Scale thickness?

T

texas gun person

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Jun 9, 2010
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700
Hola. I have three knives cut out,and one pretty close to heat treat. I am brand new to all this, and I have a question. I am using steel that is 1/8 in thick. What would be a good scale thickness for this width? A lot of the scales im finding are 1/8 too, and that just seems thin for this steel.

Thanks
 
3/8" seems to be the standard and will give you plenty to work with on an 1/8" blade.
 
3/8" is about right. It is easier to make it thinner than to make it thicker. As I shape my scales, I always hold the knife in my hand and test the feel and ergonomics.

Ric
 
Phydeaux said:
3/8" is about right. It is easier to make it thinner than to make it thicker. As I shape my scales, I always hold the knife in my hand and test the feel and ergonomics.

Ric
Click to expand...

Exactly. They sell 1/8" scales to be cheap or to stack materials. I have used thin tactical knives a lot, they work great with gloves on but feel like crap bare handed. It is easier to make 3/8"do what you want than any other. Places like Jantz Supply sell more options at 3/8" than any other thickness...
 
I made some wood scales for my Tenacious. They are slightly over 1/4" thick. Made sure the scales were well rounded (i don't like blocky handles) and felt good in hand. The thicker sales really gave the knife a different feel.

Have you thought about making some prototype scales? You could attach some soft wood with double sided tape, then shape it. This would give you a fairly good idea how it feels in hand and how the handle shape looks on the knife.

Ric
 
Yea I've been thinking of ways to go about testing some designs, but have not tried anything out yet. Have some 3/8 and 1/4 scales coming from Jantz since they are right up the road from me in Oklahoma.
 
Agree with Ric. Scrap wood, cardboard or inexpensive modelling clay can be used to determine how thick your scales/blocks need to be made.
 
Thinner scales give you very little option for ergonomic adjustments apart from the shape of the tang.



Thicker scales allow you to introduce the "coke bottle" handle shape (when viewed from above). Like this


Those scales started off at 11mm thick

As a rule of thumb, the total thickness of the handle including scales and blade should not be more than around 1".
 
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