Stacked Leather handles

N

newtoknives

Joined
Dec 25, 2004
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Well, as you can probably tell by my username I am new to this forum and the world of knifemaking. I am primarily interested in materials and methods relating to the costomization of knives. My latest interest has been in stacked leather handles seen on Fallkniven and Ka-Bar blades. I used to have an old Estwing hammer that had a similar handle and always thought the look was quite interesting.

So here is the question: Does anyone have any information on making a stacked leather handle? Are the bands water-jet cut, adhered together then lacquered? Seems that there are also fiber rings in the designs as well. Not sure what type of fiber. Any help would be appreciated; web links, books, personal knowledge, etc.

Thanks for reading

NateH
Minneapolis, MN
 
well, you start with round leather disks roughly shapen with holes that fit the tang of your knife. slide these onto the tang, and sand the handle to the shape you want. then you take them of, and put a little epoxy on the rings. if you want the little spacers in the handle,(like a usmc k-bar) just put those on when you slide the epoxied rings on again. slide all the rings on and put the bloster on. lock the bloster and guard in a vice, so that the rings and tang are in the middle. sqeeze the rings together to get them tight and seal them with epoxy. let this dry for the recomended time or more. then do a little final sanding and your done. the laquered look comes from use, or a wax finish i believe. the leather i used was veg tanned. i realize this might not be the best way but it sure looks good afterwards. and merry christmas everyone here at bladeforums!
 
elven's method sounds good.
I've done it without the epoxy and used a a threaded tang, the tighter your butt cap the tighter the leather, then soak the asembled handle in thinned out water based polyurathane.

let dry clean up and sand to desired shape and finish.

good luck.
 
Thanks elvenbladesmith07 and cmott69. The techniques recommended sound straight formard enough. I will give it a try. I wasn't aware that the leather could be sanded to shape once in place. This is good news. I appreciate the prompt replies.

Happy holidays to you

NateH
 
a grinder??? 2x72? If so I've a tip for you. I can tell you how to make a "cutter" for making your leather washers.



regards, mitch
 
If you only want to do one or two knives you can sharpen up a piece of 1" steel pipe and punch your disks out with that. It's mild steel and won't hold an edge for long but it'll last long enough. It's a great way to get some use out of your leather scraps. :cool:

You can get a proper hardened oval punch for it -- Tandy used to have them but Tandy is out of business now, aren't they? I'm sure somebody still makes them....
 
Talk to John Greco. He makes them and as far as I know, sells them to makers.
(and no, I don't have his number handy. Google Greco Knives. :) )
 
I've used a similar method to Cougar's to cut the leather, the only difference is that I flattened the sides of the pipe.
 
I haven't done one in a while, but my methoud is a little differant than some.

I take rough cut squares 'bout an 1 1/2" or so out of scrap veggie tan leather(normaly 10-14 once) and soak 7-8 at a time in water. Stack them up and put in a shop press I built back in shop class in school, it's got a 20 ton bottle jack for the pressing part of it. The dies I use are 1/2" thick piece of mild steel for the bottom and a 3/8" thick square to put on top of the stack. Press as much as the jack will put out, it squeses most of the water out and realy compacts the leather. Let it sit in the press for a couple of hours while I do other stuff, then take out and let dry for a couple of days. Make sure the stack is square and centered before pressing, other wise they will go flying accross the shop. I generaly do several stacks over a long period of time to have enough ready for a couple of knives. After there dry restack in the same order that they were pressed and soak in super thin supper glue, or use a slow setting epoxy and restack and repress. If using supper glue wait most of the day for it to cure, if using epoxy wait a little longer than the recomended set time. Again watch your alignment when pressing or this time you'll have glue filled leather flying accross your shop. I use wax paper between the leather and press as when you press it any epoxy or supper glue extra will run out. After there cured and I have enough to do a handle I use the band saw to cut them square and true up the edges so I know what I got. Then mark out where the tang goes and drill the holes. If a layer comes apart don't worry, just epoxy back together when you do the handle. If you want to put metal or fiber spacers in just use a sharp knife or chissel and a hammer to break a layer or two off. After every thing is on the knife and pressed up with either a srewed on pommel or pinned tight and epoxed and cured I grind to shape on the belt grinder as though it was a block of normal handle material. Use sharp belts as they can load up fast and burn the leather, after about 80 grit I use sand paper and hand finish the rest of the way. When I get to 320 I soak the handle in supper thin supper glue to fill any exposed leather fibers or voids and then sand the glue off the surface and continue to 600 grit. After that a couple of passes on the buffer with pink compound gives it a mirror like finish and it won't absoarb water, shrink or expand while in use or rot. I do like to keep a finished knife in the house for a week or so before final finishing to let the handle material do all the shrinking and moving it's going to before final finishing as I tend to cool the fittings in water and that makes the leather and antler swell just a little bit.

Not the only way, as long as you compress the leather and seal it you should be fine. Just remember that with a stacked leather handle the tange needs to be as strong as posible because the leather will not be providing much strength like other handle materials would.
 
Nice post, Will! Thar's simular to the way I do my leather washer handles. I consider it paramount that you soak heavy weight veg tanned leather washers and compress them. I cut square washers and also cut the tang holes in them first. I use at least a 3/8" bolt and large steel washers. After soaking the washers in warm water, I stack them and then run them on the long bolt. I place a steel washer ahead of the first leather washer, and after the last one, and then the nut. Then, tighten down the nut. You don't want to crush the leather washers, but compress the dickens out of them. The leather will compress quite a bit, so you will have to allow for this by some ready to add washers, so your stack will be long enough. Let dry, and then seperate, KEEPING THEM IN THE EXACT SAME ORDER THAT THEY CAME OFF THE BOLT. The thing is, there will be some variations in the washers, and they will actually lock together when you assemble the dried washers on the tang. I use an oversized tang hole in the washers, for a reason. I use good contact cement on the contact faces of the leather washers, letting it dry properly. I then take a fresh mixed batch of Brownell's Acra Glas (gel) and slather the tang. Leave about a 1/4" of the area close to the tang holes on the faces of the leather washers VOID of contact cement. Keep that area clean, and apply the 'glas to each washer, on the void of contact cement part that is a clean ring around the tang hole. When you assemble the handle, have your knife point pointed down, in a vise. As you add the washers, fill in the void around the tang with the 'glas, and also apply some to the small clean ring around the tang hole of the leather washers. Stack, glue and fill, stack, glue, stack, glue. etc. Keep filling the void around the hole with the 'glas. This will end up being a great anchor for the washers and the whole handle. You press the washers together while you assemble them on the handle, and the contact cement will help lock them in place. Each washer is custom fit to the next one because of the wet/dry/compress proceedure when you wet formed the washers.You can then easily grind the handle on a good belt when the handle is dry. One word of caution, the belt will quickly eat the leather much faster than you would think! Go E-A-S-Y on grinding the handle. I finish my handles with a good leather balm. Actually, the leather washer handles are easy to make. The reason I use square washers on the tang? It gives me a good reference when I grind the handle round. It's easier for me to end up with a uniform round handle when I start grinding with a square shape.
 
Thanks to everyone who posted. I feel much more confident now about working with stacked leather. I can't wait to get started.

Thanks Again,

NateH
 
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