Rehandling Fillet Knives... Some Advice?

Guyon

Guyon

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I don't own quite enough fillet knives yet, so I bought a couple of unfinished blades on FleaBay.

One needs a polish and an edge and then scales.
The other just needs scales.
Both already have holes drilled in the tang.

Any tips from those of you who've done such in the past? I know several makers post here a lot, and I know many of you have rehandled knives.

I'm guessing I just need slab material, epoxy and pins. What I'm curious about, however, is:

  • Best kind of epoxy to use.
  • A few more specifics on installing pins.
  • How best to shape the slabs once they're on.
 
when I did my nimravus, I used JB weld, and hikory handles. For the most part, my slabs are fitted befor they go on. But you could put them on and then finish I suppose.
 
For kitchen or filet knives I like Micarta or G-10. They do better in a dishwasher. Your pins need to be stainless steel or brass. Don't use mild steel.

Go to Wal-Mart and get DevCon 2 ton epoxy.
Tape your slabs together and tape the blade onto the top of the slabs, and drill through the holes in the tang and through the slabs.
Scribe around the blade. With the scales pinned together, cut the outline to within .1".
Keep them pinned together and shape and sand the front of the bolster area. This area is very tricky to sand after you glue on the scales.
Get everything ready and spread epoxy on one scale and the pins.
Put the pins into the glued up scale, and slide the blade into place.
Glue up the other scale and put it on to. You may need a little mallet to get it to slide all the way down the pins.
Clamp it up.
Clean up all squeezout and excess epoxy from the blade and bolster area of the handle with acetone.

Shape the handle with files. If you can avoid hitting the pins with the file, you save yourself having to get those deep scratches out of them.

Be careful sanding around the pins because they're harder than your slabs and the slabs are cut away quicker, leaving the pins proud.

Have fun.
 
Hey Andy,

Do you have any recommendations for him on drill bit size? For example, when I use 1/4" pins, I use an F size drill bit. It helps everything go together, but without slop. If you are doing something similar that info is a big help. If not, you might know of a better way yet.

B
 
Fiddleback said:
For kitchen or filet knives I like Micarta or G-10. They do better in a dishwasher. Your pins need to be stainless steel or brass. Don't use mild steel.

Go to Wal-Mart and get DevCon 2 ton epoxy.
Tape your slabs together and tape the blade onto the top of the slabs, and drill through the holes in the tang and through the slabs.
Scribe around the blade. With the scales pinned together, cut the outline to within .1".
Keep them pinned together and shape and sand the front of the bolster area. This area is very tricky to sand after you glue on the scales.
Get everything ready and spread epoxy on one scale and the pins.
Put the pins into the glued up scale, and slide the blade into place.
Glue up the other scale and put it on to. You may need a little mallet to get it to slide all the way down the pins.
Clamp it up.
Clean up all squeezout and excess epoxy from the blade and bolster area of the handle with acetone.

Shape the handle with files. If you can avoid hitting the pins with the file, you save yourself having to get those deep scratches out of them.

Be careful sanding around the pins because they're harder than your slabs and the slabs are cut away quicker, leaving the pins proud.

Have fun.
Click to expand...

Exactly how I do it too, right down to the same epoxy. :thumbup:

John
 
I do nearly the same thing, except, I drill the holes later in the process.

After sanding the front bolster area, right when you are ready to glue everything up, I epoxy on one side, then let it set. When the epoxy is done curring, I then use the holes in the tang as a guide to drill through the glued on slab. Then, I epoxy on the other slab, and let it cure. When it is done, I use the holes in the first slab as a guide to drill through the other side. I do this because I do not have a drill press. I tried your way once but without a drill press, the holes did not line up properly.

Anyways, that's how I do it. I use the same epoxy to, and everything else is pretty much identical.

Oh, and I just use the same size bit as the pin, but it is tight going in.
 
i made a fillet knife for my neighbors father in law and put neoprene on it. he liked it better than any other handle material. plain old superglue holds it on. shape it down with a belt sander and scotchbrite flap wheel to finish
 
briangandrews said:
Hey Andy,

Do you have any recommendations for him on drill bit size? For example, when I use 1/4" pins, I use an F size drill bit. It helps everything go together, but without slop. If you are doing something similar that info is a big help. If not, you might know of a better way yet.

B
Click to expand...


I use a 1/4" bit then a 1/4" rheemer. I made myself a little plastic mallet to tap the scales together. I don't drill with any gap. I've seen some makers do it. Size F is .257" I think. You could probably get a bit thats .253. .007" is too much play IMO.
 
stingray4540 said:
I do nearly the same thing, except, I drill the holes later in the process.

After sanding the front bolster area, right when you are ready to glue everything up, I epoxy on one side, then let it set. When the epoxy is done curring, I then use the holes in the tang as a guide to drill through the glued on slab. Then, I epoxy on the other slab, and let it cure. When it is done, I use the holes in the first slab as a guide to drill through the other side. I do this because I do not have a drill press. I tried your way once but without a drill press, the holes did not line up properly.

Anyways, that's how I do it. I use the same epoxy to, and everything else is pretty much identical.

Oh, and I just use the same size bit as the pin, but it is tight going in.
Click to expand...

Firstly, I have no idea how you get good results without a drill press. So if that method works for you, then I say stick with it. (Drill presses are cheap, and will improve your results immensely.) I hope you're clamping the knife down really well though. Drilling seems rudimentary, but is actually quite dangerous.

But, now the problem with glueing a scale on, then drilling it is threefold.

First, you have a lot of time invested in the handle and if you have bad tearout, or bit wobble, or some other issue, thats a lot of lost time. I find out right away if the scales are trash due to drilling issues. If they are, then I've not wasted any time on them. I toss them and do another set.

Second, if you screw yours up, its glued on there. Now you've got a stickey mess to clean up before you can start over. AND also, you do two glueups! Thats another bit of wasted time. You have to wait for the scale to set on there, drill, glue, wait, drill. For a one at a time hobby maker, that wasted time is OK. But for guys like John and I, we need to move on and keep busy when we're in the shop.

Thirdly. Drilling both scales at once, then finishing the bolster area with the scales pinned together insures that your scales line up perfectly on each side of the knife. If you took your time finishing the bolster area (and actually used a hand tool or two), then they should be mirror images of one another and you should detect NO difference when holding the knife up and looking on them closely.
 
i pretty much do what Andy suggested, but i use JB weld because it is not as temperature sensative. with my old epoxy i left a knife in the trunk of a car overnight and it got pretty cold, and when i took it out the next day one of the scales had released partway. still entirely useable, and it took a fair amount of effort to get it the rest of the way off to re-attach it, but its not the sort of thing you want to worry about.
 
Only thing to add, and I think Fiddleback hit on it, is finish the front of the handles before you glue them on. You should get them down to the final finish you want. Way too easy to slip and mess up your blade that way.

Otherwise, full tang knives are not all that difficult. I like to look and and handle a lot of knives. Make mental notes of what is comfortable and go from there. While I'm shaping a handle I stop often and just see how it's feeling in my hand.

One last thing is that it's way easier to take material off than to put it back on so go slow at first with taking the material off.

Charlie
 
Oh, forgot one big requirement.

You have to post photos. Before, during and after, and especially of the first time you use them. :-)

We love pics.

Charlie
 
Yeah, ideally a press and Fiddleback's way, is the way to go, but if you don't have a press, the way I do it is the only way to do it and get the holes and pins right. And yes it is wasted time, but if you are just doing one or two knives and don't want to invest in a drill press...

I've only done two full tangs like this, since I have now switched to hidden tangs, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
 
Thanks for the info, fellas.

Andy, I do have a drill press.

Going to order some micarta and some pins this week. :thumbup:
 
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