Scandi meets Scagel

Ebbtide

Ebbtide

Gold Member
Joined
Aug 20, 1999
Messages
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The blade is a Brusletto from Ragnar.
The bottom blade in this photo.
ragnarloot.jpg

It is a chunk, thick by scandi standards.
On the left here.
topscandis.jpg

5/32" if I read my trusty old steel ruler correctly.

Following the tutorial on the Brisa website, I slotted and shaped a brass guard, glued up the leather, spacers, stag and pin.
NewYears08-09.jpg


Then I squared up the leather before final shaping.
Morsethprogress.jpg


After a whole bunch of sanding, starting with an 80 grit belt, and working progressively up to 2000 grit wet dry, I got this.
Morseth1.jpg


Morseth2.jpg


I still have to touch up the guard, think of a 'treatment' for the butt end of the stag and make a sheath.

I've done handles on 5 or 6 blades now, each one gets a little easier.
No power tools beyond a hand drill and budget drill press. My biggest investment was time. Maybe 2 weekends.

This is a great DIY project we "average joes" can do to have a really nice knife without a huge cash outlay.
As the old commercial used to say:
"Try it, you'll like it!"
 
Geez man, you knocked that one out of the park! Great work. How did you secure the antler to the cap, just glue?
 
Gee, that was fast, were you waiting for this thread?
:D
lol
The antler is epoxied on & there is also a brass pin that goes thru both antler and tang.
 
Nice job, that looks great. Always thought Scagel had a good thing going there.

How'd you line up the pin with the hole in the tang? I imagine that needs to be quite precise.

How'd you secure the pin? Is it peened?

Good job man.
 
Hehe, I'm a WSS thread sniper - always on the watch. :D

Just noticed the pin! Very clean work. How do you confidently know where to drill that particular pin? And did you have to pre-compress the leather spacers before putting it all together, since you drilled that pin before compressing the lot of them?

Sorry for the barrage, but I've tried layering leather for a stick tang before and always hit too many problems to [inexpensively] overcome.
 
Awesome work! Very classy.

I'm going to pick one of these up in my next order from Ragnar. Just to clarify - this is the 'Brusletto mystery blade', right?

Way to go on the construction. Fit and finish look great.

All the best,

- Mike
 
All I can say is WOW...that is awesome!!!! I really love that knife..what a great combo, leather handle with a stout scandi blade..perfect!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
Can you give us some more info on the parts you ordered? I am wondering about the gaurd and the otehr parts. Gene
 
wow! looks better than the regular bruselettos, and they look pretty nice. great work, that would be one i would be hesitant to get dirty.
 
Yes this is the Brusletto Mystery Blade!
Gotta love a little intrigue, eh?
:D
As for compressing the leather...
Here is a shot of another stacked leather handle in the press I made (as per the brisa tutorial) with some scrap wood, all thread and nuts.
craphandle.jpg

The inset is how I messed up the guard on the first try. Had to boil the leather off and try again... grrrrrrr.

The guard was cut and filed out of brass bar stock. That probably took as long as the rest of the handle to do.
Drill holes for the tang, connect the holes with small files then file to shape.
File some, test fit & repeat.
File some, test fit & repeat.
File some, test fit & repeat.
File some, test fit & repeat.
File some, test fit & repeat.
You get the idea :)

The pin was 1/8" brass rod from the local hobby shop.
The leather was scraps from sheath projects and the stag came from the knife show here in NYC. I still have enough left for 2 more :)
The spacer material came from Texas knifemaker supply. Just a couple of bucks for a big variety pack.

I should have glued the whole thing up, then drilled the hole for the pin.
But where is the adventure in doing things the right way?
I epoxied the guard in place & let it dry.
Then the spacers and leather stack.
When that was dry I drilled the stag, set on the tang and marked the tang.
I drilled the tang and then the holes didn't match up.
That's why the black line in the back is thicker than the one in front.
One extra sheet of black spacer wasn't enough and two was just a bit too much.
I epoxied the pieces, pointed the pin and drove it thru the 2 slightly mismatched holes so that it wedged the stag down onto the rest of the handle.
That's as peened as the pin got.

BarberFobic, that's the beauty of these DIY projects...no fear in using them :D
Its a work in progress so if you mess it up, you just fix it up :D
 
Last edited:
very nice job. sticktangs have always given me alot of trouble, i try to avoid them whenever possible. it seems like they shouldn't be as hard as they are, but somehow they defeat me every time...

that looks really nice though, i like the combo of scandi blade with scagel handle. also, nice piece of stag...
 
Ebbtide said:
The blade is a Brusletto from Ragnar.
The bottom blade in this photo.
ragnarloot.jpg

It is a chunk, thick by scandi standards.
On the left here.
topscandis.jpg

5/32" if I read my trusty old steel ruler correctly.

Following the tutorial on the Brisa website, I slotted and shaped a brass guard, glued up the leather, spacers, stag and pin.
NewYears08-09.jpg


Then I squared up the leather before final shaping.
Morsethprogress.jpg


After a whole bunch of sanding, starting with an 80 grit belt, and working progressively up to 2000 grit wet dry, I got this.
Morseth1.jpg


Morseth2.jpg


I still have to touch up the guard, think of a 'treatment' for the butt end of the stag and make a sheath.

I've done handles on 5 or 6 blades now, each one gets a little easier.
No power tools beyond a hand drill and budget drill press. My biggest investment was time. Maybe 2 weekends.

This is a great DIY project we "average joes" can do to have a really nice knife without a huge cash outlay.
As the old commercial used to say:
"Try it, you'll like it!"
Click to expand...

That looks great man. Can't wait to see how it cuts!
 
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