stacked leather handle question

[BigAl62]

I bought a "Kabar" knife kit off the bay. It has the cross guard, a stack of leather disks, a flat pommel, the pommel pin and the blade (tang stamped Camillus, not Kabar). I've never done a stacked leather handle before and I thought it'd be fun to give it a shot. I've watched several how-to videos but they have all shown screw-on pommel nuts so compressing the leather disks is pretty easy - just screw down the nut. But I'm not sure how to compress the disks where you have a pinned pommel. I assume you leave off the last disk or two and add them after the rest are set up so you can be sure to get a good tight fit? Also, one video I watched, the guy used wood glue rather than slow-set epoxy. Is wood glue really OK? It won't particularly be a "user" - more of a "lookey what I did" kind of knife. I'm looking for advice before I screw things up.

 

[oldmanwilly]

Here is a link to a post in another thread that should show a homemade jig used for the exact purpose:

Post in thread 'Refreshing Marbles Woodcraft'

Oct 1, 2023

Nice job, I think the tool was originally a nail or tack puller.

You can restore a knife with a pinned pommel much the same but you will need a jig to compress it. (Mine is a little Rube Goldberg)

I use wood glue between the layers and power tools to sand it. Finished wish cordoba shoe polish.

• eveled

• 
• 

If the pics don't show, then maybe eveled can chime in with fresh pics of his jig used to compress leather washers for a Kabar.

To be clear, you don't have to use any kind of adhesive on your washers, bu it is an option.

 

[eveled]

It was kind of Rube Goldberg but it worked
Finished result


I think it would be easier to use one of those big wood clamps with the two threaded handles. You have to drill holes in the wood clamps so the blade passes through.

 

[BigAl62]

The veiw links didn't seem to work but you did give me an idea. If I go to Freight Harbor and pick up a wood handscrew clamp and cut a blade slot in one arm and a tang slot in the other, I should be able to clamp the stack between the cross guard and the last leather disk (or the pommel disk). So if I choose to use epoxy or wood glue, after set-up/curing, I assume the compressability will be much less than dry stack? Or will it still compress enough to to allow for fitting the pommel after the fact or should I fit the pommel on the 1st go-around before adhesive set-up? If I go that route, I guess I fit the pommel with the clamp in place then release the clamp and allow the pommel pin to maintain the compression during cure?

Eveled, your post came in while I was typing this. Thank both you guys!

Edited after the fact: Eveled, that pic looks like you used some kind of non-leather spacer between the guard and the 1st leather disk. Or am I missing something?

 

[eveled]

I used the washer kit from KA-BAR, it comes with a black plastic washer a new guard and pommel.

After I compressed it, I had to keep adding washers, maybe 6 more.

 

[BigAl62]

Here's a pic of what came in my kit. It doesn't have the plastic washer. I may need to get the Ka-Bar kit too just for the spacer. I think that would make it easier to profile the leather.

Afterthought when I looked at the picture of my kit. . . now is the perfect time to talk to a gunsmith about hot bluing it. Thoughts?

 

[catspa]

You can easily make a plastic washer of your own. I’ve also made them out of rubber steam gasket (red) and/or scrap Corian countertop material.

Don’t make an entire handle out of Corian, it looks good at first but shows scratches way too easily, at least in the lighter colors.

Parker