Making my own handles. Need a little guidance.

[maroonandwhite]

I am trying my hand at making some scales/handles for my Izula 2 as well as a small knife blank I bought for a Christmas present for my grandpa. I will be using maple on one and walnut on the other. The wood choice may not be the greatest but the whole point to that is that it came from his farm and was cut and planed down by him. He just doesn't know what I'm doing with it. With that said:

 

I went to lowes this morning and bought a combo file, some epoxy and some 3/16" brass rod stock. I am wondering the best way to start the process. The blanks I have are 2x5x3/8". I am thinking of just drilling the holes first and fastening them to the knife and letting the epoxy dry. THEN going back and rough cutting the blanks and finishing.

 

The Izula will be tricky because it has the big open center. I figure if I fill it all with epoxy it will make it's own "insert" though and hold well.

 

Also any tips on actually setting the brass inserts will help. I guess you just tap them with a ball peen???

 

I can get some pics up of what Im working with in a little while if that will help.

 

Edit:Correction 3/16" brass rod

Edited October 18, 2013 by maroonandwhite

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I don't know anything about knife scales, but this tool has been real useful to me for numerous purposes including shaping some pistol grips (which are kinda like knife scales, small pieces of shaped wood)--

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-x-36-inch-belt-6-inch-disc-sander-97181.html

 

It can shape wood lickety split and only costs about $80 (or less on sale). Speaking in total ignorance, I'd cut the little flat pieces of wood to profile with bandsaw or coping saw or whatever, then locate and drill the holes, then shape them on the sander.

 

A good way to keep hold of small pieces when shaping, avoiding sanded-off fingers and knuckles-- Take a small block of wood for a temp working handle, and temporarily attach the working handle to the scale blank with double-sided carpet tape, that holds the handle to the workpiece real firmly but is easy to remove after the workpiece is completed.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[maroonandwhite]

Wow that's a pretty good deal! I will definitely have to look into getting one of those.

[UncleJak]

I peen my brass pins in, then lightly sand them to finish.
I usually attach one side at a time, let dry, do other side, sand to near finished, brass pins, then final sanding.

Sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[Guest Lester Weevils]

120 grit belts last a surprisingly long time on that sander, and 120 removes material quite quickly but it is fine enough not to seriously scratch up the surface (which requires lots of work to remove the scratches afterwards).

 

I was just "learning by doing" but when cutting the little pistol grip blanks, I'm not real skilled following a cut line with the bandsaw or whatever. So it worked real good to cut the blank out a little outside the lines, and let it be a little rough and squiggly. Then it is pretty easy to get a smooth profile edge real quick by holding the workpiece on that flat guide in front of the disk sander, and precisely sand smooth exactly to the cut line all the way around the profile.

[peejman]

Belt sanders are great, just be aware of how fast they remove material.  If this is a one-shot deal and you can't afford to bugger it up, be further aware of the difficultly in putting material back on...   just sayin'. 

 

For the open center, you might consider some dowels or a biscuit to help hold the halves together. 

[Guest Broomhead]

One very important thing...Finish the front (towards the blade) of you scales to as close to finished as you can BEFORE epoxying them on. Otherwise you will have scratches all over your nice blade from trying to sand them. Also get the shape roughly cut, to within 1/8" before attaching them. Mark and drill your 1st hole with the knife on the wood and insert a pin to hold everything steady. Then, drill your second hole. Do that for both sides. Then, keeping the pins in and the knife on one side, use a sharpie to trace around your knife handle, do that to both sides. Then rough cut and shape to within that 1/8".

 

After all that is done, and the front is finished, you can epoxy everything. I don't peen my pins, I just epoxy them in. Stick the pin in your drill and with a file rough the middle up and make little troughs for the epoxy to gather in. Tape off the knife blade completely to as close to the scales as you can. Epoxy the pins into one scale, then epoxy the knife to that scale, and finally with epoxy on the pins, do the 2nd scale. The pins help keep everything lined up. Clamp the knife LIGHTLY, just to hold everything together, use acetone to clean up as much squeezed out epoxy as you can, especially from the blade. Angle the knife somewhere to that any more squeezed out epoxy will run away from the blade, and let it sit overnight.

 

Now you are ready to finish shaping the scales.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Broomhead

[maroonandwhite]

One very important thing...Finish the front (towards the blade) of you scales to as close to finished as you can BEFORE epoxying them on. Otherwise you will have scratches all over your nice blade from trying to sand them. Also get the shape roughly cut, to within 1/8" before attaching them. Mark and drill your 1st hole with the knife on the wood and insert a pin to hold everything steady. Then, drill your second hole. Do that for both sides. Then, keeping the pins in and the knife on one side, use a sharpie to trace around your knife handle, do that to both sides. Then rough cut and shape to within that 1/8".

After all that is done, and the front is finished, you can epoxy everything. I don't peen my pins, I just epoxy them in. Stick the pin in your drill and with a file rough the middle up and make little troughs for the epoxy to gather in. Tape off the knife blade completely to as close to the scales as you can. Epoxy the pins into one scale, then epoxy the knife to that scale, and finally with epoxy on the pins, do the 2nd scale. The pins help keep everything lined up. Clamp the knife LIGHTLY, just to hold everything together, use acetone to clean up as much squeezed out epoxy as you can, especially from the blade. Angle the knife somewhere to that any more squeezed out epoxy will run away from the blade, and let it sit overnight.

Now you are ready to finish shaping the scales.

Oops...


Guess we will see what happens haha. FYI this is the izula that I am not too concerned about. Practice for the knife for my grandpa.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

If those big square blanks are on the knife forever more, here is a dumb suggestion which might make it a little easier to get down within rasping/sanding range of the desired profile--

 

This stanley pull-saw is a neat little tool-- http://www.homedepot.com/p/Stanley-4-3-4-in-Flush-Cut-Pull-Saw-20-331/100654914?keyword=stanley+20-331

It cuts thin material pretty fast and controllable. You could clamp the assembly to the side of a bench, or in a vise. Then cut a vertical line "almost all the way down" to your desired profile line. Then cut another vertical line maybe a half-inch over, "almost all the way down" to your profile. Keep doing this until you have a bunch of half-inch spaced slices down to your profile, all the way around the handle.

 

Then it is easy to cut from the bottom of one slice to the bottom of the next slice, removing little half-inch "tabs" out of the outside of the square piece, until you have a rough shape close enough to your desired profile that it won't drive you crazy sanding or rasping it to the final profile.

 

Maybe if the shape is complex, a coping saw would be easier to control when cutting out those little tabs of wood, but otherwise you could use the pull saw for the whole shebang.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[Guest Broomhead]

ROFLMAO...You're too quick on the draw.

[maroonandwhite]

ROFLMAO...You're too quick on the draw.

:rofl:  What can I say...I get anxious. In my defense someone else online had a tutorial to do it like this. I am thinking once it dries it should be pretty easy to just rough cut it down like lester said then finish it off by hand. Wonder if I jigsaw would be too harsh for the wood.?

Edited October 18, 2013 by maroonandwhite

[Guest Lester Weevils]

A jigsaw in skilled hands would probably do the job, but I've never been good enough with a jigsaw that I'd try a jigsaw for that task. Bandsaw or scroll saw if you can get access to one, would work fabulous however.

 

I don't have a scroll saw but keep meaning to get one. The only local pawnshop I regularly visit, has lots of used scroll saws priced real cheap, as low as $20 or whatever. The cheapies aren't that expensive new. People who do lots of skilled work with scroll saws say bad things about the cheap ones, but if I ever develop anything nearing skill, maybe that will be something to worry about. :)

Edited October 18, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[maroonandwhite]

This just further reminds me it's nice to have the "tool for the job".

 

Broomhead just think of this method as the "stock removal" method.  :rofl:

[UncleJak]

I've done the same thing. I totally forgot to mention what broomhead said. Oops. I'm sure they will be great. Knives aren't supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to cut!

Sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[peejman]

Ok, perhaps it would be reasonable to start with the belt sander...  and several belts.

Edited October 18, 2013 by peejman

[maroonandwhite]

Good news! I am going over to an experienced wood worker/knife makers house tonight to get some guidance. He is going to help me with the "important" knife. Not much I can do with this one until the glue dries but I think it should turn out fine.

[maroonandwhite]

Wow I don't feel so bad now!


Yes this is the same knife haha. Just have to use my imagination now. Any tips for the hand shaping?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

That is looking real good!

[maroonandwhite]

If was like freaking magic. He turned it this way the that way then another way and voila. Also got the blanks cut for the smaller knife. I'll post up pics as they progress. For now I'm gonna let the epoxy get good and hard before hand shaping.

[Guest Broomhead]

The final shape of the handle should be rounded with minimal flat spots. Aim for an upside egg shape with the widest part at the spine. Use a 4-in-hand rasp to get material off then switch to files, finally work through your grits to the final finish that you want. Make sure to remove all the sanding marks of the previous grit before proceeding to the next grit.

[Jonnin]

Belt sanders are great, just be aware of how fast they remove material.  If this is a one-shot deal and you can't afford to bugger it up, be further aware of the difficultly in putting material back on...   just sayin'. 

 

For the open center, you might consider some dowels or a biscuit to help hold the halves together. 

 

If this is the case (you have one piece of wood and can't afford to mess it up) then you might make the grips the first time out of junk for practice then carefully cut your real piece to match after you think you have it down.   Soft, dry pine shapes fast and costs like a nickel for enough to practice for the rest of the year.  Really, you could probably get free scraps at the local lumber place, like home depo, where they cut the ends off stuff for people...

[maroonandwhite]

Well they are done. Not too bad for a first try huh? I'm going to be ordering a scroll saw and sander from harbor freight soon and hope to improve my abilities. Thanks for all the help! Let me know what you think.

[Monkeyman2500]

Very nice. The grips on the izula turned out good too.

[peejman]

Nice work!

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Those turned out great!