question on Peweter in handles ?

[Bruce Evans]

Ok I am wanting to try a fancy handle..I picked up a book at the library the other day that showed some antique tomahawks.They mentioned that some had pewter and some had lead pored for the designs in the handle..
First do you just set down with a knife and carve the design into the handle then pour the liquid metal in and sand it smooth..
Next wont lead or Peweter burn the handle allot when it is poured in..
Can brass or copper or nickel silver be pored straight in the carving instead?

Next I want my curly maple handles to have that translusent light brown look,What are you guys using to stain the handle,The way I am doing it now looks good but I want that rich look if I am going to decorate the handle real fancy..
Any help would be great or advice as to a book that will tell me what to do,I looked in books on indian jewelery but they didn't tell me how..
Also were can I find pictures of authentic designs the indians would have used for the poured in decorations and the designs used in pierced blades?
Thanks in advance for any help..
Bruce

 

[texascarl]

Bruce,
Look for books by W. Ben Hunt. He wrote a lot of books for boy scouts back in the 20s-40s, some have a lot of Native American design motifs, by tribe, and I remember seeing him talk about using pewter to set blades in knife handles (from memory, carve wood, align blade, wrap the wood with stiff oiled paper like a manila folder, pour the metal in from top of paper and let cool...lead and pewter will melt at a lower heat than copper) I see that Amazon has his Complete How-To Book of Indiancraft: 68 Projects for Authentic Indian Articles still in print, several others that might be useful for you including one on beadwork, another on metalcraft. Some of my favorites are out of print, so just keep him on your radar.

 

[Gib Guignard]

Bruce, Try http://www.rmjforge.com thay are one of
the very best museum quility also
http://www.2hawks.net very good quility.
Working with pewter is very easy, make a dam for
with brown paper bag and tape, other meterials will
work, to put a end on a handel drill a hole in the
center then a cross hole, this is your anchor extend
the paper above the handel a little ways. Melt the
pewter and pour with out stoping. I use a bullet
casting ladle for this, when melting pewter heat it
past the point of liqued as it will cool off fast
and it needs to go every where while still liquide.
To pour on the side of the handle you can carve out
a design then fill it up with pewter but this is
tricky, if you figure out a good way to build a dam
post it I would like to know. One thing I have heard
of is using silicon gasket meterial to make a dam
there is a type that is a high temp product, I
haven't tryed this but it should work. A source for
pewter is Rio Grande 1 800 545 6566 if you don't have
there cataloge you need it. Pewter cost is 5.50 a lb
plus fraight. Hope this helps, need more info email
me at gib@redrivernet.com Gib

 

[Jimbo]

I've set knife blades into wood handles by use of pewter (actually I used bullet casting alloy - and yes I know the problems with lead). It worked very well - as outlined on Ragnars site.
texascarl has it exactly right as usual...
I believe copper would be too hot, and that you'd be better inlaying it using wire and a hammer as Bill Moran does with silver. I sure could be wrong on that though.

 

[Bruce Evans]

Thanks everybody..
I knew pewter could be poured without burning the wood,But I thought lead was hot enough it would.As for yhe copper and brass I figured a inlay would be better but i wanted to ask guys that are doing this kind of stuff to find out..
Thanks again and i will be watching for the books.
Bruce