tapered tang survival knife w/ hollow handle!

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elvenbladesmith07

Joined
Jul 29, 2004
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ive been toying with the idea of using some plastic pipe with two caps on the ends as a handle. one cap sealed and the other left to pull off the would be drilled in the center to fit the tang. then threading the end of the tang and put it through the cap and pipe. then putting it through the loose cap and holding it on with a hex nut or a wing nut, then the handle can be wrapped with paracord or leather. what do you guys think? would it be strong enough? black A.B.S. pipe i was thinking. i just thought it would be a great alternative to the quarter tang junk sold by BUDK and such.
 
Wouldn't work very well. The big problem with hollow handled knives is that they're made of a softer material than the tang. The joint eggs out and the handle eventually works loose. The blade and handle have to be made of materials with similar strength in order to make it work right.
Chris Reeve has the best idea on it with his one peice line up.

I think if you are interested in making a hollow handled survival knife on your own though, Texas Knifemakers carries stainless steel handle blanks. Top is threaded for your tang, and I think its got a compass on the back. They're cheap too :)

EDIT: Just checked, they still have them on their website. $8.95. Black painted stainless steel. Look under "survival handle" in their online catalog.
 
yes i have seen them but they use a quarter tang right? so that would eventually brake. my tang would pass all the way through the handle and have a nut on the butt cap. also i was thinking of aircraft aluminum for the handle.
 
A true survival knife should be able to take a serious amount of abuse without faling apart. The above setup would never work.

The only way to make a decent knife with a hollow handle is a one piece construction with a very massive tang (not even a tang per se but actually a metal handle). Then you could drill a relatively small hole into it for a short length, thread and attach a butt cap. Still, hardly worth the effort for that tiny bit of space inside the handle. Get yourself a Kabar and a belt pouch, it'll cost you under $50 and you'll end up with a much better bush knife and a lot more storage room. :rolleyes:
 
im not saying i want to carry this knife myself or even that i like the idea of a hollow handle(i do though). im just asking for opinions on this idea. the whole idea of the hollow handle is mostly novelty, im just trying to change that into something functional. the biggest reason people strive for a good hollowed knife handle is because not everyone will always carry a "belt pouch and a ka-bar". look at guns, people will sacrifice accuracy, durability, and firepower for a light weight and compact carbine. is a carbine still usefull for combat? heck yeah it replaced the old bolt actions of previous wars so it must be do the job o.k.!
i have seen quality hallow handled knives made from more than one piece. im just trying to make a good alternative to the cheap crap and the expensive, wastefull, and heavy survival knives.
the thing is its gunna be a tapered tang so i can always wrap the tang in a strip of cloth or something if the handle breaks, right? that what john lofty wiseman recomends if a handle breaks.
 
i have seen quality hallow handled knives made from more than one piece.
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Lucky you! I don't know anyone else who has. :)

Seriously, there is nothing wrong with novelties and ideas but in a real survival situation the last thing you'd want is a "survival" knife with the tang wrapped in a rag. Bad enough to be struggling for your own life, made worse by a knife with a broken handle.
 
got a goos point but im trying diffrent handle materials and the aluminum is holding up well. what i did is make a few example handles from aluminum and A.B.S. and i had a old hunting knife without a handle just a guard and a screw on bolster. i did my rigs with this knife and started hacking. the aluminum took a beating and the A.B.S. didnt do to bad either.
this still isnt something id trust my life too. i hope to try HTed steel and possibly brass. ya never know maybe it will work?
so youve never seen a quality survival knife with a hollow handle? MATT SHADE mentioned earlier Cris Reeve, he makes exelent survival knives from A2, and Randall knives makes a good survival knifehttp://randallknives.com/survival.asp, and what about the custom Jimmy Lile First Blood knife? these are all very good, and surviceable knives.
 
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