Shaping my knife handles

S

slewis

Joined
Aug 11, 2008
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6
Is it a bad idea to use my little belt grinder to shape my knife handles? The handles are made of purpleheart and I have the HF 1x30 with a pretty wide array of grits. I have been practicing for a bit and I have found it hard to sand with the grain. I have alwyas been told to go with the grain, but the 1x30 makes it hard. If I go against the grain with I ruin the wood? OR can I shape the handles going against the grain and then finish going with and make it pretty? THanks .

Steve
 
You can go an direction with the belt sander just remeber fastmoving beltsscrew up wood real fast.I do a lot of my shaping with files and rasps.
Stan
 
I believe many folks use a 1" belt sander to assist in shaping handles. And many don't. There are several things you'll want to watch out for.

  • The edge of the belt can dig in REAL deep gouges or slices.
  • Fast dull belts can burn or scorch the wood.
  • It's REAL easy to take off too much wood in one spot or another.
  • Leave the handle slightly over sized so there's enough wood left for hand sanding and taking out the deep mark lefts by the heavy gits of course belts.
Good luck, watch your knuckles and have fun!
 
I've always done 99% of all my handle work on a 2x72" belt grinder. Not only that, but it's a Grizzly non-variable speed and runs just under the speed of sound. From my very first knife, and even now that I have a variable speed KMG, I still use the Grizz. The above warnings are correct, but it can be done if you use a light touch and learn how to use the belt to work for you correctly. It is hard not to burn the wood sometimes, but I do most of my shaping with a 36 grit belt to avoid burns and then switch to a slack belt as soon as I can. The platen or wheel will generate tons more heat than a slack belt. And I always finish with hand sanding on the handle.

--nathan
 
Lots of folks use tung oil, linseed oil or Danish oil. For goodness sakes, don't be tempted to use polyurethane, it looks terrible and feels worse in the hand.
 
What I generally use on any wood craft project that I've done (young age=limited experience) I've used clear minwax stain or clear polyurethane, followed by 3-5 coats of minwax wipe on poly.

Sorry James, but I've had good results with polyurethane a few times.
 
Just rough it out by machine then finish it with sanding blocks. The only reason people say to sand with the grain is because it hides scratches. If you do everything right, there will be no scratches to hide. You can easily take purpleheart to 1200 grit or more if you don't want to machine buff. I finish my handles by hand to at least 4000 grit 3M finishing paper. I then use a light coat of oil.
 
Ok so now I've got another question but this time its about technique. Im sanding with paper and the wood seems to get clogged with dust. Is there something I should be doing while Im sanding or is that something that gets cleaned up with oil at the end?Thanks again everyone. This site has made my life so much easier!
 
I use my platen to grind my handle 95% finished and do the rest by hand. It requires a very light touch and a steady hand. I frequently grind my guards after handle assembly in this fashion as well.

As for your dusty wood I would recommend having the wood stabilized first to remove the natural wood pores. This will eliminate any clogging. I am from South Africa and we have very dense woods here so it is not usually a problem for me.
 
slewis said:
Im sanding with paper and the wood seems to get clogged with dust.
Click to expand...

A quick wipe with a damp rag will pull the dust out and also raise the grain. Let it dry and finish sanding. You can do this a couple times until the grain stops rising and end up with a very smooth surface.

OR do your final finishing by scraping lightly with a very sharp blade. No dust that way.

EDIT: I'd like to clarify my statement about polyurethane... my opinion was based on guitars and knives I seen where way too much was applied. GoMike showed me some much better examples. Thanks buddy! :)
 
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Sometimes you can put that sanding powder to good use if you have a small blemish, crack or divot. Drop a little cyanoacrylate (super glue) in the depression, let it get tacky (almost hard) and sand away. The dust collects in the adhesive and hardens making an acceptable fill that blends in with the wood and finishes well too. You can also just mix the dust with the adhesive (epoxy works well too) to fill with the "putty" using a flat tooth pick or something.
 
James_Terrio said:
EDIT: I'd like to clarify my statement about polyurethane... my opinion was based on guitars and knives I seen where way too much was applied. GoMike showed me some much better examples. Thanks buddy! :)
Click to expand...

Just to clarify with those pictures, the left side is two coats of clear polyurethane, and the right is two coats of clear stain. Then the whole block was covered with three light coats of wipe on poly.

Just the wipe on is the lightest, followed by Polyurethane, and the stain is the darkest, with almost a brownish tint to the color.

(By the way, the wood is buggy curly maple)
 
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