap. If the tang is threaded, the buttcap can be compressed by tightening down a nut. Or, the handle pieces can be compressed by use of a jig designed to do this job. Then the end of the tang can be peened over to hold the buttplate in place.

There are a couple of things you have to watch out for here. First, you have to work fast if you are using glue, to get the leather pieces compressed rapidly before the glue starts to set up. Second, some scandi style blades have tangs that are very hard, and difficult to peen.

After the glue (either epoxy or superglue) has dried and hardened, a sharp knife can be used to cut the washers to the approximate shape. Then coarse files can be used to shape it down further, and finally foam blocks can be used to smooth and finish the shape.

Tape the blade with masking tape to help keep the glue off the blade to make it easier to clean up. Acetone does a good job of removing glue which hasn't set up.

The handle can then be soaked in warm liquid wax or oil, which will help seal and waterproof the leather handle.

If you have a belt sander, it can be used to rough shape the handle as well, but it is also much easier to remove too much material if you don't watch out.

This is one way to do a thru tang handle. There are others, but it is easier to do than trying to fit a wooden handle, IMO.

Good luck and have fun!

Andy
 
I use slow set epoxy. The slowest I can get at the hardware store.
I rigged up a vice for laminating all the pieces onto the blade.
And then I peen the end of the tang onto an endcap.
x2 on using a belt sander and then progressively lighter sandpaper to shape it. I suppose files would work too.
 
Thanks for the pictures and comments. I actually really like the idea of using leather disks to make the handle. Can you only do straight handles with leather washers or can you put a guard in with them? If I want a guard would it be best to have a 3/4" piece of wood for that or can it be done with leather washers? This will be a skinning knife and I do have to reach up in there without seeing sometimes and if it's cold and your fingers are numb a guard is nice to have.

Thanks
 
If you can get birchbark it's pretty comfy too.
I laminate it in 2" blocks in pipe vices, with wood glue between each layer. Then just assemble the knife with blocks of birchbark, wood, antler, and brass or aluminum (and epoxy).
 
diananike said:
I laminate it in 2" blocks in pipe vices...
Click to expand...

I have a pipe vice, and I did an image search to see if other pipe vices differ from mine (they don't) and I just can't picture how you would do this with a pipe vice. I can envision using a regular old vice to do this. I can't envision a pipe vice. I feel stupid. :(

Help? :confused:
 
You can make a clamp from wood and allthread, with the appropriate nuts and washers.
precrap.jpg


Slow setting epoxy.
I mix it in a sandwich bag, cut a tiny hole in one corner and you can neatly squeeze out small amounts.
I peen a butt cap on after the epoxy has set in the clamp.
Carbon steel will peen easily, stainless tends to crumble (IME).
Peening is a zen thing... seems like nothing is happening, then finally the magic happens.
peenage.jpg

I've rough shaped with 80grit belts, cut open and clamped to a very large file.
If you square up the stack of washers, you can pencil in a general shape.
stromeng3.jpg

Once you have the shape you want, progress thru finer and finer grits of sandpaper.
I dampened the leather, when I got up to 800 & 1000 grits.
When done I gave it a good coat of snowseal while running the hair dryer on the handle.
stromengdone2.jpg



Here is a better pic of the clamp along with a big mistake lol
craphandle.jpg

I got the mispositioned leather off of the tang by submersing it in boiling water.
The water was hot enough to soften the epoxy but not hot enough to affect the steel.

There was a good tutorial, which I followed for the above, on the Brisa website.
Hope this helps.
 
Another good site to check out: https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=4&id=1&Itemid=15
They have got quite detailed tutorials. You will also find answers for your questions about tools and methods.
And you can check their shop too.
There are also these few topics from some Russian site - with lots of pictures. They have got a lot of Russian words too, but that is not really important - the pictures are pretty much self-explanatory: http://forum.zadi.ru/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5108 and http://forum.zadi.ru/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3000 and for full tang: http://forum.zadi.ru/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4870
To see full picture you need to click on it. And some of the pictures are posted in reverse order inside the post! :eek:
 
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