Wheeler's Steel * Stuck in the metal with you

I think this might be better, as you can always refer back to it.

You learn this much stuff in real life in a couple of days, and you're bound to forget something.
 
how will the story unfold?
Check back at 9am...
:)
 
Here we go again, and I was just starting to get over the withdrawal symptoms:p

This thread is like a really good book, you want to know how it turns out, but you don't want to get to the end because is be such a good read. Now hurry up I have to go to work for 10am and you know what slave drivers the owners of bike shops are.:D
 
***Spoiler alert*** I managed to save the Gidgee with some ground up unicorn hoof, beach sand, and of course my Papa's favorite saying when we were tiny tots, "Jeen-ji-gatticus-Puht-i-cus!!!" ;) :D

I wanted to say that after stepping away from the knife in a situation like this, it makes it VERY clear what you need to do. Biting the bullet and pulling the handle on a knife is never going to NOT suck... but in the grand scheme of things it's the best thing to do.
 
Nick that is great! It is never fun to grind off a handle. Happy to hear that the 'Gidgee' was not too deep!! Can't wait to see the next round of pics.

And tell us more about the ground up Unicorn hoof. Did you get some Merlin dust this weekend too?

Eric
 
Just so there's no confusion--- I was kidding. The Gidgee is junk.

The next round of pics Lorien will be posting came from the shots I took FRIDAY January 28, 2011 during the day--- PRIOR to finding the void.
 
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Like any good story, this one is action packed and full of drama!
Lorien


********


Well, these pics didn't get sent yet, but they are still part of the process...whether that handle worked out or not! :)

9" disc sander with a rubber pad over top of the aluminum disc, and a 120 grit disc;

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Here it is off the disc after that step;

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Now I roll the guard against the disc so that I can get a smooth and symmetrical shape on the spine side of the handle;

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In this shot I'm blending the shape on the butt end of the handle with the rotary platen and a 120 grit J-flex belt;

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Rolling the J-flex belt over, and then into the guard/handle transition;

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Same as previous photo, on the other side of the handle;

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This is getting close to what I shoot for with that last step;

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Getting the slack belt to roll into the palm recess to help smooth out all of my file marks;

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Now I want to get the slack belt into the front of the handle recesses, but a 2" belt will wash out some of the shape that I've worked hard to file into this handle... so I need some 1" wide belts. This is a belt splitter I made that uses a standard utility knife blade. You CAN just tear the belts in half... but you usually get some frays or a weird spot at the joint in the belt. This will eliminate those problems;

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Splitting a 120 grit J-flex belt with the belt splitter;

ETQlKS9.jpg
 
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The 2" wide belt knocked down to 1" width;

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Using the 1" slack belt in the front part of the palm recess;

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Back to some more filing to tweak the shape;

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Close to final shape at this point;

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I don't normally use a small wheel on a handle like this, but I wanted to tweak the shape of the butt end of the handle a little bit, and the small wheel was a good choice to make the changes I wanted;

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Same thing, close-up shot;

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Well, as you all know--- All that work was pretty much for not, as the handle ended up not working out. I was fortunate not to have put the pin in the handle yet, because it means the handle can be pulled off rather than chiseled/smashed/machined/ground off. Acraglas is very tough stuff--- you're not going to just yank the handle off. First the blade is wrapped in a heat deflecting cloth (I think it's what fireman's suits are made of) and a paper towel, then a leather pad, and the whole thing is clamped down tight to the bench vise. I put on welding gloves, wrap the handle with a piece of Kaowool, and apply heat to the handle with a heat gun. Once the handle gets quite hot, the epoxy will let go just enough that I can grab the handle with both hands, pull like crazy, and get the handle off;

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Here's the handle... no longer on the knife! It's definitely worse for ware... but it's a heck of a lot easier to get it off in one big piece than in hundreds of little ones!

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New handle in the fixture. Hmm... I wonder what it is??? ;)

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This close-up shows some neopreme foam that I sometimes use in the glue-up fixture. The foam combined with the swivel pad bolts allows you to apply pressure to the back end of the handle that's very similar to holding the handle in place with your hand;

40C5Zcf.jpg
 
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It always hurts to go backwards, but now we see persuit of perfection. In the long run, it really wasn't so hard to make it right.
 
NickWheeler said:
***Spoiler alert*** I managed to save the Gidgee with some ground up unicorn hoof, beach sand, and of course my Papa's favorite saying when we were tiny tots, "Jeen-ji-gatticus-Puht-i-cus!!!" ;) :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, as it turns out, that was a little confusing.

Oh well, out with the old, in with the new.

Roger
 
Gday Nick,
Sorry to see you got a bad bit of gidgee there. Is there a reason you dont use the scalloped edge 1" wide J flex belts in all the tight curves?
Cheers Bruce
 
Great job on this knife and sorry about what happend with the handle. Another method to removing an epoxied handle is to put acetone on a hot plate just warm enough so it bubbles slightly. Acetone has a very low boiling temperature. Be sure to have no open flames or sparks near the boiling acetone. Then just put the handle in so its completely submerged. The acetone will eat the epoxy super fast and will not hurt wood or micarta. Havent tried it on g10 though.

Thank you for investing so much time. I have enjoyed all of your pictures and have learned a lot. Your a lucky guy Lorien!
 
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Killing that block of Gidgee makes me sad too. I'm going to keep it... heck, I might even put it on a rough and tumble brush knife for myself sometime. You know, the kind that won't have my name on it, and will never be with anyone but me. ;) :)

I'm letting the epoxy cure, and will shape the new handle tomorrow (Wednesday). Angi has never seen me do that step, and would really like to. I'm feverishly working on the ABS Js knife of the year for the Blade Show ABS auction right now anyway. :)

Thanks again everyone. I just noticed the thread is near 35,000 views... and that's just plain nuts. LOL :)

Edited to add: Bruce- I've never used those belts. I've heard mixed thoughts on them, and I KNOW that a split belt will do what I want it to... so I never bothered buying any of the scalloped belts.
 
Well for all that sucks in losing that handle, it sure was a winner for me. I never thought to remove it that way, I just figured to band saw the bulk away and grind the rest.
I wonder if the West System epoxy would release with the same treatment.

Thanks for turning your misfortune into a lesson. This thread just keeps getting better and better.
 
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