Recommendation? WA handle bolster material

FredyCro

FredyCro

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What do you guys use as WA handle bolsters, what are the pros and cons of materials you use?

Water buffalo horn pressed or normal? Different type of dark wood (ebony of course), stabilized or not? Antler?

I was doing my first mycarta the other day and casted some epoxy. I think it turned out nice, will it make a good WA handle bolster? Is the sparky part too much in your opinion?

WE0qGiV.jpg
 
Make them in different wood full size, then cut them and mix them......stainless , bronze spacer between will be nice ...............
 
Yeah, I have some stainless and some brass for spacers. Also I have a lot of different wood blocks which of some can be used without stabilisation and some not.
I have 1000 of ideas in my head about material combinations, but I guess I cannot decide what style in general to pursue. Sometime I really like the simplicity of black and light toned wood, but then I also like the flashy multi diyed burls, colored spacers and similar.
Will the epoxy bolster work, how will it hold up with time/use?
 
many of the japanese makers appear to use "pakkawood" .... which we know of as "dymondwood". hard to get, as the factory burned down a number of years ago. Recently, there had been an outfit in Iowa selling a similar product they called "dymondply" (supplies.customcutlery.com) .... I purchased from them last summer ... but now see the website is down (even though their custom knifemaking seller (customcutlery.com) is still up and running. You might try giving a call to customcutlery.com and asking what happened to their supply selling business. (I have made several Wa handles with the dymondply - and like it. it works like stabilized wood, and sands up to a really nice finish.
 
I mostly use Water Buffalo, African blackwood, and ebony. I use all sorts of attractive burls shorts and fancy grained woods, too. There are no rules ... use what looks good to you.

I would avoid synthetics. If that is a tube of just epoxy, it won't be good for bolsters or handles.

For spacers, use brass or nickel silver. Stainless gets too hot in grinding and can de-laminate the joint. Also, try thin slices of colorful wood like paduak. yellowheart, or purpleheart. Ivory works as a spacer, too.
 
I started using g10 for spacers and really like it. Grinds evenly with the wood and doesn’t get hot.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
For spacers, use brass or nickel silver. Stainless gets too hot in grinding and can de-laminate the joint. Also, try thin slices of colorful wood like paduak. yellowheart, or purpleheart. Ivory works as a spacer, too.
Click to expand...
Not if you finish spacer before gluing + it will be nice guide when grinding wood to keep shape of handle .
This one is done that way ......
c3NkZXy.jpg
 
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Good stuff, guys!

C Cushing H. Dymondwood or Pakkawood sounds interesting. Anybody knows if there is a DIY version?

@stacy Why is epoxy tube not good? Too fragile, will overheat when grinding? Scratches easily? Slippery when finished?

N Natlek Do you have pics of the finished knife from the gluing jig? I was also thinking of preshaping spacers to work around the overheating problem.

Any practical advice is welcome, guys. Use this because it finishes easy, holds good with time, is waterproof or don't use this because it overheats while grinding, clogs paper, scratches or similiar.
 
"@stacy Why is epoxy tube not good? Too fragile, will overheat when grinding? Scratches easily? Slippery when finished?"

You hit them all.
 
FredyCro said:
casted some epoxy. I think it turned out nice, will it make a good WA handle bolster? Is the sparky part too much in your opinion?

WE0qGiV.jpg
Click to expand...
It is pure epoxy ? Next time get some fiberglass cloth fill that tube with it /press it hard inside / and pour epoxy over ..... home made G-10 :)
 
Good point, I have no pressure tank though, I was also thinking of just mixing it with a lot of fine wood dust? I like the fact I can color the epoxy and do multi color stuff..
 
you don t need pressure tank , clamp for wood would do job or bigger vise ........something like this .Blue is round piece of wood which fit inside dia. of tube......
ArIGFQn.png
 
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