Question for the experts.

So what do you think about my carbon fiber idea for the back. I know that stuff is very hard and probably won’t break with .08 clearance. Just need to be sure not to get too happy with the grinder when shaping.

I do appreciate all the advice and while I can and do make a decent knife every now and again I am by far an expert and a lot of the solutions I think I would wind up messing up. I wished it was centered but that ship has sailed. I’m digging the carbon fiber solution it you think it will be strong enough to hold good on that thinner side. My personal experience with CF is that it will but like I said I’m an amateur and I respect you guys that do it for a living.
 
Could you go marginally smaller on the lanyard tube? If so, that might be a nice easy way to get things looking more symmetrical. And if you’re using good epoxy, I wouldn’t worry about the handle strength thing. Use the smaller lanyard tube, keep it up towards the top of your hole, and fill the void with epoxy as the scales are going on. And did you say this is a knife for you in your bird hunting vest? Another big reason I wouldn’t worry about it. I have a few different knives that have been users and have allowed me to see what and how different materials and “mistakes” pan out. It gives you a lot of good info on what will work and what won’t should you end up with knives in other people’s hands down the road.

Jeremy
 
Exactly Jeremy. Epoxy is what they use to stabilize wood....to make it stronger. They also use it to make fiberglass stronger, and all sorts of material.

The hole may be off centered. Big deal. Is the balance point as a neck knife dangling down dead center? Does it matter? Is that was this is about?

I dare say you could run paracord (or 1/8” cable???) through that hole of yours and try to pull thru that 0.08” steel at the edge.....maybe with it fastened in place and using a powered wench???? No way in hell are you going to go through that “bit of steel” by any normal strength by hand.

And whatever you do, don’t enlarge it as “some” are “recommending” who have no clue.

Just get on with it. That is the best move forward for a B/T knife. It will not be seeing any abuse. Heck, even if it WERE a chopper....this is the lanyard hole we are talking about. Not a pin hole.

Good looking bird and trout knife, by the way. Keep it moving forward.
 
To clarify, I’m not worried about the steel at all. My only worry is the strength of the handle material in that .08 slot. I’m afraid it will break.
 
bc2573 said:
To clarify, I’m not worried about the steel at all. My only worry is the strength of the handle material in that .08 slot. I’m afraid it will break.
Click to expand...


At least the last number of replies are aware that it it's not the steel you're worried about and they have given good solutions.

Maybe this will help clear it up, what diameter is the lanyard hole you drilled in the tang and what is the outer diameter of the lanyard tube you plan on using? Are they both the exact same diameter, as in both are 1/4" (or w/e), OR is the tube a bit smaller than the hole you drilled?

As long as the outer diameter of the lanyard tube is a bit smaller in diameter (if it's not, you can always buy smaller diameter tube stock), as has already been mentioned, when you go to epoxy the handle onto the tang just keep the lanyard tube (which is going through the handle material and tang) butted up against the top of the lanyard hole you drilled directly in the steel knife tang. That way when you go to shape the handle material itself to the profile of the tang, the actual lanyard tube that is showing will be more centered in the handle, which in turn means there will be more handle material between the tube and the edge of the tang, because it will be closer to the center. Once the epoxy is cured you also won't have to worry about the handle sliding up or down due to using a smaller diameter lanyard tube than the size of actual tang hole, since the excess area in the tang hole you drill off center will be completely filled with epoxy.

I don't do this anymore, but I used to drill all of my pin holes with a 1/4" bit even though I was only using 3/16" pin stock, so I didn't have to worry about pins and tang holes not lining up perfectly and getting stuck while trying to slide the scales against the tang. I could then simply scoot the handle a tiny bit up or a tiny bit down to get the pins to look perfectly centered, even if the holes is the tang were not perfect centered . Once everything was epoxied in place, the excess area in the 1/4" holes in the tang were filled with cured/hardened epoxy, keeping the handle in place so I didn't have to worry at all about the handle shifting around since everything was now solid. This is essentially what we are trying to say you can due with you lanyard tube.

To answer your other question, there would be not problem using CF for the rear of the handle and wood for the front sorta like a bolster, as long as the other pin closer to the blade wasn't going directly through were the two materials butted up together, because you also want to make sure there is enough solid handle material around than pin as well to make sure there are not weak spots in whichever material you have that pin going through.

Hopefully that makes sense!


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
Use liner material...super glue the wood to the liner this will add extra support to the wood in the weak spot so it won't break off when you drill the thong tube hole. Then you can center and drill a 3/16" thong tube hole using the current hole in the tang as your guide. I like to use liners with fragile material like Mammoth Tooth keeps it from just crumbling apart.
 
Busto has my recommendation. Use a G-10 or thin CF liner under the snakewood …. if you are dead set on using snakewood..

I will say that snakewood is a poor choice for a user B&T blade. The thong on your blade is placed way too close to the edge. The minor misalignment of the hole isn't the issue. You need at least .25" outside the thong or the wood will likely pop off between the thong tube and the edge.
With your handle shape and hole placement. you would be far smarter to use scales of Micarta, G-10, or Carbon Fiber and the thong hole problem will be moot.
 
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The kind of thing that really P....... the ........ out of me :D... I could lose sleep on a blunder like that :mad::mad::mad:.

I would completely fill the hole with high hardness epoxy like PC-7 from PPC. Sand it flat and do another smaller hole at the right place. then install the scales and lanyard tube normally. You might want to change the scales material for something less brittle if you are in doubt of the integrity of the final assembly. But this epoxy never failed me it has a super high hardness and it is completely machinable once cured.
 
Why not do Somthing like this. Reshape the butt and drill a small pin hole. Then end the scales at the blue line and that the big hole be a thong attachment loop. Or just scrap it and make it a hidden tang. Steel is cheep compared to the amount of time used to look over and think about how to fix it.

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Well guys after thinking about it for 24 hours here's what I did.

1. It was supposed to have .12' of steel on both sides of the hole. Instead it had .08 one one side and .16 on the other. Good decision or bad. I took a dremel and routed out the .16 side to .12. When I drill the handle material I will run the drill bit down the side that had .12 which should give me .12 on both sides of the thong tubing. During the handle gluing process I will mix up some JB weld and fill that hole, and use PC-7 epoxy on the rest of the handle.

2. I decided to put a rear bolster of G10 or Carbon fiber on the back end to strengthen the .12 on each side of the lanyard hold. I will probably go with G10 because I already have some in the shop.
 
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