WWIII Handle Meister Sends a Report

C

Craig Gottlieb

Joined
Mar 8, 1999
Messages
1,760
Here's a report from the handle meister on the test WWIII (as you can see, going is a bit slower than I imagined, due entirely to delays created by me):

The day started out poorly, but ended up OK I think. What I learned:

As I suspected, the 3/8" handle material you sent won't work with the ferrules in place. By the time you "fit" the handle inside face to the tang there is not enough material left to "fill" the ferrule. (The top of the ferrule sits proud of the handle by over 1/16".) The inside handle faces must be "fitted" or "scribed" to the tang because the tang is not flat. It tapers from front to back and from top to bottom. This amounts to almost 3/16" per side, or half of the handle thickness. It would be impossible to flatten the tang enough without butchering the knife. The only option is for us to remove the ferrules as we originally planned.

I began the process of fitting the handles without the ferrules. I like
the results very much so far. The 3/8" material gives a nice grip size.
The look without ferrules is rather "tactical" (if you'll excuse the
buzzword). I've shaped the handle and I'm in the process of working my way through finer grits now. The notch from the ferrule will have to be dealt with, but we can either fill it with epoxy the color of the
handles (the easiest), or fabricate a brass "filler" for the area. Let
me know your thoughts.

"Fitting" or scribing the handle to the topography of the tang can be
either fairly straight forward, or extremely time consuming depending on how fussy I try to make the fit. The time involved seems to go up
exponentially as you attempt to improve the fit. My thinking right now
is that we need a "no-rock" fit, where everything sits flat, but not a
"no-gap" fit. I will use colored epoxy dyed to match the micarta as
closely as possible. This should fill any small gaps at the edges of the
tang. I think it will look OK.I know it will provide a good seal and
more than adequete strength. The first one should tell the story.

The tang drills quite easily with high speed steel drills. We won't
need exotic drills unless the one I worked on today is an exeption.
Click to expand...

Although I leave total technical control to Robert, I think the epoxy will look better, as I want to keep brass away from this project. Any thoughts?

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
The colored epoxy sounds good to me also. I like the tactical look. The more tactical looking the better as far as I am concerned. If that means removing the ferrul then be all means get rid of it. I do not think that brass would look right on these knives but if it is needed to look finished,you would know best, then do what you need to do. I would also like to say that I am not in any rush to get my knife. Take all the time you need please.
 
I'm pretty much with KT, do whatever you think is best, and I'm in absolutely no hurry. My only concern is that it be as strong as possible -- I don't want to be able to just cut tops out of steel barrels, I want to be able to cut through engine blocks!

[This message has been edited by Steven F (edited 01 December 1999).]
 
Colored epoxy sure sounds like the way to go and if the WWIII will be more subduded without the ferrules so much the better.

How do you know they are Y2K compliant??? Have they passed 2 levels of testing along with the ability to fill my hand prior to the big event???

No matter if they are Y2K or not as long as they are done right using all the time needed to ensure a supercalifragiclisticexpaladosus Kuri.
 
Colored epoxy by all means, and deep-six the brass. Take as long as needed to do this right and do it for keeps.
 
I'm sure Robert is reading this (but has his hands busy with more important things (like the WWIIIs!).
smile.gif


Anyway, your responses are as I'd figured they would be. I'll copy Robert on this thread.

And I'm also relieved that you all aren't going to hold me to the Christmas delivery on the project. I, like everybody else, want to see this thing done right.

I did hear from Lalit this morning via email, and he confirmed acceptance of the Christmas order. He said I was cutting it close, but he'd do his best to pull through. He's never let me down before, so I am pretty confident that the Christmas order will be here before Santa Claus!

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
Here's another report from the Handle Meister:

The Prototype will be ready to go to the finisher sometime tomorrow or
Monday. I've decided that the epoxy has to go in before finishing,
otherwise, finishing it to contour may mark up the blueing. Not using the brass plug is a good thing.

The prototype will be finished in bead blast. As you know, it was rather
severely sctached up. I was able to remove the scratches, but I feel
we'll be better off making finish judgements for the polished models
based on one that you've polished, since my polish doesn't quite match yours. Let me know exactly what wheel and compounds you're using & I will get some of the same ones, so that the polish around the handle matches that on the blade. The first one will use charcoal blueing, since this seems to be the quickest, most economical option. We might as well see if this is OK.

I'm trying to refine the shaping & polishing process for the canvas
micarta. It works a little differently than the linen (the white is linen, the black & green are canvas). It polishes a little slower than the linen with the finer grades of belt. It also seems to burn more easily, although this has not been a problem. I want to see if adjusting the grits slightly from what I normally use will get to the end result a little quicker.

I will also begin removing the ferrules from a series of the blades, and
begin shaping more handles for them.

As soon as I have the prototype together, I'll photograph it and send a
JPEG for you to post.
Click to expand...

That was a couple of days ago, so I assume that the Prototype is finished. I can't wait!

Any comments?




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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
Craig, I think I speak for most of the guys when I repeat that my main concern is to get a first-rate, kick-ass khukuri, and if that requires extra time, that's fine with me. Time, at least for me, is not an issue at all -- take all you need.
 
Go to handle meister! We just want it right. I am sick of slop jobs from people nowadays I like men who take pride in their work. Also I would like one of these micarta handles for my dream sword.
 
That's been my philosophy on this project all along - don't "just do it" but do it right. I was initially worried that people might be angry that the finished product wouldn't be ready by Christmas, but I should have thought of who these knives were going to belong to! Forumites have taste, are patient, and are a band of "knuts" that I am proud to call myself a member of.

Question: any objection to doing a second run once we get the science down? They wouldn't be serial numbered (or maybe they would?).



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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
I don't have a problem with that, Craig, providing that the second-run is somehow clearly distinguished from the first run. Call me a snob, but one of the things that appealed to me about this project was the idea of having a very special, one-of-a-select-few kind of khuk. If every Johnny-come-lately can have the same thing, it detracts from the worth of the originals.
 
Hey Craig, this-johny-lately says please do a second run. They shouldn't have serial numbers out of respect to those who have waited so long for the first run. An east meets west allround khuk like a WW III would be a nice piece to have available for purchase all the time, for use not collection value necessarily. This could be very popular, in my opinion.
 
Craig,

I think once the original 40 are made and shown there will probably be a decent market for a second (or more) run. This baby is gonna be something!!

As for serial numbers, my belief is that only the first run should have them. It's what will keep them seperate from the rest. I like the idea of having one of only 40 original WWIII's. Not many people can say they have one of the original...anything.

Blackdog
 
I second Blackdog's comments.
By the way, Blackdog, you have some pix coming your way. You should have them by Wed..

Mike
 
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