Rehandling my first knife - could use advice on a few small things.

[Diomedes Industries]

I rehandling a knife with curly maple. I reprofiled the blade and handle to my liking, roughed out the scales and epoxied them to the tang (exposed) and drilled for brass pins.

It was 1/8th brass stock and when I drilled 1/8th it was so tight that I went up 1/64th to ensure I had room for epoxy. It has room now - but I am worried it will look like too much space around the pin. I know epoxy will fill it in - but....

Here are my questions:

1) Should I simply epoxy it in, stain the scales and be done with it.
2) Can I peen the pins a bit to fill in the gap left by the epoxy?
3) Any other solutions?


One last question. What minwax stain looks good on curly maple in your opinion. I am not at home right now while working on this project and only have access to minwax stains.

Thanks for all your help.

TF

 

[12345678910]

This is in hindsight, but a 1/8 .125" pin I would go up to a #30 drill at .1285"

That .0035 increase is about a hairs breadth and will give you room to fit, but not so much that you have much gap to fill.


http://www.accuratebushing.com/pdf/ENG-FractionalChart.pdf


If your tang holes are large enough, you could always go up to the next size pin

 

[Bo T]

Collect the sawdust from your scales and add it to your epoxy. This will minimize the difference in color and the appearance of the gap.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Bo T - I thought about that after I posted.

Will do!

TF

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

If you cut the pins about .10" longer than the handle thickness and epoxy them in with slow cure resin, you can peen them after you slip them in the epoxy filled holes. Get everything ready first, and wear nitrile gloves. Wipe the epoxy off everything with a rag dampened with acetone after the pins are peened.

Second choice would be to get some 3/16" rivet stock and sand it down to a snug fit by chucking it in a drill and turning it while sanding with 120 grit paper.

Third choice would be to get some 3/16" stock and re-drill the holes to a proper fit.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Blad,

How tight is 'proper' fit?

TF

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Peen them until they swell to close the gap.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

I decided not to peen these pins as this was my first rehandle - and I figured this was pretty good for my first attempt. I did add saw dust to the epoxy and felt that did a decent job of masking the small gaps. I am sure they are obvious to those who do this all the time - but for my first handle - I was happy.

I changed the profile of the blade and the handle a bit - and convexed the blade - it needs a little hand rubbing still to complete the blade and then final edge will be put on it - but it is very even and sharp already.

I had a lot of fun with this project and I will be doing another Condor and a few Old Hickory Modifications to get used to the process in the next month or so.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Bo T]

Looks like a very comfortable handle. and it doesn't look bad. If you peen the pins to hard you run the risk of splitting the scale. If your pins are a bit large for your holes, you can sand them down using a drill press until you get a snug fit. A little time consuming for the professional but fine for the hobbyist.